Sushil Kumar And Vijender Singh Win Bronze At Olympics

Many many congratulations to grappler Sushil Kumar and pugulist Vijender Singh for having won a Bronze Medal each in their weight catagories. Boys, you've done the country proud. Keep up the good work.

New Tata Indica Vista Launched – Specs And Pictures

Tata Motors today launched the all new Indica Vista after showcasing the same at the Auto Expo earlier this year. The new Indica Vista is bigger than the V2 mostly on the interior space front. The car looks exactly like it should, that is a bigger Indica. Car comes is seven trim levels and seven colour options.

The new car comes with a choice of three engine options, a petrol and two diesels. The petrol is a 1.2 liter Saffire engine making 65 bhp of power and 96 Nm of torque. The two diesels are a 1.3 liter Quadrajet (Multijet in Fiat speak) making 75 bhp of power and more importantly a whopping 190 Nm of torque. Both the engines are being manufactured at the Fiat – Tata joint venture engine plant at Ranjangaon in Maharashtra. The third engine is the same 1.4 liter TDI which has been improved further and mated to a slicker shifting gearbox. The engine makes 71 bhp of power and 135 Nm of torque.

On the outside the car sports the new design upfront with the honeycomb grille and a center character line on the hood. Side on the car looks like an Indica and the rear continues with the Christmas tree tail lamps.

The interiors now use better quality bits. The instrument cluster now moves to the center and driver gets height adjustable seats. The steering is tilt adjustable too. A 2 – DIN music system with a USB port and remote improves the desirability quotient. Lots of storage spaces are provided with under seat box capable of holding a laptop. Thoughtful touches like the rear wiper switching on when reverse is engaged when the front wipers are on is not usually seen in this class, at least not in India.

The car comes with a best in class 24 month (75000 kms) warranty. But the best part of it all is the price. The car starts at Rs. 3.49 lakhs (ex-showroom Delhi) for the 1.2 Liter petrol and goes up to Rs. 4.88 lakhs (ex-showroom Delhi) for the 1.3 Liter Quadrajet diesel. The TDI continues at the same cost as the V2 TDI did. Airbags and ABS will follow when the car is launched in the international markets. The pricing is killer and should give the competition a really tough time.

Four versions of the V2 will be on sale. These are the 1.2 Xeta, 1.4 naturally aspirated IDI, DICOR and TCIC diesel.

Chevrolet Cruze Coming Soon

The Optra has not had as much success in the country as GM would have liked. First it was the Corolla and now it’s the Civic that has been giving it a hard time. Even the introduction of a diesel engine and a SRV front end has not helped much. So the next best thing to do is to get in a fresh model. Enter the Cruze.

The car in the pictures is the Chevrolet Cruze that will go on sale in Europe next year. So it should be available in India by late next year I suppose. The engine options on the European version will be 16 valve 1.6 liter and 1.8 liter petrol engines making 112 bhp and 140 bhp respectively. Also available will be a 2.0 liter turbo diesel making 150 bhp and a very impressive 320 Nm of torque. A five speed manual and a six speed auto will do the duty of transferring power to the wheels.

As far as the design is concerned, the Cruze is not going to win any beauty pageants. Not a bad looking car, but not a great looking car either. GM are doing the four door coupe thing with the Cruze, which most often than not results in reduced headroom for the rear passengers. On the inside the Cruze has the ‘twin cockpit’ thing going on, supposed to be inspired from the Corvette GM says.

When it does come to India, expect it to sell along side the Optra, taking on the soon to be launched Altis and the segment leader Civic.

Auto News Update - August 2008

VW Beetle coming to India
Hitler’s dream, Ferdinand Porsche’s child is coming to India. The Beetle will most likely make it to our shores by next year and will cost more than what a few luxury cars cost. Fiat has already got the 500 here and the Bravo is coming too. So can Europe’s biggest car manufacturer be left behind? Obviously the company is not looking at it as a big seller. Instead it will be the face of the company and show the people here what VW is capable of.

Honda sells 300,000 units launches Civic Sports
A little more than a decade ago, Honda set up its Indian subsidiary Honda Siel Cars Limited and launched the City. Since then the model has gone through three major changes already and a fourth is in line. In the mean time the Accord also came and so did the CR-V. No small car though. So how many cars do you think they have sold in this period? Don’t know? 300,000 cars. No small cars, only sedans and SUVs. To celebrate the feat, the company has launched a limited edition of the Civic, called the Civic Sports. The car will come with a boot spoiler, side skirts, white wheels and Sports badging all round. No change to the engine, but then it already is a jewel. Oh before I forget, only 1000 will be made with the serial number displayed inside the cabin so hurry.

Happy Independence Day

Best wishes to everybody on the occasion of the 61st Independence Day of the nation.

Bajaj KTM To Make More Than Just Motorcycles – Three New Vehicles Under Development

If you thought that the only thing Bajaj and KTM were working on was motorcycles, then get ready for this. Not only are the two companies working on a liquid cooled 125-250cc platform, but also under development are a trike, a scooter and an intra city budget car.

The car will be an intro city runabout with a seating capacity of four. Expect it to be a good handler and frugal as well. No confirmation if it will come to India, since Bajaj is already working on a car with Renault.

The scooter though will make it to your nearest Bajaj dealership. No details yet, but if it has even an ounce of KTM blood in it, be rest assured it will be a hoot to ride.

The trike will most likely be a load carrier.

Abhinav Bindra Wins Gold At Beijing Olympics

Abhinav Bindra won the first individual gold medal for the country today at the Olympics. He won the gold in the 10 meter air rifle event. Many many congratulations to Abhinav!!

Bajaj Alters 125cc Platform Strategy

The second largest two wheeler manufacturer in the country, in a bid to consolidate its position in the market has redrawn its strategy for the 125cc platform. There will be three platform levels in place. The top rung occupied by the Discover, Pulsar and Avenger models. The middle tier being occupied by the XCD platform, while the lowest by the Platina.

There are going to be new launches in the months of September, November and in February. The extravagantly styled XCD Sprint will be the last of these launches, which means it would be the last to come out in February.

Now the interesting bit of news is that a 125cc version of the Platina will be rolled out. The reason behind this, according to Rajiv Bajaj is that they "…had earlier kicked off with the Boxer and CT 100 in this segment but they were easy to imitate and competing models quickly joined the arena. Even when we added interesting features to the Platina, it was only a matter of months before competition followed suit”.

But with the 125cc version of Platina he says, "An electric start 125cc would positively take two years to imitate quite unlike the past where we saw competing models emerge in six months".

The thing is that there are already 125cc models from various manufacturers in the market and bringing out a competing model shouldn’t be as hard, unless the bigger Platina is as fuel efficient as the 100cc variant and only slightly higher priced. Bajaj have a knack of pricing their motorcycles competitively and till now no other manufacturer has been able to match the price - efficiency combo of the XCD either.

But one must remember that they used to have a 125cc variant of the Platina before the Platina. Wind 125 anyone?

Jaguar Back At LeMans

It was the late 50s when Jaguar raced and won the LeMans 24 Hours with the D-Type, winning five times. The cat was also there at LeMans as recently as 1988 and 1990, again winning.



So how long will they stay away from racing? Not long if Ratan Tata has his way. In a recent Annual General Meeting, the Chairman had commented about the possibility of a return to LeMans.

Although no time table is in place, at least they are thinking about it.

A-Star To Debut In Paris

January this year Maruti showcased the A-Star concept at the Auto Expo. The production model of which is about to debut at Paris in October. The car is the new Alto in the international markets, whereas in India it is expected to be sold as the A-Star alongside the current Alto.

Power comes courtesy a 1 liter engine meeting Euro 5 emission norms. The new engine is expected to be fuel efficient as well. The car will be produced in India and be exported to its international markets from the country.


Nissan also has a contract with Suzuki to produce 50,000 units of the A-Star to be badged as Nissan for sale in Europe.

Although similarities in design to the i10 can’t be missed with the bulging headlamps, raised bonnet, grille integrated in the bumper and the upward kink in the rear doors. Is it just me or two different companies reading the safety regulations ever so closely?

Toyota Prius Coming To India

Expect Toyota to retaliate to everything Honda does and vice a versa. Both companies have been at it in the Indian market as well, with the Civic-Corolla and Accord-Camry battles before.

Now that Honda has introduced the Civic hybrid, Toyota is going to bring in the most successful hybrid car of all times, the Prius, to our shores. "We are preparing to bring Prius into the Indian market though we have not set any timeline yet," said Toyota Kirloskar Motor Ltd vice-chairman Vikram Kirloskar.

The Prius runs on a 1.3liter petrol engine as well as an electric motor powered by batteries. It is one of the most fuel efficient cars in the world and also one of the least polluting. Its cult status in US, its biggest market, can be gauged by the figures of 592,000 units since launch. Also the fact that Hollywood celebrities vouch for it, doesn’t do any harm to it’s reputation. Overall the Prius has clocked more than one million units world wide.

Toyota had recently introduced the plug-in variant of the Prius to increase its range. The plug-in variant can be plugged into any electric socket and the batteries can be charged when the car is not being used. This helps in improving fuel efficiency further since the fuel that would have been used in charging the batteries is saved.

Whenever it comes, expect it to be priced at a premium over similarly sized cars and to be imported as a CBU.

Auto Sector News Update

Mahindra Kinetic Deal: Mahindra & Mahindra who had evinced interest in entering the two wheeler segment earlier have entered into an agreement with Kinetic Motor to form a joint venture company which will be called Mahindra Kinetic Scooters and Motorcycles. Mahindra will own 80% stake in the new company and Kinetic will own the rest. Mahindra have agreed to buy the manufacturing assets of Kinetic for Rs. 110 crore. The utility major have been planning a foray into the two wheeler market for a while now, with news of a joint venture with a Chinese manufacturer also filtering through and reports of interest in buying MV Agusta recently.

Mahindra have also recently bought an Italian two wheel design house called Engines Engineering. What is not clear as of now is whether the Taiwanese major SYM, which holds an 11% stake in Kinetic is a part of the venture or not.

Chrysler talking to Tata, Fiat: The No. 3 manufacturer in the US market, Chrysler is said to be in talks with Tata Motors for sale of its Jeep Wrangler in the Indian car market as well as other Asian markets where Tata has reach. Also Chrysler is talking to Fiat for lease of its production units in the US.

Discussions with Tata also include the sale of the electric version of the Ace mini truck. Tata had earlier shown the battery powered version of the Ace.

In other news Fiat will now handle the financing of Jaguar and Land Rover in Europe while Tata is open to the idea of Fiat selling the Nano in markets where Tata is still not present.

Poll Result - Lakh Rupee Motorcycle

The result of the poll is here. Most number of you would buy the new Yamaha YZF R15, 40% to be exact. While 20% would wait for a better machine to come out. The interesting thing is that 60% votes went against the Yammy. I was expecting a lot less. But still it seems the R15 is a favorite among the bikers compared to the other similarly priced motorcycles.

The next poll though is about cars. I would like to know about your buying preferences again. Vote people, vote.