Automobile Reviews

Mercedes Benz India has plans to launch the R –class model in November. The reported price for the car is expected to be almost RS, 60 lakhs.

Originally rolled out nearly 4 years back worldwide, the Mercedes Benz R-CLASS Variant has been modified a lot. This new variant was also exhibited at the New York Auto Show earlier in April 2010.

This model said to be a combination of a sedan and a minivan, will be a competition for Toyota Innova. This MPV, accommodating seven seats has already made its presence known in the Europe and the US.

However, the absolute features of the variant launched in India have not been made public. Meanwhile, the foreign models would be equipped with varied V6 and V8 petrol and diesel engines.

This model would as well feature 7G-Tronic automatic transmission and air suspension having self-levelling at the back. They also have a choice of four wheel drives or long wheel base model.

Positioned between Audi Q7 and Porsche Cayenne, the model introduced in India will have only a petrol engine. Initially, the model would be a Long Wheel Base R350 4MATIC variant, having a 3.5L V6 petrol engine.

The lack of diesel engine could as well cause fall in the sales.

Renault launches the new variant into India, the Saloon type model known as ‘Fluence’. Renault Fluence is expected to cost nearly 12 to 14 lakhs rupees, as per reports.

It was introduced mainly as a competition to Toyota Corolla, Hyundai Elantra and Chevrolet Cruze.

Renault will also roll out the new Renault Dacia Duster. This was based on the Logan platform.

The manufacturer was as well looking to form a joint venture with Mahindra and Mahindra. However, after the letdown of its base variant Logan, Renault has plans to venture into India, alone.

Meanwhile, the cars put on show at the Delhi Auto Show 2010 covers Renault Megane, Fluence, Koleos, Laguna and the electric car model Twizzy.

Koleos, the SUV will be imported as a CKD model and is amassed in a Chennai plant. Other car to be assembled here is the Fluence.

Yamaha, the Japanese Automobile Manufacturer is looking to boost up its share in the Indian market to about 10% by 2013.

Meanwhile, they have also brought out the 3 recent versions of its diverse models also covering the latest model in India.

Yamaha in an attempt to improve sales in India will also ramp up the dealership network, thus creating a niche in the local market.

The company also reports sales of 2.2 lakhs units in India for the year 2009, with the entire two- wheeler Indian market making up almost 94 lakhs units.

The year 2009 sees a decline in sales for motorcycles all over the world, thus resulting in a fall of twenty to thirty percentages in the user demand. The auto manufacturer focuses on the Asian market for development.

In the meantime, Yoshiteru Takahashi the Co Director and Managing Executive Officer (Motorcycle Business Operations) of Yamaha Motor claims that they consider India as a crucial market.

He goes on to add that they also had plans to provide more funds in a bid to surge up the productivity such as that of scooters. The auto manufactures had earmarked Rs, 800 Crores in 2007 to invest in India.

Currently, they have put in just Rs, 600 Crores for the same. Takashi finally concludes that the expected yearly target sales of 1 million motor bikes by 2013 or 2014 would make up for nearly 10% of the worldwide sales.

Honda, the car manufacturer has come out with its new variant for it top hatchback model, namely the new Jazz X Grade for the Indian market. Style and performance forms the watchwords for this new addition to the Jazz assemble.

Comfortable and luxurious interiors look sporty with black colour even as the enhanced exteriors offer Alloy wheels. Not to mention, the audio system that features USB ports!

The new variant also provides a parcel shelf at the back, which further improves the usability and the protection for the baggage. Other additions are the mud guards both at the front and back, fog lamps as well as the driver seat height adjuster.

The colours expected for this model ranges from the latest Rallye Red other than the earlier Tafetta White, Alabaster Silver, Crystal Black Pearl, Sherbet Blue and Deep Sapphire Blue.

According to the Director for Marketing, Honda Siel Cars India Ltd, Mr Tatsuya Natsume, the new Jazz X was rolled out catering to the user demands and their feedback. Hence, the enhanced outer appearance as well as sporty interiors along with thrilling driving experience forms part of its existence.

Meanwhile, the ex-showroom price for the Honda Jazz X Grade is reported to be about Rs 7.53 lakhs.

Suzuki Motors was not looking to share its platform for its models with the German Manufacturer, Volkswagen who already claims a twenty percentage of a stake in the Japanese auto major.

The 19.9% stake bought in 2009 for $2.5 billion also reaffirms plans to go ahead with the prospect of jointly producing vehicles.

Meanwhile, the MD and CEO of Maruti Suzuki India, Shinzo Nakanishi revealed that the chief cause for this was the increased manufacturing as well as the product development prices of Volkswagen.

According to his declaration, this would further make the business not feasible for them.

They were planning on restricting the association between two car manufacturers to just sharing the production facility for the purpose of producing the models, under the joint venture.

They could as well form an Original Equipment Manufacturing deal with Volkswagen, as was in the instance of Nissan that brings out the A-Star, a hatchback as the Pixo in Europe.

They mainly sealed this deal in a bid by Volkswagen to create a niche for themselves in the Indian Market, where Suzuki is already a vital presence.

Volkswagen plans to manage its expenses by exploiting the manufacturing schemes by Suzuki, even as they create more numbers of small cars, thus leading to a move towards the compact cars, for the market worldwide.

Both the manufacturers could as well come out with some unyielding publicity, worldwide by the upcoming 6 to 8 months time. A Few of the ventures are due for introduction within the conclusion of 2010 or even the beginning of 2011.

We see that Maruti is more keen on imbibing the technology employed by Volkswagen, namely the diesel engine, whilst the German Auto manufacturer has designs on the expertise of Maruti Suzuki to produce large quantity of cars, both efficiently and at low cost.

The German Car Manufacturer, Volkswagen had launched the Polo, earlier this year. The demand for the vehicle is forever on the high, with the manufacturer incapable to cater to this.

Meanwhile, many of the consumers had also cancelled the bookings, and opted for competitor vehicles like Ford Figo, Hyundai i10, GM Beat and Maruti Swift, citing the 3-4 months waiting time as the chief cause.

Dearth of parts is reported to be the main reason for this gap in meeting the user demands, states a source close to Volkswagen. There is also expected to be some problem with quality of the parts made available by the vendors.

Resulting from this, the manufacturers were not able to increase the production of this vehicle and thus create a gap in meeting the user requirements.

Volkswagen maintains their presence with no compromise on quality, even if it could set in motion cancellation for the bookings.

Nissan is fast making known it presence in India, reporting sales of 1005 vehicles for July this year.

According to the official report from the Japan Automotive manufacturer, out of the 1005 sales accounted, nearly 928 units were expected to be of Nissan Micra.

Meanwhile, Nissan would as well set up 5 new dealerships all over the country in various cities covering Vijayawada, Bhopal, Jaipur, Navi Mumbai and Bhubaneswar.

Currently, there are mainly 20 dealership units operational.

If we look back at the sales reported, we will find that nearly 27 units’ sales was of the Nissan Teana, belonging to the luxury sedan group.

Finally, the SUV Nissan X-trail also claims 50 units’ sales.

Nissan Micra rolled out in mid July all over the nation had also received bookings for more than 3,000 units in advance.

The car introduced in the base model, XE, the mid-level model XL and the high- end model, the XV variant.

The exshowroom price for these vehicles in Delhi is expected to be between Rs. 3.98 lakhs and Rs. 5.28 lakhs.

Reports also claim that the sales for Nissan in July 2009 stands at 25 units, with Teana claiming 17 units sales, whereas X-Trail sales was just 8 units.

In a recent twist of events, the Karnataka Government is mulling over plans to re-launch Tata Nano car as an alternative to the most common public transport, the Autorickshaw.

The Transport Minister of Karnataka, Mr. R. Ashok said they may possibly purchase up to 10,000 Nano cars, with an idea to use them as Auto, on rent.

He further adds that the Government and the Driver may jointly benefit from any proceeds generated from this, likely at a 40:60 ratio, in that order.

Meanwhile, the funds for this venture would most probably come from the Government straight away or they could get a loan. Same time, the variation in prices between a Nano and a standard Autorickshaw will be quite less, claims Mr. Ashok.

Not mention the issues prevailing over the current common autos. Grievances with the Auto Drivers go on. Next, to ponder over is gap between the number of people looking for transport and in the number of Auto rickshaws.

The introduction of the Nano Car as an Auto is expected to benefit the people delivering them improved luxury as well as more safety due to covered cabin.

However, chief aspect that may go against Nano Auto would be its mileage, with it claiming 20kmpl, next to the 25kmpl of a typical Auto.

In terms of environment friendliness, too it may fall behind as it emits 101grams of CO2 per km as against the 85-87grams by an Auto.

Toyota Motors Corporation is thinking to bring out a new small car in India in two year time. The car, expected for launch in 2012 will be take-off from its Daihatsu range of vehicles.

Meanwhile, the Senior Managing Director and Member of the Toyota Motor Corporation board, Dato Akira Okabe, claims that its model Daihatsu range of cars had already created a niche for themselves in South East Asian Countries.

He goes to confirm that they planning to roll out the model in India and was in the process of researching the Indian market for the same.

He further declares that in case the launch does happen, they would mainly focus on all the passenger vehicle segments counting the base level 600 cc.

In the meantime, the new variant of compact cars is expected to be developed from its earlier version, the Vios and the Yaris, sub-compact versions.

The vehicle claiming 30% to 40% localisation will as well have aggressive charges in India, China, and Brazil so on.

Daihatsu may also bring out its small variant in India, by the coming two years. The third model looking to make it to the Indian market by end of this year or beginning of next year is the first-class hatchback, the Toyota Etios.

Maruti Suzuki, one of the Premium India Vehicle Manufacturers declared, recently that had plans to bring out CNG variants of all its models, launched since the beginning of this year.

R.C.Bhargava, the Chairman of the Maruti Suzuki India claimed the rising demand amidst the consumer for the CNG version cars as the cause for putting a halt to production of LPG vehicles.

The Manufacturer is expected to start off this venture by introducing the CNG version of its maximum selling model, the Alto, as per some reports. Reports further claim that 5 CNG car models will hit the market, together in one day.

CNG models due for launch includes the Alto, Estilo, Wagon R, Eeco and SX4.

The K-1O Series variant of the Maruti Alto claims a mileage of 20.2 kilometres per litre, according to a research.

These CNG Cars may possibly be made available from the second week of August 2010. Even then, the actual date of launch has not yet been publicised.

Meanwhile, Shashank Shrivastava, the MSI Chief General Manager consider this a strategic move, to offer factory built-in CNG kits in the vehicles. He further says that they would be the first manufacturer to come out with such extensive variety of CNG cars in India.

The Alto car claiming an average of 20,000 units’ monthly sales and a total of 14 lakhs units, ever since its introduction in September 2000 also is likely to boost up its sales by twenty five percent, subsequent to the launch of the new model- Alto K-10, Shrivastava adds.