Maruthi to launch new 800 in 2010

‘M800’ which was launched in 1983, has undergone many facelifts and has always been a subject of speculation of being phased out after its sales started dropping. This fiscal (April-Oct period) ‘M800’ sales have gone down by 18 per cent at 32,093 units as against 39,142 units in the same period a year ago. The model’s sales declined by 26.13 per cent during October at 3,307 as against 4,477 in the same month last year. The Maruti 800 satisfies the Bharat III norms (In India, the emission norms that are applicable to vehicles have been named as Bharat Stage III. The maximum speed, at which the vehicle is tested on the chassis dynamo, is limited to 90 kmph) It now features a 32-bit electronic control unit and a catalytic converter in compliance with Bharat Stage III emission norms. But now, it is time for upgrade!

Maruti Suzuki India said it is working to make the Maruthi800 model compliant with Bharat Stage IV emission norms. As per the Auto Fuel Policy, the 13 mega cities, which have Bharat Stage III emission regulations, will meet Bharat Stage IV standards from April 2010 and the rest of the country will upgrade to Bharat Stage III regulations.
“There are ways of making the engine compliant with stricter emission norms. Either you work on improving engine combustion or you put in a catalytic converter,” he said, without specifying which method the company was adopting for the M800 to comply with Bharat Stage IV norms, to be enforced by April 2010 in 13 mega cities.

In effect from From April 1, 2010 :

Bharat Stage III norms (Euro III equivalent norms) for the entire country; Bharat Stage IV (Euro IV equivalent norms) for all private vehicles, city public service vehicles and city commercial vehicles for cities of Delhi/NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune, Surat, Kanpur and Agra. Soon Bharat Stage IV is to be implemented in the country for all vehicles across India. These norms have a prescribed level of 1 g/km of CO and 0.10 g/km of HC + NOX. These are more stringent and effective for maintaining the ecological balance.

Maruti launches A-star

You read it first at vicky.in

As you read the report, Maruti is launching the A-star in a ceremony being held in New Delhi. The much awaited, made in India (Suzuki’s first) is seen as Maruti’s counter act against Hyundai’s i10.
Though it replaces alto in european markets, Maruti’s new A-star will co-exist with the alto in India. Power comes from an all new 1litre,3 cylinder unit developing 67PS and 90Nm. In europe the same engine is already doing the duty under the hood of Suzuki’s splash. Though the peak power adn torque figures are little disappointing when compared to Hyundai’s i10, this mill is said to be ultra fuel efficient and eco friendly. Maruti Suzuki’s marketing team coins a new term called ‘PentaDrive’ for this A-star. Adding to the city centric powertrain is A-star’s compact dimensions and power steering – 3.6-metres length and 4.5m of turning radius. To counter the i10’s much praised interiors – A-star is equipped with a refreshing mix of modernity and ethnicity. The smart tacho pod, digital trip meter, odometer, fuel gauge, clock, an integrated music system with AUX-in facility, a short-throw 6-gear shift and a sporty steering, together offer an unmatched experience. A floating cockpit design, sculpted aero-dashboard and wrap-around console add to the overall engaging sporty theme. The crimson illumination that is gentle to the eyes and has stress relieving properties, has been integrated soberly in the interiors

Safety features of the A-star includes – Crushable structure energy dispersing frame and a high rigidity body combined with lightness,airbags and ABS The A-star’s body reflects the Total Effective Control Technology (TECT) concept in the form of crushable structures that absorb impact energy and then disperse impact energy away from occupants in the event of a collision. A star will be made in 200 variants and exported to 150 countries across Europe, Middle east , Latin America, Asia, Australia, and Africa. A-star will be exported under the name of Suzuki Alto and Suzuki Celerio. Nissan also plans to market the same car under the name Nissan Pixo in middle East and African markets.

A-star comes in three variants – Lxi,Vxi and Zxi and nine colours.

Maruti will run a 360* campaing for A-star —stop @ nothing

Prices of A-star variants and pictures will be updated soon

Prices of A-star variants are as follows. All the prices listed below are (ex-showroom delhi)

* A-star Lxi – Rs3,46,775

* A-star Vxi -Rs3,74,775

* A-star Zxi – Rs4,11.775

Maruti Suzuki A-star complete details

While Maruti Suzuki is preparing for the big launch of A-star on November 19th more details on the small car has come out. Here are complete informations on A-star which you love to read.

A-star – stop at nothing is a cute hatchback from Maruti Suzuki for global markets. This compact A-star  features all the norms of contemporary hatchback. Raised bonnet, larger airdam, peeled back headlamps and elliptical glasshouse of the A-star does not excite you but it looks pleasing. But once again Maruti Suzuki has not given sufficient care to the rear part of the A-star. Passersby might miss the A-star as any other one. Overall styling is not outstanding but contemporary.

The dimensions of A-star are – 3500mm*1600mm*1490mm (length*breadth*height). The dimensions are more or less similar to its rival Hyundai i10. However i10 scores over the A-star wheelbase (2360mm) by 20mm.  But we have to look how these dimensions are efficiently utilized before concluding which one is superior. Anyway, the 4.5m turning radius of A-star will help you to tight corners and make swift manoeuvers.  The 170mm ground clearance of A-star makes it good enough to roll over potholes and bumps.

With the launch of A-star, Maruti Suzuki also debuts its superior KB series engine in India. The 3 cylinder, 12valve MPFI unit generates 67PS of peak power at 6200rpm and 90Nm of max torque at 3500rpm. Though these figures are nowhere near the i10 kappa, remember, we earlier reported you that this A-star returned 19.5Km for a litre of petrol.  The mill is mated with a 5speed manual transmission. A-star does not feature automatic transmission even as an optional one.

At the front A-star features ventilated disc brake and at the rear it sports drum brake. The Mcpherson strut and coil spring suspension and independent trailing link at the fore and aft forms the suspension setup of A-star. A-star runs on 155/80 R13 tyres and alloy wheel is an optional fitment.

As we reported you earlier, Maruti Suzuki comes in three variants – Lxi,Vxi and Zxi. While the top end Zxi variant gets Dual airbags and ABS with EBD as standard fitment, the Vxi get the ABS as an optional one. Comfort and convenience features such as power windows and power steering is standard across all the in Vxi and Zxi variants. Following the swift, a-star comes with an integrated music player in Vxi (2 speakers) and Lxi Zxi variants (4 speakers). All the variants of the A-star comes with an integrated head rest at front seats. Vanity mirrors, front fog lamps, body coloured door handles, coloured mirrors and tachometer are only meant of top end A-star Zxi.

Maruti Suzuki offers alloy wheels, sunroof, door sill guard,roof end spoiler,reading lamps, art leather seat cover and sunroof as accessories for the A-star. A-star will be available in as many as nine colours – azure grey, arctic white, sunlight copper,midnight black, paradise blue, silky silver, healing green, bright red and desert brown.

To know the technical specifications of a-star visit http://vicky.in/forums/topic/maruti-suzuki-a-star-brochure-and-features-list

To read the test drive report on a-star visit http://vicky.in/forums/topic/maruti-suzuki-a-star-test-drive

Suzuki A-star Interiors

Suzuki officially unwrapped the covers of new Alto the A-star at the ongoing paris auto show. Styled with european customers in mind, A-star is the true global to be produced solely in India. Suzuki will market this car under various names and various badges in almost 150 countries. Result the Indian customers gets a product on par with European customers after the Hyundai’s i10.

Suzuki A-star: The funkily styled new Alto is 3500mm long, 1600mm wide and 1470mm high and is meant to urban runabout. With a wheelbase of 2360mm the front passengers are given prominence over the rear. The boot space of 129L is abysmally low but can be expanded to 774L.

Suzuki A-star: An Euro 5 compliant three cylinder 1.0L petrol engine which produces 68PS at 6000rpm and 90Nm of torque at 4800rpm powers the A-star. A five speed manual/automatic will complete the powertrain of the A-star. According to Suzuki,A-star (new alto) has a combined fuel consumption of 22kmpl and the top speed is claimed as 155kmph.

Interior pictures of Suzuki A-star

Suzuki A-star: The two tone dashboard and aptly placed items gives the A-star an upmarket look. Space is efficiently used, the vertical glove box is the nice design thought, it occupies less space and should be found highly useful by Indian customer.  Ergonomics should be ideal as Suzuki engineers claim.A/C louvres and integrated music player is placed on the upper part of the dashboard and the A/C control knobs on the lower part of it. Instrument binnacle houses the speedo and other tell tales as the rev counter is shelved into a different unit. However the Swift sourced steering wheel and gear knob inhibits the A-star interiors from giving an all new look. Cost cutting is a bit overtoned.  Suzuki should try something different, hereafter, A-star,swift,swift Dzire, SX4,Grand Vitara and upcoming splash all features the same steering wheel and gear knob.

Suzuki A-star: Suzuki says an emphasis has been put on ensuring the ride and handling progressive and the steering light, while a turning circle of 4.5 metres adds to its appeal for city car users. Front suspension is by Macpherson struts and at the rear is the three-link rigid axle.

Suzuki A-star: Expect the Maruti Suzuki A-star before the end of this October and will be priced between Rs3-4 lakhs. The good news is Maruti Suzuki has said it would be carefully monitoring the condition and if the demand spurts it will offer more number of cars to the domestic market from the planned 50000 units a year.

Maruti A-star pictures

More pictures of Maruti A-star which will be out in next few weeks has come out. A-star will be powered a all new K-series engine producing 48kW (65hp). A-star will give stiff competetion to Hyundai’s i10 and will be priced between Rs3.5 to Rs4lakhs.

Here are the pictures of Maruti A-star

Source:Auto Scoop

Toyota Prius India launch on hold

Toyota feels Indian market is not ready for hybrid cars yet and puts a hold on releasing Toyota Prius. In the Britain market, the hybrid Toyota Prius car has triumphed in a major customer satisfaction survey and has attained an iconic status due to high satisfaction levels with the model’s quality and reliability. The petrol/electric Prius was already the favourite “green” motor, with sales touching one million since the original went on sale in 1999. But as for the Indian market, Prius is put on the back burner for issues pertaining to customs duty and a competitive price.
The hybrid cars, which use both petrol engine and electric motor, are fuel-efficient and have lower emission levels, making them environment-friendly.

Toyota and Honda are the leading manufacturers of hybrid vehicles globally, and Toyota Prius (launched 11 years ago) is the market leader. Environmental concerns (and rising gasoline prices in the US) have spurred the sales of these greener cars. Toyota was looking to launch the Prius car in 2009 at Rs 20-22 lakh while Honda’s Civic hybrid currently costs Rs 13.36 lakh. For competitive reasons as well, Prius is on hold for India. Meanwhile, the recent price cut of Honda Civic hybrid and the new launches in the mid-size segment like VW Jetta and Honda City are putting pressure.
Due to their superior technology, low emissions and fuel efficiency, high import duty of 114% seems to be a major deterrent. Because, the car would have to be imported to the Indian market which would practically double the cost of selling the car in the Indian market.

A Toyoshima, managing director, Toyota Kirloskar has said in a statement that the company is studying the Indian market to introduce the hybrid vehicle. He added: “But at current levels of duty, it could cost anywhere between Rs 20-25 lakh.” The car sells for around Rs. 10 lakh in the US market where it is pretty popular due to its environment friendly status. The company is also considering asking the Indian government to relax duties on such hybrid cars to promote them in the Indian market.

Toyota next generation Camry Picture

While the Honda’s new accord has become the segment leader its archrival Toyota camry is due for a complete makeover. Here’s a picture from autoincar claimed as next generation Toyota camry. The report further claims that the next generation Toyota camry will be out in 2011 and will be powered by 2AR-FE 2.5 litre petrol engine.

Here’s the picture of next generation Toyota Camry

Honda closes Civic Hybrid special offer

Luck is shortlived!  Honda today announced the closure of the special programme on Civic Hybrid which was announced on November 12, 2008.  According to Honda, the company received an overwhelming response to the car at the special price with more than 1100 enquiries in just 4 days and all cars planned for this programme have been allocated against confirmed bookings. The deliveries of the cars are in the process.

The Civic Hybrid is imported as a Completely Built Unit (CBU) from Japan and no fresh arrivals of Civic Hybrid are expected till the end of March 2009.   Speaking on the occasion, Mr Jnaneswar Sen, Vice President, Honda Siel Cars India said, “The huge interest in the Civic Hybrid shows that Indian customer is ready to adopt such new environment friendly technologies. The introduction of the special price was our effort to promote this technology. We are very hopeful that with Government’s support for these environment friendly vehicles, a lot more customers would be able to experience this technology in future.”   Honda  had introduced a special programme on Civic Hybrid for a limited period and volume and partly bear the cost of the car on behalf of the customers to make the car more affordable so that more customers experience & own this new technology.

Bajaj to launch LCV with or without Renault – Nissan

Bajaj Auto has said that it is ready for the four wheeler launch, “with or without” the partnership getting formalized, says Chairman Rahul Bajaj. Presently Bajaj Auto, Renault SA and Nissan have a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between them, without any formal agreement. “With them or without them (Renault and Nissan), we are going ahead with the four-wheeler project. The JV is still not signed but a feasibility study is on.” Report from Bajaj.  The proposed JV is exploring joint development of economical cars and then taking it forward to a light commercial vehicle (LCV) platform. The engine for both the economical car and the LCV is expected to be similar.

“Everything (for proposed JV) is absolutely on track and all our various teams are working 24×7 on the ULC (ultra low-cost) project”. As per the MoU, Bajaj is expected to provide the manufacturing and marketing muscle to the ULC car while the Renault-Nissan combine claims to have already frozen the car’s design. For the power train engine, transmission and gearbox, all the three partners will work jointly. According to the MoU, which was signed a few months back, in the proposed JV Bajaj is expected to hold majority stake and at the same time Renault and Nissan would hold 25% each. Bajaj may be forced to choose its own way in the LCV domain as well.

A proposed task has been  started working on a four-wheeler LCV product, to get on Tata Ace and Mahindra Geep Maxi Truck in the one-tone range and may look at launching in the next 12-18 months. As of now, a three-way partnership for LCVs also seems to be uncertain since Nissan already have a JV for LCVs with Ashok Leyland and would need a ‘No Objection’ certificate from Leyland before it can sign another LCV partnership with any other Indian company.