Bajaj Launches Kawasaki Ninja 250R

You read it first at vicky.in

As you read it, Bajaj launches Kawasaki Ninja 250R in India. Thankfully, Bajaj imports the European spec models of Ninja 250R in India. The eye-candy Ninja 250R comes with liquid cooled,4 – stroke parallel twin engine. The 249cc mill pumps out an impressive peak power output of 22.2KW(30PS/29.5bhp)(as per Bajaj’s press release) at 10,500 rpm (Bajaj issued a pamphlet to us which says the peak power is 33PS/32.5bhp at 11000rpm) and peak torque of 21Nm at 8500rpm. This would be easily most impressive figures found in any Indian bike. The fuel injection unit ensures smoother acceleration along with the six-speed transmission unit. Ninja 250R uses telescopic fork suspension and uni-trak suspension at the front and the rear respectively. Bajaj has kept the dimensions of Ninja unchaged – 2080mm length, 710mm breadth and 1115mm height. Surprisingly Ninja’s ground clearance of 135mm is left untouched. However the Indian Ninja 250R has gained 3kgs, Ninja 250R weighs 172kg (european Ninja weighs just 169kg). The mandatory addition of number plate and saree guard could be the cause. 290mm petal front disc brake and 220mm rear disc are the other exciting features of Ninja 250R. Bajaj in its introductory speech states Ninja would be priced less than Rs3 lakhs

* Bajaj claims a fuel efficieny or mileage of 42.5kmpl for Ninja 250R

* Bajaj will sell the Ninja 250R through exclusive Probiking outlets

* Bajaj plans to sell 1000 units of Ninja 250R this year

* Bajaj has despatched 50 units of Ninja 250R to probiking showrooms

* Bajaj showroom’s will offer complete three S’s – Sales, Service and Spares.

* Bajaj to import Ninja 250R spares will be imported directly from Japan and Thailand.

Ninja 250R  will be available in two colours – green and black

Bajaj Ninja 250R is priced Rs2,69,970 (Ex-showroom Delhi)

Bajaj Ninja 250R is priced Rs2,69,580 (Ex-showroom Chennai)

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See the strange age old analogue cock-pit of Ninja 250R here. Tripod instrument panel of Ninja 250R includes-  Analogue speedometer, Analogue tachometer and fuel warning.

Catch pictures of Bajaj Kawasaki Ninja 250R from every angle at http://www.vicky.in/slideshow

Early Diwali Releases

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The year, which was actually forecasted to be a moderate year for the Auto majors in India, has already turned to be money spinning year. This festive season especially has been a most special year for Car and Bike Manufactures. September sales number is never seen and October is expected to do much well as Diwali falls in this Month. To boost the sales to a new high, Auto Majors in India have scheduled for a number of Interesting new launches. Especially this week is going to witness atleast five major launches including the much expected bike Bajaj Ninja and the car, Chevrolet Cruze. Maruti Suzuki in its turn is launching the automatic version of its popular model, Maruti Suzuki SX4 and Tata motors is launching upgraded version of Tata Indigo, Tata Manza. The two seater roadster BMW Z4 is also hitting on the Indian roads this week. This exclusive slideshow is covering the complete details of all these new vehicles along with the pictures. Click here to read more.

Maruti to launch Eco in November

You read it first at vicky.in

As you read it first at vicky.in few days back, the new Omni will be called as “Eco”. Read below for more details on Eco.

* The rear wheel drive Eco will get the Bharat IV emission compliant engine

* Eco will come with an 1200cc engine

* Eco will come only with a petrol engine (G12 series). The current versa uses G13 series engine.

* No diesel engine for this people mover (Eco)

* Eco will come in both seven and five seater option

* Eco will come only in two variants – LX and VX

* “Eco” was codenamed as “O2”. The eco friendly nature of this MUV is yet to be known.

* Price of Eco may start from Rs3.7lakhs

Maruti to launch SX4 Automatic on October 12

You read it first at vicky.in

Maruti will launch the new facelifted SX4 and an automatic variant of SX4 on October 12th.The SX4 will come with a refreshed face and a new Bharat IV compliant engine.

* SX4 gets a new front grille

* SX4’s new Bharat IV compliant engine comes with advanced VVTi

* SX4 gets an 5-speed automatic transmission

* Power ratings of SX4 revised upwards by 2bhp (approximately)

* Torque ratings are also revised upwards by 2Nm (approximately)

* Mileage / Fuel Efficiency of manual variant of SX4 remains at 15.5kmpl and the automatic variant of SX4 would return 12.5kmpl (ARAI).

* Interiors remains grey (no dual tone) but are now well laid out

Small-car exports to Europe hit a roadblock

Screening of small car exports resulted with scrappage policy in Europe. This has strongly hit the two giants Maruti and Hyundai Motor in India. These two companies were fortunate to have a hike in sales (35-40%) over the last few months due to the incentives disbursed by Germany, France, and the UK. Under this scheme, the old cars were replaced with the new ones in fuel-efficient ranges. By this December the scrappage scheme would come to the curtains in Germany and Austria, followed by other countries. By seeking the grace of the European program extension, the companies are anticipating some good business from non-European countries. Till a week ago, Maruti Suzuki’s export figure was 58,500 units of which A-Star accounted 33,500 units, Nissan exported its 25000 units of Pixo along with other models numbering 7900 units. Maruti Suzuki, however, set a target of 1.3 lakhs for this year in terms of 70,023 units last year. The major hiccup for the European market, the scrappage scheme may end anytime paving revival of European market, hope the companies. Field experts see that Maruti is not in a position to export beyond 1.16 lakh units this year, as from the exported units, 90000 units come under Europe while the remaining 30000 units in non-European market.

Hyundai faced a smiling gesture from the European market, as it could export more than 50% of its units to Europe of which Germany alone is the major sharer. Hyundai targets to export 2.7 lakh units in this year against the last year’s 2.45 units. The company is too happy with the advance orders for the export, in spite of decline. Hyundai exports i10, and i20 for Europe. The scrappage scheme insists cars to have an emission level below 160 g /km. Germany is too persistent in this regard as it has allocated e5 billion for this scheme with an incentive of e-2500 for fuel-efficient new car. For its part France has allocated 220 million euros from which 1000 euros and a tax benefit upto 5000 euros for a new car.

It was the UK which created a fund allocation with 300-million pounds corpus under cash-for-clunkers scheme by which the customer would get 2000 pounds for a new car. The funding is expanded with additional 100 pounds. Such scheme is there in practice in other countries like Spain, Italy, Austria and the Netherlands.

China’s SAIC to buy stake in GM India

Rumors went agog about the Chinese Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. claimed to have got a stable share in the Indian plant of General Motors in Talegaon. This unit is known for its potential of producing 140000 units per year. SAIC is already in business terms with GM in way of Shanghai GM, SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile and the Pan-Asia Technical Automotive Center. This apart, SAIC is in association with VW in the form of Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive along with several subsidiaries to make a wide range of commercial vehicles and mini-cars.

SAIC’s venture with GM directly will enable the company to have an easy access in the Indian market for its products. If the deal materialized, the first car to come out of the deal would be SAIC-GM-Wuling mini car. After that several other range of models would ply from China. But the horn is in off condition in GM circles.

Tata Manza teaser website is up

As we informed you earlier, Tata will launch the Manza (new Indigo) on October 14th in Mumbai. The teaser website for Manza is already up. Manza teaser website pose questions to the user and participants could win a chauffeur driven Manza a day (weird contest). All you have to furnish is which type of car Manza is and What could be the price of the Manza.

Tata Manza teaser website indulgeinmanza.com

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Peugeot contemplating on a come back to India

The French car manufacturer of old times, Peugeot is in a contemplation spirit to revisit India, barely after a long reel of 12 years. To be on the Indian soil in another three to six months, the company is taking stock of the global market especially Brazil, Russia, and China,(BRIC economies) before entering. PSA, as is known popularly, is all set to retrieve its presence this time without any flaw, said the company’s CEO Mr.Phillippe Varin. Earlier, it had to leave in an abrupt manner.

Peugeot and Citroen are doing good business in Europe but don’t want to take any risk amidst the global marketing strategies. The scrappage market is especially promising in Europe and has laid the path for the invasion towards the small car segment for which the Indian market seems to be more potential. Suzuki and Hyundai have proved this phenomenon of fuel-efficiency. PSA company views the growing swing in the markets of India and China for the global profit which can double the sourcing means. In all the company is not in a hurry to let the cat run and they are fully aware of various critical issues to be resolved with. PSA believes the credibility aspect for the brand name (in connection with the earlier business), the location of the unit and the business methodology. However, there are two contenders for the location – Andhra Pradesh and Tamilnadu- but given the situation of labor problems in MRF and Pricol, odds favour the AP.

Tamilnadu has the memoirs of the lock out in Kalyan plant and this could make PSA to have an afterthought. If at all the plan comes into effect, the initial mode will be a mix of CKD assembling, and import of cars to promote the brand and has to vie with all other major companies of the world, which are already in good knock in India. As an adhoc range and to combat the competition from Ford, Honda and Toyota the company has earmarked the compact car for the Indian car market.

Hyundai reaches a rare feat in 11 years

September happened to be a gifted period for Hyundai and Maruti Suzuki, both acquiring a solid number of business. Hyundai, in particular, fetched the highest sales in its presence of 11 years in India. Maruti could sell 83,306 units (surpassing its previous year’s sale in September by 17%). Still it is a shortfall by 1500 units on monthly sales target.

However, the company is pinning on the hope of festive days ahead and is confident of reviving its business. From the sale of this units, the A2 segment consisting Alto, Wagon R, the Swift, the A-Star and the Ritz- mustered the number to 52,000 units. The company had a faced a bad stint with 800, the mid-size SX4 and the D’zire while the export saw a promising 85%(11,712 units) with A-Star glittering in Europe.

The immediate rival, Hyundai scaled the 50000 mark in September(53,804cars sold) of which the Indian market’s share being 27,803 indicating a growth of 25% and export business to 9%(26,001 units). Hyundai’s A2 segment of Santro, i10, the Getz and i20 put together accounted for 49,482 units. The company is planning to capitalise on the festive spirit as this means the turning point to the company’s market strategy in India. Hyundai hopes to earn double-digit growth figures by penetrating the festival sales.

Tata motors too did some good business by increasing its sale by 10%(18,176 units) in September in addition to sale of 2524 Nano units, 9858 units of Indica (up by 15%) and 3420 units of Indigo (fall by 27%). Utility vehicles too saw a dip by 29% (2374 units). Fiat, Tata’s partner, tasted the increased sales- from 243 in September 2008 to 2567 units this September. M&M’s sale of Utility vehicle was a near 22000 units(plus 37%) with Logan making a displeasure with an untoward fall. In commercial vehicle sector, Tata Motors fetched a growth of 10% in truck and bus sales in this September from its previous year’s sale of 31,474 units. LCV segment too brought an increase of 16%(18,454 units) while medium and heavy commercial vehicles increased by two percent(13,020 units). Medium and heavy commercial vehicles continue this spree for the consecutive third month, quite contrary to its earlier debacle in last October.