Tata acquired Mijo to produce Indica EV

Tata Motors which recently showcased an electric variant of Indica today made a strategic acquistion to fulfill its ambition of launching the car in 2009.  Tata Motors’ UK subsidiary, Tata Motors European Technical Centre plc, has acquired a 50.3% holding, at an acquisition cost of Kroner 12 million (Rs.9.40 crores), in Miljø Grenland/Innovasjon, Norway, which specialises in the development of innovative solutions for electric vehicles. The balance of shares will be retained by the existing shareholders who will continue to be associated with the venture.

Miljø will produce electric vehicles based on Tata Motors’ products, besides manufacturing of state-of-the-art super polymer lithium ion batteries and the development of related technologies. Tata Motors believes that this investment in Miljo will help the company realise its strategy to develop convenient, affordable and sustainable mobility solutions through electric and hybrid vehicles.

The first such vehicle to be developed by the company will be the Indica EV. It is scheduled for launch in Europe during 2009.  Unlike existing electric vehicles, Indica EV will be a more practicable option for the consumer: capable of carrying 4 people, adequate luggage space, with a predicted range of up to 200 km and acceleration of 0-60 kmph in under 10 seconds. As in the Nano, Tata Motors continues its innovative approach with Indica EV too, using super polymer lithium ion batteries which will have superior energy density compared to the current best-in-class electric vehicles.

Suzuki to launch 100cc bike and 150cc Lanza

Suzuki has revisited its Indian strategy and decided to enter the thin margin yet mass motorcycle 100cc segment. Atul Gupta, vice-president (sales & marketing) said that of the three new products the company plans to launch between now and March 2010, at least one would be in the 100cc domain. “Despite predictions to the contrary, the 100cc segment still accounts for 70% of the overall market so entering this segment makes sense.” Gupta said. Suzuki motorcycles is also exploring to synergise operations with Maruti Suzuki in raw material purchase and perhaps take it forward to joint product distribution.

Gupta also said that the company will launch a premium bike soon and another new bike would be in the market by March next year.  The premium bike called Lanza will be unveiled later this month (October). With the launch Lanza, Suzuki will make its debut into the highly competetive 150cc segment. Lanza will come with a 150cc engine that is expected to develop 15bhp of maximum power. Lanza will come with a six speed transmission and will host contemporary features like LCD console.

GM special offer for Government emplyees

Following the Korean Auto maker Hyundai, GM India today introduced a limited-period, special offer package for all Central and State Government employees. Under this special scheme Central and State Government employees will get a discount of Rs 62000 on Chevrolet Spark and Rs 31000 on Chevrolet U-VA inclusive of all discounts and special offers already enforced. Similar special discounts are also available on the Chevrolet Aveo and Chevrolet Optra as well.

Commenting on the special offer, Ankush Arora, Vice President – Marketing, Sales and After-sales, GM India said, “As a part of our ongoing centenary celebrations, we are pleased to bring this special offer to all Central and State Government employees to make the vehicles affordable to them. This is in line with our commitment to enhance the value proposition to our customers, while providing them with world-class products and services.” To make owing a Chevrolet car even more exciting, this offer is additionally being clubbed with special and very attractive interest rates from leading banks, specifically tuned to Central and State Government employees, allowing for easier financing and ownership of a Chevrolet.

Ajanta oreva to launch super electric car

Ajanta which is already selling e-bikes under the oreva brand plans to launch a electric car. The interesting part is Oreva will launch an electric car named ‘super’ with a price tag around Rs85000 cheaper than the Tata’s Nano. Also Oreva’s super can comfortably accomodate two adults and two kids. According to  Rakesh Nathwani, National Marketing Head of Oreva Group the car would be able to run up to 200-250 kilometers in one time charge. “The car will go on battery and it will be a completely Indian made battery operated car,” added Nathwani.

The non-AC demo e-car will be manufactured at Oreva’s Samakhiyali unit in Kutch district is shown in the following video. Ajanta’s Oreva started work on the research and development on this ‘super’ electric car in 2007 and wanted to launch the super electric car in the last quarter of this financial year (2008-2009).

Ajanta Oreva’s Super electric car resembles the chinese Flybo electric car in most sense. Similar to other e-bike or e-car makers, Oreva might have leveraged electric car technology from a chinese manufacturer. Also the range which Oreva claims the super can reach in a single charge is wondering many. Superior Nithium ion batteries is require to attain higher range (200-250km) in a single charge. But Nithium ion batteries are expensive and even veteran electric car maker Reva is finding it difficult to bring the cost down when using this superior batteries. Anyway, let’s keep our finger crossed and hope Ajanta Oreva will launch the super electric car across India soon.

Picture and Video of Oreva Super from NDTV

Picture of Ajanta Oreva Super electric car

Picture of Chinese Flybo

Video of Ajanta Oreva electric car – ‘Super’

Heuliez – Reva Pondicherry

The title may lookalike a roadmap but its actually a new electric vehicle which is all set to rock the French auto market. Bangalore based Indian electric maker Reva and contract manufacturer Argentum has manufactured an electric vehicle which was showcaused at paris auto show. Both Reva and Argentum will make components and the CKD kits will be exported to France and assembled there. Christened as ‘pondicherry’ to mark the French association with their once colonial state (French ruled Pondicherry till 1949) this 3.5 metre golf cart-type vehicle is a neighbourhood runabout, a small supply vehicle for shops around the corner.

Reva – Heuliez (read Argentum) also plans a larger vehicle and four seater electric car for France. Reva is already enjoying good market share with its G-Wiz in european electric vehcile market.

Pictures of Heuliez Pondicherry

Hero Honda to launch new passion,new Glamour and new Pleasure

Hero Honda will soon launch seven new variants of its existing models to pump up the sales during this Diwali season. However this will not be a serious facelift but like the one as we reported you earlier. A new CBZ X-treme with ATFT engine  http://www.vicky.in/blog/hero-honda-to-launch-new-cbz-xtreme/

New variants of the bikes in the high-selling 100 cc and 125 cc segment are likely. Hero Honda ‘s existing models in the 100-125cc segment includes Passion,Splendour,Splendour NXG, Pleasure,Super Splendour, CD Deluxe, CD Dawn, Super Splendour and Glamour. However there is no word on Karizma Fuel Injection (FI) from the maker. With the new variants Hero Honda sets itself an ambitious target of selling 6 lakh units in October

Weekly Roundup (Oct 6th – 12th)

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Nissan new small car – March

You read it first at vicky.in

Nissan new March: Nissan will soon join the elite list of  manufacturers who make their global cars in India. As most of you know, Renault – Nissan is building a plant in Chennai at an investment of over Rs4000 crores. Of the 4 models that will be manufactured in Chennai, the next generation March is the most important one. Not just because, March is a global model but is a perfect small car as per the Indian norms. March will be just under 4 meters in length and would be powered by 1.2L petrol engine. Also in the cards for the new March is an ultra efficient 1.0 litre (HR10DE), 3 cylinder unit. The 3 cylinder will be coupled with xtronicCVT and return 30 km for a litre. While the 1 cylinder unit will compete with the likes of i10 and upcoming splash, the 1.2L unit will be pitted against skoda Fabia and upcoming Honda Jazz. Here are few pictures of new March.

Picture of Nissan March 1989:

Nissan new March: Nissan will develop a dedicated new A platform for the new March. This new platform will be also to develop at least three models including a mid size sedan that will come after the launch of next generation March.

Nissan is keen to retain the retro look of this hatchback but will come with modern sporty styling to attract male buyers. “The styling of the new Micra will not completely abandon the look first established on the mid-1990s Micra, the first one to be built in the UK. “There will still be a strong family look, but we do need to attract more male buyers,” Nissan’s design director Shiro Nakamura said. As evident from the sketch below, the new March will be more shed the feminine character of current march, instead, it will feature strong and bold lines. With a muscular bumper and raised hood, the new March would also comply the european pedestrian safety norms with ease. However the rounded headlamps and sleek side profile are nostalgic. The rakish windscreen and stronger shoulder line helps to retain funky appeal of the car.

Sketch of new Nissan March

Nissan new March: In addition to the low cost March for developing countries like India, Nissan will also come up with a sporty variant of new March. Remember, nissan rolled out the first March R as early as 1989 with highly advanced sequential compound charged (supercharger plus turbocharger) engine. The new March turbo will get a sporty body kit inspired from iconic Nissan’s GT-R. Featuring 16-17 inch wheel, racing bucket seats, sports steering wheel and metal plaque the new March turbo would be one of the best sports hatchback ever made. True to its body kit, the new March turbo will get a spruced up 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol super-turbo unit churning out 140bhp at 6,000rpm.  So it should be powerful enough for a 0-60mph time of around 8 seconds.

Picture of Nissan  new March sport

Nissan new March: The new March has grown in every dimension over the current one. With a wheelbase of 2450mm and a height of 1495mm this new march should comfortably accomodate four adults neatly.  The length is increased to 3750mm (up by 25mm) and width is increased by 35mm to 1695mm.

Nissan new March: Nissan’s new March will be launched in Japan by April 2009 and it will hit the Thailand market by September 2009. Expect the new March in India by 2010.

Picture of current Nissan March

Mahindra Scorpio Automatic (AT) – Pictorial Review

Test drive report on Mahindra Scorpio Automatic

SUV’s may give the owners an unique feel of prideness over others. You can sit high, look around things easily and even initimidate a bus driver but at the end of the day a bicycle rider will reach home before you. The reach of SUV’s is strictly limited to politicians and others who travel between cities. The only way to make the SUV appealing for a IT professsional is to make it tractable in the city. As paddle shifts are making headlines, home grown auto maker Mahindra and Mahindra has come out with an automatic (AT) variant of Scorpio.

By the way, the spurt in love for stress free automatic transmission among Indian customers is a good sign for global auto makers as they can sync Indian models with their global ones.

Mahindra and Mahindra which is all set to roll out the scorpio in United States is constantly tuning the scorpio to make the product a global one. Only last year Mahindra came out with an advanced 2.2L CRDe (m_hawk) engine, now, it has launch scorpio automatic. Soon, Mahindra sales guys may soon call you for test driving the scorpio hybrid. Rather than bringing newer models every year, Mahindra bets on technology and its the Indian customers are gifted to feel this Innovations first.

1) Mahindra Scorpio Automatic (AT): Even if you have four or five cars in your garage, any buyer who buys a new vehicle loves exclusivity and wish to boast that he has bought a new car. But i wonder why manufacturers fails to understand this. Except for chrome badge at the rear door there is nothing to differentiate this from a regular one.

2) Mahindra Scorpio Automatic (AT): Under the hood of the scropio Automatic is the same fun to drive 2.2L m_Hawk engine which gives power at all speeds. Mated with this engine is an autobox sourced from Drivetrain International Systems in Australia. Though the gearbox is sourced, Mahindra engineers has burnt midnight oil for mating this to the mHawk engine. This gearbox is not made with Indian driving conditions in mind but Mahindra picked this autobox for its number of ratios and its easy mating to the mHawk engine.

3) Mahindra Scorpio Automatic (AT): Two modes to drive forward the scorpio AT are — ‘D’ and ‘M’. There is also a toggle switch to switch between normal and winter conditions. Keep toggle switch always in the ‘N’ mode unless you go for serious off roading where you need grip.

Once you slot the lever in the ‘M’ or ‘D’ mode you can sit back and relax. I will advise you to slot it in ‘M’ if you are switching from a manual tranmission. The mode lets you to hold gears till redline and retains the feel. But once you start used to this autobox and your left leg comfortable settles in the dead pedal slot the lever into the ‘D’ mode.

The first four ratios are closely spaced and are intended to maximise fuel efficiency. Result, the ECU always tends to select a higher gear and toggle between gears. This makes you nervous espescially around corners. But the transmission setup still retains the relaxed highway cruising of manual variant. The good news is mileage too still in the region of 9-11kmpl.

4) Mahindra Scorpio Automatic (AT): Though this gearbox lacks manual selection of gears like Mercedes tiptronic but can be made available. Mahindra engineers will work on that before the scorpio lands in US.

Overheat protection, anti roll-back in ‘Drive’  mode, reverse lockout and BTSI (brake transmission shift interlock) are some of the safety features equipped in the SUV. As the transmission is permanently sealed and does not require an oil change throughout its life, which will help reduce maintenance costs

5) Mahindra Scorpio Automatic (AT): comes only in the top end VLX variant. The cruise control, rear parking sensor,tyre tronics and rain sensor are notable features. Scorpio automatic comes at a premium of Rs86,668 over the manual variant. On the road, the scorpio automatic costs Rs12,35,835(Chennai).

Honda unveils CBF125 Stunner FI

As we are constantly telling you, Honda has unveiled CBF125 Stunner FI at the Intermot Colonge Show 2008. There are no cosmetic changes but the 4 stoke 125cc mill is electronically Fuel Injected.The euro -3 compliant produces 11bhp of max power and 11Nm of max torque. These figures are the same as the carburetted one available in India. Except for the absence of kick lever, there is nothing different from the stunner available in your nearby showrooms.

But be proud, you drove this bike first before your european counterparts does. The CBF125 will be available in four colours – Sports Red, Black, Space Silver metallic. CBF is expected to go on sale for around £2500.


To elaborate the features, the propeller which equips the small CBF125 is a single-cylinder 4 stroke to 125cc, fueled by electronic injection approved Euro 3, capable of a power of 11 CV. In addition to this, there is compact engine