Online Indian Car magazine

2016-07-26T17:48:00.002+05:30

Isuzu mu-X

2016-07-25T00:05:00.001+05:30

After launching the MU-7 and the D-Max, Isuzu failed to grab a market share slice. The company is hoping to improve its fortunes with the launch of the mu-X. The mu-X is expected to be the successor to the MU-7. Even thought the MU-7 had a powerful engine and offered decent levels of comfort, it failed to get noticed in the market as it lacked the build quality and features of its rivals,

MU-X will share its platform with the Chevrolet Captiva as per the MoU between GM and Isuzu.

Engine and Performance

Isuzu are diesel specialists and their engines are sourced by Ford and Renault-Nissan.

The MU-X will be powered by by the famous Isuzu 4JJ1 3.0 turbo diesel engine. The engine promises to give power and torque on demand with 163PS at 3,600rpm and 360Nm at 1,800-2,800rpm respectively.

The MU-X offers great towing capability (3 tonnes) on its 4X4 models. Towing a boat, caravan or trailer would be a cakewalk for the MU-X.

Features

MU-X offers ample cabin space for seven and an 8" touchscreen infotainment system offering Multimedia playback, Reverse camera and roof mounted surround system.

Verdict

The MU-X has all the bells and whistles and is expected to be launched by the end of the year with a price range of 23-27 lakh. However a competitive price and features are not enough to market, Isuzu needs to do some serious marketing and build their dealership network for sales to really take off, if Isuzu can just do that, then it might offer some sleepless nights for Ford and Toyota executives.

Innova to roll in its Petrol Avatar

2016-07-24T23:49:00.000+05:30

Identical proportion and cues

2011-11-26T22:04:00.000+05:30

Renault Pulse Revealed

2011-10-29T23:09:00.000+05:30

Renault has unveiled the Pulse.It very much resembles the Micra, now if you think this is an act of plagiarism, hold on to that thought, because Renault had formed an Alliance with Nissan to acquire manufacturing facilities. The diesel variant will be launched first, thanks to the recent craze for diesel cars among auto buyers for the past few months.

New Honda City Facelift

2011-09-24T22:39:00.000+05:30

Honda city has finally unveiled the new face lifted City in Thailand on Thursday. The new model has undergone few cosmetic make overs namely new front grille, new bumpers at both front and rear, newly designed tail lamps. The new model is expected to hit the Indian market around October during the festive season.

Meanwhile Honda regained its top position in the mid level sedan segment for the month of August.
Honda City was the market leader for a long time but new entrants like VW Vento and the Hyundai Fuidic Verna dampened the sales chart of Honda. Honda had announced price cuts in July to tackle competition and it worked out pretty well.They managed to sell 5819 units. Now the only feature that lacks in the City is a Diesel engine under the hood, which Honda is still developing.

Car sales for the month of May

2011-06-02T20:55:00.000+05:30

Vokkswagon tops the sales chart for the month of May by registering a massive 244 percent jump in its sales.The hatchback Polo and entry level sedan Vento contributed considerably in the company’s total sales in the month of May, registering combined sales of 5,889 units. The company managed to sell 184 units of its Volkswagen Passat with BlueMotion Technologies in this month.

Skoda reported a 100% growth during the month Skoda Auto India’s total sales for May’11 stood at 2761 units against 1381 units for May ’10.

Mahindra & Mahindra, reported a jump of over 20 per cent in its sales in May 2011. The company managed to sell a total of 34,323 units of its cars during the month as against 28,488 units sold in the same month last year.

Mercedes-Benz India registered a growth of 36%.he C-Class along with the E-Class emerged as the volume drivers; SUV portfolio comprising M-Class & GL-Class recorded almost 200% growth in January-May 2011

Ford, which had been reporting whopping growth figures since last one year after the launch of Figo, has registered a dip of 12.79 per cent in the month of May. The company managed to sell a total of 7,046 units during the month as compared to 8,080 units sold in the same month last year.

Hyundai Motors India Limited (HMIL),has registered a moderate sales increase of 2.04 per cent during the month of May 2011. The company sold a total of 47,766 units of its vehicles during the month as compared to 46,808 units sold in the same month last year.

General Motors India sold 8329 units in May 2011, compared to 8225 units in May 2010, registering a marginal growth of 1.3%. The May 2011 sales comprised 3023 units of Chevrolet Spark, 2144 units of the Beat, 1767 units of Tavera, 659 units of the Cruze, 240 units of Optra, 218 units of Aveo, 143 units of Captiva and 135 units of Aveo U-VA.

Renault Fluence Launched

2011-05-23T20:35:00.001+05:30

Renault marked its re-entry to the Indian market by the launch of Fluence a D segment sedan.
Renault Fluence's diesel variant has been priced lesser than the petrol variant at INR 12.99 Lakhs. The petrol Fluence, on the other hand, has been positioned as a premium top end model offered at a price of INR 14.40 Lakhs. In essence, the diesel engined Fluence has been stripped of many features to bring down the price to meet competition.

The four cylinder 1.5 Liter diesel engine is a common rail unit with a variable geometry turbo, 4 valves per cylinder and double overhead camshafts that results in it producing 105 Bhp of power and 240 of torque. Fluence offers a terrific fuel economy, which at a remarkable 21.84 KMPL is the segment topper. The diesel engined Fluence features a 6 speed manual transmission.
The 2 liter petrol engine on the other hand is more sprightly than the diesel engined Fluence with a 136 Bhp and 190 Nm or Torque, which is fair game in the D segment

Clash of the Titans

2011-05-08T00:15:00.001+05:30

Here's a comparision of Fiesta and Verna RB

Verna RB to be launched next month

2011-04-20T18:06:00.001+05:30

Hyundai Verna RB,the latest version of Hyundai’s Verna is all set to be rolled-out in the Indian market next month.The company had started accepting bookings from April.

In the past few days, a number of advertisements promoting Verna were seen in the leading Indian news daily – Times of India. However, the company is yet to make an official announcement regarding the launch date of this car as well as the pricing details.

The company had made available the test drive of the car to select media. Moreover, the company has launched its latest online campaign along with a new teaser website for the new Hyundai Verna RB http://www.newthinkingcomesalive.com . The interested buyers can fill their contact details there and the company will get in touch with them.

Cricket Crazy Car

2011-03-12T16:44:00.001+05:30

Here's a cricket crazy car which one of our readers Nayan Shah form Mumbai sent it to us.
He's very passionate about cricket.
This car was made to cheer the Indian Cricket team in the World Cup and also as a symbol of peace, unity and love, as a message to the human society on this beautiful earth.

Ferrari to be launched

2011-03-12T16:10:00.000+05:30

Italian sports car maker Ferrari which is a part of Italy's largest car maker Fiat is all set to launch its sport car in India by mid of this year.The company has entered into an agreement with India's Shreyans group for importing and selling these cars in the country.The company will soon setup its first showroom in Delhi followed by Mumbai later this year.Ferrari will be rolled-out in the country in the price bracket of Rs 2.27-3.37 crore.

Mr. Ashish Chordia, Chairman of Shreyans Group, said in a recent statement, "We will be looking at pan India presence in the long term, but initial sales will begin only in Delhi and Mumbai. We would be incurring an expenditure of $27 million for establishing dealers and service network in India. We don't have any sales projection for the Indian market, but are looking at gaining leadership position in the sports car segment."

However Ferrari India would be operating independently in the Indian market, without having any association with its parent Fiat in the country.

Volvo S60 to be launched next week

2011-03-05T13:56:00.001+05:30

Volvo the Swedish luxury car maker will launch the swanky,flamboyant S60 next week.Price is expected to be below 30 lakhs.It will be competing for space with the likes of BMW 320d,Merc C class and the Audi A4 3.0 TDI.

This model would be the cheapest offering in Volvo's portfolio.The car would would come with a diesel and a petrol engine option including D5 diesel and T6 turbo petrol. The car is also expected to be launched in a four-cylinder version after a few months.

The engine of D5 has been borrowed from the S80 saloon and XC60/XC90 SUVs, and is a 2.4-litre twin-turbo, straight-five diesel engine. The powerful engine of D5 is capable of generating a peak power of 205 bhp@4000 rpm along with a peak torque of 42 kgm@1500-3240 rpm. The car takes just 7.8 seconds to break the speed barrier of 100 km/hr and is capable of reaching a top speed mark of 230 km/hr.

On the other hand, the T6 twin-turbo petrol engine will be delivering a peak power of 304 bhp@5600 rpm with a top torque of 44.6 kgm @ 2100 rpm. The car takes just 6.5 seconds to cross the speed mark of 100 km/hr and reaches a top speed of 250 km/hr.

GM to roll out electric Beat

2011-03-05T13:36:00.000+05:30

GM is continuing to make headlines in our site.Beat seams to be a very promising model for GM,recently they intorduced a LPG version of the Beat,now they are all set to launch an electric avatar of the car next month.

In a recent statement given to the media persons, Mr. Karl Slym, President and Managing Director, GM India said, “We will be showcasing a mini electric car in India in the month of April. But it will not be for sale immediately. The timing of its introduction to the market depends on feedback. This is more like a knowledge finding exercise for us.”

The electric car has been jointly developed by a team of engineers from US and Bangalore. According to Mr. Slym, the car may be a precursor for electric models of other Chevrolet. “We are present in the electric vehicle segment in the global market with vehicles like Chevrolet Volt, or the Cruze electric. Before we introduce them in the Indian market we would like to get a response from the India market through a showcase of the mini electric car here,” he added.

GM eyeing premium segment

2011-03-05T12:55:00.000+05:30

General Motors is considering the option of entering the premium car segment by launching the Cadillac brand in the Indian market, in the coming years.Indiatorque had earlier reported the possibilty of Cadillac entering the Indian market.

According to a recent statement given by Managing Director of GM India Karl Slym, "Last year the company had made a survey of the potential for GM's other models like Pontiac, Buick and Cadillac in India. But we found that Cadillac is having the strongest brand recognition here." He added that the company will launch Cadillac at the right time.

Volkswagon to launch new passat

2011-02-24T19:04:00.000+05:30

Volkswagon will roll out its next generation Passat next month.Speaking to the reporters on Wednesday, Volkswagen Group Sales India's Director, Neeraj Garg said, "We will launch the all new edition of Passat in the Indian market by March 2011. It will be launched at the same time as the 'Think Blue' campaign is introduced in the country."

Mr. Garg added, "The all new Volkswagen Passat will come to India with BlueMotion features like start stop, brake energy recuperation, DSG duel clutch gear box, gear shift indicator and an extremely fuel efficient engine."

While further elaborating about the new ‘Think Blue’ approach, Mr. Garg said, "Building on one of the best-known environmental labels in the automobile industry, 'BlueMotion', Volkswagen is sending out a new signal for sustainable mobility."The price has not yet been revealed.

Luxury Cars to be priced cheaper

2011-02-23T21:01:00.001+05:30

If all goes well,India will be signing a free trade agreement with Europe in the month of April.This agreement will have a huge impact on the Indian Auto sector,as prices of luxury German cars are expected to drop by 38%-40%.This is good news for all those who were cribbing about exorbitant car price tags in India.However the import duty of 110% will continue,once this is brought down then the prices would fall even further.

Diesel SX4 coming in a few days

2011-02-18T20:18:00.001+05:30

Maruti Suzuki is all set to roll-out the diesel version of its SX4 in the country on 22nd of this month in an event in New Delhi.The diesel sedan will be powered by a 1.3L diesel multijet engine generating 90 bhp manufactured by Fiat will produce 90 bhp@4000 rpm as well as 21 kgm plus of peak torque using a variable geometry turbocharger.This same engine is found under the hoods of Fiat Linea and Tata Indigo Manza and Swift Dzire,but the addition of VGT will further boost the performance level of the car.

With enhanced performance and improved fuel economy, the new Maruti SX4 Diesel will be about 70 kg lighter than the existing version of SX4 in the country. The new SX4 diesel will compete with the likes of the Hyundai Verna diesel, Volkswagen's Vento diesel and Ford Fiesta diesel. Pricing is expected to be in the region of Rs 7-8 lakh.It is expected that the new Maruti SX4 diesel would be about Rs 70,000 costlier from its petrol counterpart.

India's rising demand for diesel cars has forced even luxury car makers to turn to diesel.Jaguar had launched the XF Diesel a few months ago.We saw even Toyota launch a diesel avatar of Corolla.
Honda is eager to launch a diesel version of City to grab a slice of the diesel market.But the diesel trend is not going down well for the Government.According to press reports, the Delhi state government has been considering a ban on sales of diesel cars in the India capital to bring down emission levels. This move is opposed by the Association of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (AIAM).

Domestic auto major Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company kicked off a debate over advantages of diesel vehicles vis-a-vis petrol vehicles, apparently in an attempt to change the public perception that diesel is a dirty oil and is more polluting than petrol.

"The fact is that diesel is low in emissions, dynamic in ferrying, economic in usage, can be manufactured conveniently and without much damage to the environment,” Telco advisor J Ramnath said in a presentation.

Honda India recalls 58K units of City

2011-02-18T19:36:00.000+05:30

Honda Indian will recall over 50,000 of its City cars.Its one of the country’s biggest recalls and the second such move by the Japanese giant in just over a year. The recalls are being made to replace a defective part that could stall engine restarts.

The company has said that the preventive replacement measures have only been taken for the newer third-generation City cars that were manufactured between the period of November 2008 and December 2009.

The company said in a statement on Thursday, "HSCI is proactively replacing the part (lost motion springs) which are compressed by rocker arms in normal engine use, as they may bend or break over time resulting in abnormal engine noise potentially causing engine stalling."

Volkswagen India rolls-out 50000th car

2011-02-18T19:07:00.000+05:30

VW is not new to creating headlines,no I'm not talking about recalls in this era of recalls,I'm talking about the sales chart.VW had recorded sales of 32,627 vehicles in 2010 as against 3,039 vehicles sold during the year 2009 and registered a sales growth of over 1,000%.

This time they have rolled-out its 50,000th car in the Indian market from its manufacturing plant in Chakan, Pune. The 50,000th car was a Volkswagen Vento. At present, the VW Group produces three of its portfolio models at the Chakan plant that comprises of Volkswagen Polo, the Volkswagen Vento and the Skoda Fabia.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Arno Antlitz, Member of the Board of Management Volkswagen, said, "Touching the 50,000th car production landmark marks the beginning of Volkswagen’s next growth chapter in India. Realizing this target in a year’s time from the start of production is a testimony to the popularity Volkswagen cars enjoy in the Indian market.

Merc jumps back to top position

2011-02-18T18:59:00.000+05:30

Mercedes Benz India has regained its lost top position in the Indian luxury market segment after almost two years. The company had lost its top position in the country to BMW for a period of more than two years. In January 2011, the company managed to sell a total of 640 units of its cars in the Indian market, about 140 units more than BMW.

Merc posted a huge sales growth of 58.81% during the month over the same period previous year.

According to a recent statement given by Dr Dieter Zetsche, Mercedes-Benz Cars Head and Chairman, Board of Management of Daimler AG, "Overall car sales went up over 30 per cent last year. I'm proud to say that our sales force in India performed even better (in 2010)”.He was speaking at a function in Chennai.

Chevy Launches Beat LPG

2011-02-14T18:54:00.000+05:30

General Motors India has launched the LPG version of its Chevrolet Beat compact car, which has a locally developed state-of-the-art `Smartech' engine. The car has been priced at Rs 4.81 lakh (ex- showroom price).The car comes equipped with highly safe LPG kit parts that have been designed installed and validated to meet the crash requirement in the case of any collision. The LPG kit installation in this model is compatible with straight safety norms and whenever the LPG is depleted, the car automatically shifts to petrol.It also removes the possibility of jerking or backfires.

Merc unveils the G wagon

2011-02-14T18:48:00.000+05:30

Mercedes Benz today unveiled its off-roader, the G Wagon in Mumbai today.The G55 AMG is the G-Class launched by Mercedes Benz India at price of 1.1 crores rupees (ex-showroom Mumbai).Over 200,000 units of this rugged off-roader has been sold around the world.G in G Wagon stands for Gelandewagen, a German word for cross country vehicle.

The G-55 AMG is equipped with a 7-speed automatic transmission. It has a massive 5.5-litre V8 engine which churns out 507 bhp and a whopping 700Nm torque. The G-55 is Priced at Rs 1.1 crore (ex-showroom Mumbai).It is also bestowed with Hill start assist,ESP,reversing camera and rear seat entertainment.Mercedes has already received 14 orders from India and the vehicle will be hitting the Indian shores by this week.

Reaching 0-100 is child's play for the G-55,it does the job in just 5.5 sec.You can propel this off roader till you reach the electronically limited top speed of 210kph.

Cadillac soon to hit Indian markets

2011-02-13T19:34:00.000+05:30

Cadillac the luxury brand owned by General Motors will be launched in the Indian market.
As per a statement given by a top company official speaking on the sidelines of the LPG version of the Chevrolet Beat in the Indian market, GM India's President and Managing Director, Karl Slym told PTI, "Our Chevrolet brand is doing extremely well as every 8 seconds somebody buys our cars. This is a good indicator and India is a growing market with the demand for luxury cars growing. We are looking at introducing our premium brand, Cadillac over the next couple of years."

Cadillac was born in 1902, at the dawn of the twentieth century. Its founder, Henry Leland, a master mechanic and entrepreneur, named the company after his ancestor, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac.Cadillac is currently the second oldest American automobile manufacturer behind Buick and among the oldest automobile brands in the world. Depending on how one chooses to measure, Cadillac is arguably older than Buick. Since GM has discontinued offering Oldsmobile, Buick has the distinction as the oldest American make.

Hyundai Is Official Automotive-Partner Of ICC World Cup 2011

2011-02-09T16:06:00.001+05:30

Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) has announced that they will be the official car partner for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. To top that, it is heard that HMIL will also be the official car partner for the ICC from 2011 to 2015.Sonata Transform, Verna Transform, Santa Fe and i10 will be used by officials and players during the World Cup.

Hyundai will also conduct activities like ‘Hyundai Fan Park’, where Hyundai owners can get together and watch the matches live on big-screen TV. Refreshments will be provided at such venues and there will be opportunities to win tickets for the matches.

HMIL has promised to undertake many more promotional activities during the course of the World Cup, to heighten the enthusiasm and excitement of the cricket-loving populace of India.