Tata launches Indica Vista

Tata Motors has finally launched the much awaited next generation indica which was shown at the Delhi Auto Expo. This new Indica vista is the nth incarnation of Indica vista since its launch in 1998. However this new Indica vista can be called as a next generation vehicle. Though the changes seems to be little, the new Indica vista has lot of exciting things.

Tata has intentionally retained the family look and the new Indica vista is a clear evolution of the Indica. A new central character line on the bonnet gives character to the car. The all new grille with a new striking pedal shaped headlamps gives the indica vista a more upmarket look. There is not much change in side and rear profile of the car. The top end variant Indica vista aura gets a big wheels and body colored handles. The full length tail lamp cluster over the C-pillar reminds the Indigo marina. Though the the new indica vista is not an eye catcher, it looks refreshing and invite more buyers.

The intersting part of the the new Indica vists could be its choice of engines. Indica vista comes with a petrol engine and two diesel engines. The Indica Vista powered by a 1.2L Safire (petrol), 1.3L Quadrajet (diesel) (both are sourced from Fiat) and the 1.4L TDI which currently powers existing Indica. The 1.3L qudrajet diesel is the intertnationally acclaimed one which is already serving under the hood of swift,swift dzire and palio. The invitees for this engine inlcudes Fiat Linea, Fiat Grande Punto, GM Aveo sedan and a GM Hatchback. With the quadrajet engine, we can expect a better refinement from the Tata’s new Indica vista.

Similar to any other Tata products, the Indica vista comes with host of comfort features and minimal safety features. An integrated CD player is surely likeable feature and is increasing finds a place in entry level cars. The Indica vista gets a 2-DIN integrated CD player with USB port and remote control. Other comfort and luxury features in the new Indica vista includes front fog lamps,rear fog lamps,body coloured bumpers,door handles,de-mister,rear wipers,,power windows for all doors,dual tone dashboard,Tachometer, height adjustable driver seat, lumbar adjustable front seats, 60:40 flodable rear seats

The new indica vista comes in three variants – terra,aqua and aura. The indica vista is available in seven colours – cavern grey, marine silver,artic silver, gala red, solar orange,noble blue and infinity black.

Update: Tata Motors will launch an Indica vista with ABS and Airbags in India at the time of the car’s debut in international markets. Tata will launch the Indica vista in next six months

Indica Vista petrol is priced Rs3.49 lakhs and Indica vista diesel is priced ar Rs4.88 lakhs.

To visit indica vista home page http://indicavista.com

Models Terra Aqua Aura
Indica Vista Safire Rs.353974 Rs 377700 Rs 403417
Indica Vista TDi Rs 353974 Rs 409582 N.A.
Indica Vista Quadrajet Rs N.A Rs 470852 Rs 499661

Tata Indica Vista and Toyota Corolla Altis

What’s up Today????????

Tata Indica vista

* Tata Motors will launch the much awaited Indica vista today. The Indica vista will be offered with 3 engines options – 1.2L safire petrol,1.3L Mutlijet diesel and 1.4L dicor diesel. The new indica vista will come in three variants terra,aqua and aura. The Terra would be launched at a price band of 4 to 5.5 lakh while the Aura could cost between Rs 5.5 and Rs 7 lakh. To know more read

http://www.vicky.in/blog/preview-on-tata-indica-vista/

http://www.vicky.in/blog/tatas-new-indica-v3-vista/

*  Toyota will showcase the new corolla altis at selected dealerships across the country. The new corolla altis will be offered with a 1.8l petrol engine developing 132bhp of peak power. To know more read

http://www.vicky.in/blog/hot-news-update-on-toyota-altis/

http://www.vicky.in/blog/toyota-to-launch-new-corolla-altis-in-india-in-september/

Watch this space for more details………..

Volkswagen to launch caravelle and crafter

Volkswagen group which has made great strides with Audi,Skoda and Volkswagen in the passenger car segment is now eyeing commercial vehicles segment in India. Volkswagen will launch two mini vans – caravelle and crafter in India by November – December. These two vans will be primary targeting the business class and will be imported from Germany as completely built units (CBU). Caravelle is a 6-9 seater passenger carrier and the 3.5 tonne crafter is 15 seater which can be converted into a cargo carrier.

Caravelle:

The caravelle is actually not a van but a MPV based on the van. Caravelle is essentially a plusher, passenger version of the Transporter van and sold through Volkswagn’s car dealership in Europe.   In Europe Caravelle is offered in three engine options: – 1.9 TDI PD (104bhp), 2.5 TDI PD (130bhp) and 2.5 TDI PD (174bhp). This 6-9 seater gives you the luxury of folding the middle seats. It can also be slide and removed but they also swivel round to face backwards, converting the back of the car into a mobile boardroom. If you wish, you can place a table in the middle.

Caravelle’s spacious interiors, luxurious and sophiscated cabin makes it ideal for every CEOs to work at run. Volkswagen Caravelle will be priced around Rs45 lakhs and  will compete with Mercedes Viano.  To know more about caravelle visit http://www.volkswagen-vans.co.uk/caravelle/

Crafter:

Crafter a multi utility van which can be converted into a cargo carrier is built by Volkswagen jointly with Mercedes. Infact Crafter shares few mechanicals with Mercedes cargo carrier the sprinter. Crafter is available with a choice of three wheelbases, three roof heights and four load lengths in western markets. If Volkswagen brings the crafter with these much number of variants, I can bet that you will find a Crafter that suits your needs. Crafter will be available with a 2.5L common rail engine.

Crafter is equipped with host of safety features which includes front airbags (standard), and side and curtain airbags (optional), anti-lock braking system (ABS), Load Adapting Electronic Stability Program (ESP), Anti Slip Regulation (traction control) (ASR), and Electronic Differential Lock (EDL).

Volkswagen Crafter is expected to be priced around Rs25 lakhs.  To know more about crafter visit  http://www.volkswagen-vans.co.uk/crafter/

Dzire delivery delay

Your dream of owning may still remain a dream for some time. Swift Dzire has exceeded the demand than the demand for its sibling swift hatchback. The waiting period for swift dzire is anywhere between 5 and 9 months.When the Swift was launched dealers had said that the car had a waitlist of around two months. According to Hindustan Times, Maruti has admitted that 20,000 dzire bookings are still unserved. Maruti has delivered only 22,000 DZire cars to customers since its launch.

What makes the matter further worse is? you cannot expect a major breakthrough anytime soon. Maruti Suzuki is only producing 4500 units of dzire every month much lesser than the demand.
The Manesar plant at which Dzire would be assembled would only reach its full capacity by 2009. Till then wait,wait and wait….

For those who are looking for an entry level sedan. Here are few useful directions from Maruti. “The company is appealing to its customers to book the DZire ‘judiciously’. “The company has told its dealers to communicate correct delivery time to customers, and then accept the bookings

Hero to launch electric car

Hero Electric part of larger Hero group plans to introduce a e-car or electric car in India by 2013. Tata has already said it would launch Indica electric in 2009 and Mahindra is planning to introduce a similar car in 2010. Pininfarina has also said that it will launch an electric car in 2014.

“Hero is becoming green everyday. We want to be a major player in the electric transportation, in which we are investing heavily in carrying out research. In the next five years, we will be launching electric three and four wheelers here,” said, Hero Electric Chief Executive Officer Sohinder Gill.The company is currently carrying out the research and working on the prototypes of the models, he added. Hero Electric is investing Rs 80 crore in this financial year for expansion of its storage capacities, R&D and indigenisation of technologies. “The passenger car will not be on the conventional battery mode as running cost is very high. We are developing it on capacitors, which can be charged instantly and can go on for longer distance,” Gill said, adding the company is checking out the viability of the model in Indian condition.

Hero will also launh an electric three wheeler soon.The three wheeler would be offered in limited editions with carrying capacity of fixed load.Hero electric has also firmed up plans to expand its product portfolio in e-bikes by launching two more products in the high-speed category.

Preview on Tata Indica Vista

To read about the Indica vista Mumbai launch visit

http://www.vicky.in/blog/tata-launches-indica-vista/

Safire and Quadrajet – Indica vista

As we earlier reported the new indica will be launched this month itself.

http://www.vicky.in/blog/tatas-new-indica-v3-vista/

To be named as Indica Vista the new Indica will be launched officially on 23rd August. The Indica vista will come with three engines – Safire, Quadrajet and TDI. Of these 1.2L Safire (petrol) and 1.3L Quadrajet (Diesel) will be sourced from Fiat. Fiat currently uses the Fire petrol and quadrajet diesel engine in its Palio. However the 1.4L TDI mill is the same unit which currently powers existing Indica. The Indica vista 1.2 saffire mill churns out 65PS of peak power and 96Nm of peak torque. The indica vista quadrajet 1.3L motor pumps out 75PS of max power and 190Nm of maximum torque at 1750rpm. Remember this same engine propels the Swift DDIs in the same tune. However the swift still holds some advantage with better power to weight ratio. All the engines of vista is mated with a 5 speed transmission.

Dimensions – Indica Vista:

The new generation Indica is spacious than the current Indica larger dimensions (length – 3795 mm, width – 1695 mm, height – 1550 mm and wheelbase- 2470 mm). Fuel tank capacity of the new vista is 37 litres .

Mechanicals – Indica Vista:

Suspension at the fort is through independent McPherson Strut wand at the rear Indica vista employs semi indepedent coil spring suspension. While the petrol variant indica vista will run on larger 175/70 R13 tyres, the diesel variants of indica vista will run on 175/65 R14 tyres. Indica vista features hydraulic disc brake at the front and drum at the rear.

Variants and features – Indica Vista:

The new indica vista comes in three variants – terra,aqua and aura. Aura is the top end variant and the terra the low end variant is not offered with quadrajet diesel.  All the variants of the Indica vista is equipped power steering which is also a tilt adjustable.

The high end aura long list of features includes front fog lamps,rear fog lamps,body coloured bumpers,door handles,de-mister,rear wipers,,power windows for all doors,dual tone dashboard,Tachometer, height adjustable driver seat, lumbar adjustable front seats, 60:40 flodable rear seats and integrated CD player with USB port and remote control.

Safety ????

Even the top end variants of indica vista fails to feature any safety system. It’s hard to believe ABS and Airbags are missing even in the so called next generation Indica.

Colours — Indica Vista:

The indica vista is available in seven colours – cavern grey, marine silver,artic silver, gala red, solar orange,noble blue and infinity balck. The new Indica vista will co-exist with the existing one. However the current Indica will be available only with two engine options contrary to present four. The indica vista will be priced between Rs3.5 to Rs5 lakhs.

To visit the Indica vista home page click http://www.indicavista.com

Tata plans Nano Electric

Tata Motors is believed to be developing an electric version of its ultra low cost car the Nano (1,700 euros or $2,600 or Rs1 lakh car). Tata Motors recently said that it is developing an electric version of Indica. Similar to the Indica electric, the Nano electric would be produced in Norway. The e-nano or Nano electric would be built in cooperation with the Norwegian electric car specialist firm Miljoebil Grenland. Nano electric would be able to meet the world toughest emission norms and will enable Tata to launch the car in US and in Europe.

Hero Honda details price hike

Hero Honda today provided in depth details on its recent price hike.

http://www.vicky.in/blog/hero-honda-hikes-splendour-and-passion-prices/

A couple of weeks back, we have increased the price across various models in order to partially pass on the increase in input cost to the customers,  Hero Honda Motors Senior Vice President (sales and marketing) Anil Dua said. As per the price hike

* Price of Hero Honda Cd Deluxe goes up by Rs100

* Price of Splendor plus, Passion plus, Hunk and CBZ is hiked between Rs 600 and Rs 850

* Price of Karizma moves up by Rs1500

Hero Honda also said that it will 11 new models in the next 13 months

Mahindra and Mahindra to launch electric car

Similar to Tata Motors, Mahindra and Mahindra has unveiled its plan to launch an electric vehicle. Mahindra and Mahindra is developing a 4 seater electric car bigger than the Reva’s electric car and would be out in 2010. It is important to recall Mahindra showcased an electric three wheleer called Bijlee at the Delhi Auto Expo, Mahindra may use this technology for its upcoming electric car. Mahindra will use the lead acid battery for the upcoming electric car and later it will fit the superior nickel metal hydride battery. Reva and Tata Motors have already proposed that they will use the expensive yet superior lithium ion batteries that will return mileage in the range of 150-200kms per charge.

Soon after the launch of the electric car, Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) plans to use this technology in higher segment suv’s too. Mahindra and Mahindra will launch this electric car in 2010 in India and subsequently launch it in Overseas markets.