Ford India Cuts Price For Endeavour

This new pricing of the Endeavour is a direct result of the announcement made in the Union Budget 2009-10. It has been proposed that the excise duty applicable on cars of engine capacity 2000 cc and above will be reduced from Rs. 20,000/- per vehicle to Rs. 15, 000 per vehicle.

Tim Tucker, vice president, sales, Ford India, said, ”The additional duty reduction has been a welcome step taken by the Government though the reduction is limited only to large cars. We are pleased to pass the benefit of the reduction on the Endeavour to the consumer in entirety.”

The price reduction of Rs. 6,000 will be applicable to all three variants of the Endeavour. The base model (2.5 Litre) of the Endeavour will now be available at Rs. 15, 01,000 (Ex-showroom, New Delhi). The Ford Endeavour is available in two other variants – the 2.5L XLT and the 3.0L Thunder Plus.

Ford Endeavour was rated the No. 1 in vehicle dependability in the SUV segment. Ford continues to maintain its undisputed leadership position in the premium SUV segment. Ford has sold more than 1118 units of SUV through January to June, registering a 29% market share.

Hyundai launches i20 diesel and i20 1.4L automatic

You read it first at vicky.in

As expected, Hyundai today unleashed the diesel version of i20. Christened as i20 CRDi the diesel i20 comes with a powerful oil burner generating 90PS of peak power at 4000rpm and 224Nm of peak torque between 1750 – 2750rpm. The new 1.4L gamma gasoline generates 100PS of power at 5500rpm and 139Nm at 4200rpm

The prices of Hyundai i20 CRdi are

Hyundai i20 diesel Magna – Rs6,19,800

Hyundai i20 diesel asta — Rs6,83,431

Hyundai i20 diesel Asta (O) -Rs7,20,430

Hyundai i20 Gamma Petrol AT

i20 Asta AT – Rs7,31,130

i20 Asta (O) – Rs7,72,301

i20 CRDi and i20 Gamma Automatic is available in seven colours – red,black,grey metallic, white, blue,silky beige and red.

Budget 2009 Reduces Cost Of Big Cars

The government of India’s Budget naturally raises expectations. The Budget 2009 proposed to reduce the additional excise duty on big cars. It also cut the duty of petrol-driven trucks to eight per cent from 20 per cent at present.The middle class expected an almost certain fall in price of the small cars but they were left disappointed.

The relief provided in the prices of the cars is only in the category of four-wheelers whose engine capacity is 2,000 CC and above. Auto manufacturers have starting announcing their price cuts on big cars and pass on the duty benefit to their customers.

Passing on the benefit of the excise cut on big cars, auto major Hindustan Motors Ltd (HML) on Monday reduced the prices of its partner Mitsubishi’s vehicles Pajero, Outlander and Montero cars in the country by Rs 6,000. The price cut will take effect from July 7.

Tata Motors also stated that it will soon announce new prices of its models in India. General Motors, BMW, and Toyota also stated that they will pass on the excise duty benefit to their customers.

Honda Siel Cars India Limited refused to cut prices on its models. Honda feels that there is lot of pressure on bottom line due to depreciation of Rupee in the international market.

Toyota Fortuner Yet To Be On Indian Roads

The Toyota Fortuner is such an wonderful vehicle in its class, designed and geared up to go wherever the wind blows you.  The Toyota Fortuner is a pickup-truck-based passenger vehicle (PPV) produced by the Japanese automaker Toyota for some Asian, African and Latin American markets.

Toyota is the world’s top automobile manufacturer. Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt. Ltd. (TKM) recently launched its internationally successful premium sports utility vehicle (SUV), the Toyota Land Cruiser.The new Land Cruiser V8, Toyota’s top of the range model, has made its debut in the European market in December 2007. This eighth generation retains all the world-beating off-road capability of its predecessors but adds more refinement, comfort and superior driving quality.

Speaking about the much expected Toyota Fortuner,the Toyota Fortuner can be expected soon in India. But the news is that it would be launched only towards the end of 2009 – and that means beginning of 2010. The Fortuner was initially introduced in 2005. Assembled in South Africa, Thailand and South America, the Fortuner is built on a well-established platform. It features three rows of seats and is available in rear-wheel drive or four-wheel drive among others. A number of engine options are available depending on the country of sale, including a 2.7 liter 2TR-FE and 4.0 liter 1GR-FE V6 petrol with Variable Valve Timing and 2.5 2KD-FTV and 3.0 1KD-FTV common rail variable geometry turbocharger Diesel models.

The Toyota Fortuner is a good looker. The Fortuner is part of Toyota’s IMV project in Thailand, which also includes the Toyota Hilux and the Innova. Expected price for the Fortuner would be something between Rs 16 lakhs and Rs 20 lakhs.

Toyota is investing nearly Rs.3000 crores in setting up a new plant near Bangalore. This plant for the small car in Bangalore will be ready by 2010.  Thus, TKM is making up itself to set its footprint in the very big small car market in India.

Tata Motors Will Benefit From The JLR Deal

The  automotive industry is unique because car makers have to think and act today to make the kind of cars people will drive half a decade down the line and sometimes even more. It’s unfair to look at the automotive industry on a year-on-year basis. Automakers have to see the future and as everyone knows, it’s not an easy task.

The boss of Jaguar Land Rover’s Indian parent company Tata has warned that lengthy shutdowns of its factories cannot be ruled out.Tata Motors announced a whopping consolidated loss of Rs 2,505 crore for the year ended March 2009, its first loss in seven years. This was largely due to its UK-based operations of JLR (Jaguar Land Rover), which reported a loss of about Rs 2,448 crore for ten months (since June 2008) ended March 2009.

The $2.3 billion that the company paid to acquire Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford may look a bit hefty in today’s depressed times, but Tata Motors is actually quite lucky. The reason Tata is lucky is because the Indian auto giant is now reaping the harvest from the seeds sown by Ford. With Ford’s backing, Jaguar pushed the boundaries to create two superlative cars, the XK coupe/convertible in 2006 the XF sedan in 2007. These models overturned established benchmarks set by their contemporary rivals across the Atlantic.

But will the Indian luxury car customer be swayed away from the German trio comprising Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi and go out and buy himself a Jaguar? To keep up with this tough competition, Tata’s effort in the first phase should be to establish the brand appropriately rather than focus on pushing volumes. The support structure for selling Jaguars is being put in place, and Tata Motors hopes to set up showrooms in Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune by 2010.establishing a dealership network is the biggest challenge for Jaguar in India. But that’s for the short term.

The bigger challenge for Jaguar is to sustain its premium pricing and convince customers it’s a cut above the Teutons. Perhaps its quintessential Britishness, seductive looks, thoroughbred performance and quality craftsmanship will help. And perhaps a little bit of Tata Motors’ luck as well.

Honda Plans For Jazz 1.5L

Japanese premium car maker Honda Motor recently launched its hatchback Jazz. The Honda Jazz might be Honda’s smallest offering in India, but by no means is it a small car.

With a 1.2 litre petrol engine, it is as an extremely tech savvy piece of machinery that is designed to offer enhanced mileage and excellent power delivery throughout the torque band. Jazz costs from Rs 6.98 lakh to 7.33 lakh for the top end model.

Honda recognises that a lot of potential customers for the Jazz might want more than a puny 1.2-litre engine under the hood. The Jazz shares its platform with the City. So Honda is considering to slot the 1.5-litre 110bhp engine from the City under the Jazz’s bonnet. This enhancement will be done not before 2010.

This new engine would transform the Jazz’s performance, but will add an estimated Rs 70,000 to the price. Honda is also considering offering an automatic transmission with the 1.5-litre powerplant. With the automatic transmission option, the Jazz could be dearer by over Rs 1 lakh. However, Honda feels there will be interested customers even at this price point.

Well, this is frankly up to them to decide on what is best for their company and product. Product pricing is always a sensitive issue. Right now it is a wait and watch game on what the Jazz’s transformed version will actually be priced at. How will the market take to it, and what is going to be the reaction of buyers who have this car on their wish list. Time is the best story teller, and time will reveal the facts.

Yamaha launches new Fazer

As you read it first at vicky.in few weeks back, Yamaha today launched the new Fazer in India. Fazer is the third bike from Yamaha on FZ-16 platform. Recently yamaha launched a new variant of FZ-16 called FZ-S. Similar to the FZ-S, the fazer is powered by a 153cc engine producing 14PS of max power at 7500rpm and 14Nm of peak torque at 6500rpm. This new Fazer comes with a quarter fairing and it now gets even bigger rear tyre. The rear tyre is now 140-60 with 17″ alloy wheels. Fazer is priced at Rs72,000 (ex-showroom delhi). Fazer is available in four colours – blue, black,red and orange.

In additon to the launch of  Fazer, Yamaha has announced the launch of new colours for R15 – yellow, black,red and blue

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Bajaj to launch Discover 100cc on 12th July

As part of Bajaj Auto’s six months six bikes plan, it will launch a mass motorcycle on 12th of July. The new bike would be also called as Discover (codenamed as DiscoverM or Discover K70). The new discover would come with an engine displacing between 100 and 110cc. The power and torque ratings are not known. The new Disover would be priced around Rs45,000 and compete against the Hero Honda’s Splendor plus and Hero Honda Passion plus.

Stay tuned for more details

Indian Cars Rock The European Market

Indian carmakers are reaping the benefits of the incentives offered by the governments of Germany, France and the UK to people exchanging their old cars for new fuel-efficient ones.

The country’s largest car exporter, Hyundai Motor India expects to sell around 5.8 lakh cars, out of  which nearly 3 lakh cars will be exported including to some European countries. The company is receiving a huge number of export orders, mostly of i10 and i20 models. Hyundai, which uses India as an export base for its small cars, shipped 24,251 units to Europe, a jump of  32.5%. Thanks to booming exports, Hyundai’s production schedule for exports is already booked for the next two months and the company is now looking at bagging orders for September and beyond, helping the company post handsome profits.

Maruti Suzuki shipped more A-Star small cars to Europe, particularly to countries such as Germany, the U.K., the Netherlands, Spain and France. The A-star has met overwhelming customer response in European markets.

The small cars—A-Star , i10 and i20—are the biggest grossers in Europe as these fuel-efficient models emit low volumes of carbon dioxide per kilometer.