Hot Scoops on GM India’s Cruze,new Matiz, new Tavera and battery car

You read it first at vicky.in

* On the lines of Volt (230mpg), GM India is planning a battery car for India

* GM India’s battery car if found feasible will hit the market by 2012

* GM Chevrolet is working on an all new Tavera to take on the likes of Toyota Innova, Mahindra Xylo and upcoming Tata Indicruz.

* The new Tavera will come with all new suspension setup.  Remember Tavera is using the obsolete leaf spring suspension and GM would use the new all independent suspension

* The new Tavera would have an all new styling both inside and outside. The flat surface will be shown the door instead contemporary curved surfaces will be used

* New tavera will get the 2.5L Common Rail Diesel engine (Chevrolet’s TCDi) engine developing 116PS of max power

* The upcoming Bharat IV emission will put an end to Tavera’s taxi journey in metros till the new tavera hits the market

* GM India will first launch the Cruze with an 2.0L diesel engine in October.  Impact of the success of optra diesel variant (optra magnum) over petrol optra

* The diesel version of Cruze uses the same engine that powers the Captiva

* GM Chevrolet would launch the Cruze petrol with 1.8L gasoline engine by December

* The new small car that GM developed on the Beat platform will be christened new Matiz.

* GM wants to ride on the iconic “Matiz” that is well known among buyers

* Chevrolet’s new matiz will be launched at the auto expo with an 1.2L petrol engine

* GM Chevrolet has already started working on the LPG variant of the new Matiz which would be out in few months after the matiz gasoline launch

* GM Chevrolet will launch the new Matiz diesel by mid or end of 2010

Maruti new Swift, Tata Indigo Vista, Ford Endeavour automatic and Honda new civic to hit the market

Upcoming models in 2009

The much hyped global recession has not disturbed the car market as more launches are in the offing this festival mood. Almost many top range cars are in the race and to soothe the customers and car lovers- Toyota Fortruner, Maruti Suzuki Estillo are the forerunners. Fortuner costs Rs22 lakh and has got very good response on roads and the small car segment is receiving Estillo(K-engine series) in the lines of A-Star and Ritz, with arms stretched.

* Feeling encouraged with the feedback for its cars, Maruti has initialized K-series engine models especially Swift, which will see replacement of 1.2 with 1.3 lit Esteem derived motor. Swift blesses the buyers with less excise duty, it is expected.

* There will be a tussle between Ford Endeavor and Toyota Fortuner with Ford shaping an edge over the latter with sheet metal and glass. To counter the Fortuner, Ford will launch the new endevaour automatic.

* Honda to contribute with its Jazz and a refined Civic

* General Motors India will stake its claims with its Chevrolet Cruze a mediocre model between Optra and Skoda Octavia,  and will feature 2.0 lit diesel engine and a petrol motor later. The post festival season will see the all-new Beat from GM and the premium Chevrolet Spark in a pricing bid with Nano customers.

* Tata will have its say with a good looking sedan the Indigo Vista with Fiat derived diesel and petrol engines, as a more powerful version of the Fiat Linea with turbo-petrol option, in both diesel and petrol variants.

* W212 Mercedes-Benz E-class(@RS45lakhs to Rs50 lakhs) to glitter with a petrol engine (E350) and a diesel later.

* The range from BMW will be Z4 convertible to CBU.

* The much awaited sensation for this festival is Volkswagen’s Beetle, a CBU unit, at Rs12.15 lakh, in a jealous bid to New Polo and Skoda Fabia.

* Volkswagen will also launch the Yeti a mini SUV at Rs15-20 lakhs.

Nissan’s Made-in-India car next year

Nissan India feels comfortable in the Indian market with its plan to launch Indigenous car by next year. The company is on the roads with two of its imported cars and the time has come for it to start the Indian operations. Nissan sees the Indian hub as an ideal platform for the global operations. In its bid to strongly afoot in the Indian market Nissan has designed a small car model Micra (March) hatchback and it will be ready by next year. The car is set for production in the upcoming unit in Chennai, a joint venture with Renault’s sister concern. The company has set a target of 110000 units in a period of 12 months from its launch and an increase to 180000 units within 2014.

This operation will be the follow up of shutting down the UK plant and the Chennai unit will be the hub for exporting cars to the European market. The unit, at Rs4500 crore investment, is capable of making 400000 units in a 7year chart with nine different ranges of cars will be on the series. The small car segment will see Micra, a sedan and another one. Other cars in the procession will be Teana, X-Trail, 370 ZX sports and another CBU.

The Indian entry will see Nissan maintain its global hold of 5.7%,  if not boost, along with Toyota and Volkswagen, with a back up of its two wings –NMIPL for marketing and distribution while RNAIPL for manufacturing. In addition, Nissan has its sway in the Joint venture between Renault and Bajaj in the low price car projects and another JV with Ashok Leyland for LCVs. The company has joined hands with Hover for launching dealerships and sales networking. Nissan is planning to have a stronghold in the small car segment in spite of Renault’s desire to withdraw from this segment. The business ratio of 50:50 has got no implication for the investment tune of Rs4500 crore.

Suzuki to launch Gixxer and entry level motorcycle

The Japanese company Suzuki’s Indian counterpart Suzuki Motorcycle India has mooted the idea to step into the entry level mobikes in the next fiscal. The company sees a high volume in this segment – in the price range of Rs40000 to Rs50000 and in 75cc to 125cc-, in which Hero Honda is the key player with 80% share. The motorcycle market has an interesting figures  of share- 70% of the 58 lakh vehicles are of entry level mobikes with the executive modes (125-150cc) and premium with 250+cc.

The companies foresee a vital contribution to this market from the rural sector. Suzuki is on the venture of importing its 1000cc GSX-R (called Gixxer) and other two models Hayabusa and Intruder (@Rs12.5 lakh) which have found the sale tune of 100 units in the last 8 months. Suzuki stood on its own after the departure from its tie-up with TVS and now the break even is accomplished and the profit is expected in the fiscal end. The company is full of confidence as the production capacity has increased to meet the market demand for the  mobikes. The Gurgaon plant will be upgraded to manufacture –from 1.75 lakh units to 2.5 lakh units- by the end of this fiscal.

The company has already allocated Rs150 crore for the expansion activities in addition to an earlier investment of Rs400 crore. The production capacity is expected to be increased to 4 lakhs by 2012. Suzuki India’s ranges in the Indian market are – a gearless scooter model, Access 125, Zeus and GS150R, Hayabusa and Intruder. There is an increase in the sale – from 12585 units in July from 10457 units in the same period last year –with an overall 1.4 lakhs units sold in the last fiscal.

Hyundai to launch new Santro Xing in September

You read it first at vicky.in

Hyundai will launch the facelifted version of its die-hard model santro  soon. The new facelifted santro would come with changes in exterior styling and new features. However the santro will be continued with the iRde engine not the kappa one. The new santro xing will come with

* Brown beige interiors similar to i20

* New rear spoiler

* New full wheel cover

* Modified front grille

* rear parcel tray

The new Santro will take on the new Estilo and it will have a marginal price raise over the current santro. All the variants including the LPG will come with the above changes

Maruti Alto to take on Tata Nano

Tata’s daring in the low cost car has invited trouble from the Indian car giant Maruti, who is delving into marketing strategy with its pinnacle brands – Alto and 800. From next April, Maruti may enter into this low priced segment with a sharpened two edged weapon of price factor – to reduce the cost of Alto to close to that of Maruti 800. So far 800 has provided Maruti the feeding of its entire market – particularly the entry level – To meet the demands of the customers’ preference Maruti is on the verge of upgrading Alto with the advanced K-series engine, dignified design and stylistic features- all @ Rs3 lakhs probably. Maruti is to feel contented with a minimum of 60000 – 70000 units per year.

Maruti believes that the cut in the price of Alto would fetch high volumes superceding 800. For this new low cost version of Alto, Maruti has already launched its “one gram one component” policy by which the entire car will be reduced in its weight too. This would make Alto nearer to either Maruti 800 or still closer to Nano.
The customers would have to choose between – 800 and Alto – rather than other low cost cars. The strange thing about Alto is, even at its current price, an approximate 20000 units are sold a month. This has, on the other hand, reflected the fall in the sales of pet model 800. As a consequence, Maruti is to feed the 800 with BS IV norms. With this strategy Maruti has earmarked 12 cities in the country including Mumbai, Delhi and nine other, wherein 800 would not run its show from April 2010. Choose between the best while you read between the lines.

Toyota to benefit from free trade agreement

The inking of Indo-Thai trade agreement seems to have motivated the world’s largest car maker Toyota to seek high from Indian market for the small cars – the company’s hub to be India. Already some auto parts got this privilege and Free Trade Agreement might invite other car makers too- on a particular duty free concept. Toyota is on the line of importing engines for Innova and Corolla Altis from Thailand unit while the spares of Fortuner (suv) (80% imported) are in assembly mode in Bangalore unit. Toyota’s other models Camry sedan, Prado and Land Cruiser are all imported units and the company may benefit if these cars get the advantage of FTA – 7 -10% duty reduction. The company foresees a dramatic change in its marketing if the Indian small car hub materialises smoothly. With an investment of Rs3200 crores in its Bangalore unit, the company is pinning on the increased production- from the current capacity of 80000 units a year to 2 lakh cars in another three years. With this Indian hub, Toyota has chalked out its strategy to export its models to global market and to reap the global profit.

Mahindra to launch a truck, LTV and a SUV in two years

The Indian car manufacturer Mahindra &Mahindra is on the footsteps of launching 3 new ranges in another two years. With the JV from Renault, both the companies are keen on setting their foot strongly, depriving the sales dip of Logan. The company is drafting methodologies to get rid of this downfall and the construction of Chakan plant is meant for the production of new cars. Of the three, the first one will be a small four-wheeler loader of 1tonne capacity, and may be ready by another six months.

A truck and a sports utility vehicle will follow then within 2011. In the meantime, Renault is also making its mind to introduce a car on its own in the Indian market to be a setting for long term projects. Currently M&M is producing 700-800 units of Logan per month and plans are on to increase this in tune with the market demand. The JV yielded a loss of Rs300 crore which is treated as an investment but the actual loss seems to be Rs150 crore. The company is chalking out its plan to migrate the Indian made cars to the US market by next February.

Harley-Davidson launches superbikes in India

The US based heavyweight motorcycles major Harley-Davidson today launched its motorcycles market in India. As a part of the plan, the US major introduced five models in the price range of 12 – 14 lakhs.The models are Fat Boy, Night Rod Special, one in the 883 cc category named Roadster and the other one is the customized model currently named as Legend Harley .The models will be available to rule the Indian streets from next year.

Pictures of Harley-Davidson motorcycles

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