BMW to come up with motorbikes in India

The premium bike market in India is very small and an attractive segment. BMW is in plans to make a joint-venture with India’a Hero group in order to enter the high-end motorcycle segment in the market. BMW launched its F650 model in collaboration with Hero earlier and was not much successful.

BMW is analysing India’s high-end and premium bike market. The company has plans to introduce its Motorrad range of super bikes in India. BMW Motorcycle is having a look at the market. As soon as it sees potential for a viable market entry for sustainable growth, the company would come into India. The bikes of the Motorrad range may cost above Rs 10 lakh in India. BMW Motorrad is a German brand for motorcycles, which are in production since 1923.
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A BMW motorbike
Suzuki Motorcycle India is regularly importing containers of their high-end bike Hayabusa and Intruder. Each container has up to 15 bikes and they are ordering new containers of bikes ever 1-2 months. The company hopes to sell 100 more high-end bikes which may cost up to Rs 12.5 lakh.

Will Tata Motors stop its electric-car plan for UK?

Tata Motors has threatened that they will scrap plans to launch Vista electric cars in the UK if it does not receive a £10 million loan from the British government soon.

The company is furious after being told by officials from (Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills) Lord Peter Mandelson’s business department that it needed more time to find out if the venture will be considered for the loan — taking the total wait to six months.

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The Vista electric-car

Tata Motors registered its expression of interest to apply for the £10 million loan last April, to help launch the Vista electric vehicle and build an assembly for the vehicle i the UK. The Vista electric vehicle was unveiled at the Geneva Motors Show this year.

No money has been provided by the government from its £2.3bn package which is made up of loan guarantees and loans for car makers wanting to invest in fuel efficient technologies. The $2.3 billion package was unveiled in January. Tata Motors remain in deadlock in talks with the department over securing support for luxury cars JLR.

Tata Motors’ Norwegian subsidiary, Miljo, has got a six million pound loan and a one million pound grant from the Norwegian Government for electric vehicles.

A good news for Opel car owners

General Motors India is in a way to satisfy its older Indian customers. The company has announced an Opel Exchange Programme.

Under this programme, the Indian Opel customers can exchange their Astra and Corsa models of Opel for a new Chevrolet model. This programme is only for a limited period. With the buy back scheme, GM is giving an opportunity to their loyal customers to enjoy the Chevrolet experience.

The Astra and the Corsa models of Opel wil be taken back by GM following an inspection of the cars by GM-certified engineers. The customers will be offered a market price car’s physical condition and model year. The customers will also be offered free accessories worth Rs 10,000. The customers can avail this Opel Exchange Programme  at any of the GM dealerships across the country.

GM India dealers have also entered into a financing arrangement with some of the public and private sectors banks to offer low EMI schemes to help their customers.   Under this scheme, the banks will offer convenient financing packages including attractive pay out schemes.

General Motors India is in the process of expanding its dealership networks and authorized service outlets in urban and semi-urban cities. The company currentky has 195 authorized sales points and 198 service outlets across the country. The company operates engineering, R&D and Design Centres in Bangalore.

GM India has two car manufacturing facilities at Halol in Gujarat and Talegaon in Maharashtra. The Tavera, Optra, Aveo, Aveo U-VA, SRV, Spark and Captiva models are produced for the Indian market under the Chevrolet brand.

Two ‘uber-cool’ i20 variants from Hyundai

Hyundai Motor India Limited(HML), is gearing up in the Indian compact car market with a diesel version of its premium compact hatchback, the i20.
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The i20 is already a success in the Indian and overseas compact car market with its contemporary styling, rich interior features and safety features. Hyundai is in top gear to make use of the vast potential that exists in the diesel car segment in India.

The powerful, CRDi powerplant produces state-of-the-art technological innovations like the Electrical EGR (Exhaust Gas Re-circulation). The EGR comes with an EGR cooler and eco-friendly oil filter that reduces pollution and the maintenance cost of the vehicle.

Hyundai also introduces the i20 Automatic Transmission (AT) with the power-packed 1.4 litre GAMMA petrol engine keeping in mind the needs of city driving

conditions and the traffic during the peak hours.

Maruti launches CNG kit for Alto

You can get the India’s largest selling hatchback – Altowith a retrifitted CNG kit. Maruti has launched a CNG kit for alto at Rs43,545. “The Maruti-authorised CNG kits will be available across variants of brand new Maruti Suzuki Alto at dealerships in only Delhi and NCR from June 17 onwards,” the company said in a statement. The retrofitted CNG Altos would come with a 12-kg tank, which would accommodate 7-7.5 kg of Compressed Natural Gas, it added. “Alto has emerged as the most preferred car in India for its driveability, superior mileage, low ownership cost and overall reliability. We are confident that the Alto with a CNG option makes this car even more attractive for customers,” Maruti Suzuki Chief General Manager Shashank Srivastava said.