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Concepts of 2007

Concepts that are india bound

1) Maruti Suzuki’s A-starAuto show debut: Delhi Auto expo, January 2008
Why it’s special: designed by Maruti Suzuki India
When are they going to make it? October 2008

A-Star Concept is the fifth model in Suzuki’s world strategy for long-term growth. A-Star Concept is an A-segment five-door hatchback and it reflects the Suzuki’s focus on world-class environmental compatibility and comfort and will show some of the forthcoming model’s design themes.Concept A-Star is the first concept car in which designers from Maruti Suzuki India’s research and development division have been involved from the initial stage of its styling.Maruti Suzuki is emerging as a global manufacturing hub for Suzuki operations worldwide. The next level of commitment will be evident in R & D, with a vision to make Maruti Suzuki the R & D hub for automobiles in Asia. Concept A-Star is a decisive step forward in that direction,” a statement from Maruti Udyog said.The Concept A-Star is, in fact, the precursor to Maruti Suzuki’s global compact car that will be launched in the future.

2) Volkswagen UP!

Auto show debut: Detroit, January
why it’s special: rear engine,space
When are they going to make it? 2009

The up! is a city specialist, a car for four persons and all languages, for the job, the university and the excursion outside the city gates. A small car that shows a lot of size, because it offers more space than any other car of similar length (3.45 meters) and width (1.63 meters). Its engine – conceivable here are all facets of technology that can be sensibly applied – will run in the rear. And that changes everything: Space, mood and design.Walter de Silva, Chief Designer of the Volkswagen group, sums it up like this: “The up! is not a car whose form will become obsolete within a very brief period of time. It shines in its cleverness and yet is made with loving care. And so the up! is a clear and strong statement for future Volkswagen design.”

3) Chevrolet BeatAuto show debut: Detroit, January
Why it’s special: Tiny size, youthful appeal
When are they going to make it? 2009

The Chevy Beat is one of a trio of small concept cars aimed at young buyers interested in tiny, front-drive cars with a small, four-cylinder engine; and with expressive styling; high-tech electronic features (especially the stereo); and which are built to allow for a high degree of customization. The other two Chevy concepts are the Groove, a tiny, four-door panel truck; and the Trax, a midget SUV. Ed Peper, Chevrolet general manager, said that of the three the Beat got the most positive consumer feedback based on thousands of online visits to a dedicated Web site and as a result, at the LosAngeles show Chevy announced it would be putting the Beat in production by mid-2009.

Fuel price hike on the line

As the polls are over and as crude oil prices have shotted to historic highs, a possible revision of fuel prices is on the line for the union government. The union government on December 22nd hinted at a possible revision of fuel prices, saying it cannot hold on to the current rates indefinitely. “There is no carpet where you can keep the price shocks for indefinite period without affecting the economy,” said External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who heads a Group of Ministers on oil pricing. High doses of subsidy have so far kept the consumer insulated from the surge in global crude prices, which has touched nearly $100 per barrel from $36-40 when the government came to power in 2004, the minister said, after inaugurating a seminar. Is the left hearing, its time to protest!

Deals and tie-ups of 2007!

Unlike in the past, this 2007 has been special for Indian auto majors especially in terms of their global image. We came across many acquisition and tie-ups in automotive industry. Particularly, Indian auto majors are in the major buying spree as their profits keep soaring. As many as four commercial vehicle alliances were announced during 2007. In trucks and buses Tatas tied up with Iveco, then Nissan and Ashok Leyland announced four JVs followed by Volvo Eicher and lastly Daimler finally finds a partner in india thorugh Hero.

In the passenger car segment Tata – Fiat extended their alliance to many other areas such as joint production and Bajaj hinted its intent to make a global car in alliance with Nissan-Renault. Interestingly for the Ford’s Jaguar and Land Rover sales one of the biggest deal in 2007 in world automotive scenario two Indian manufacturers – Tata Motors and Mahindra are in the race.Formal announcement is expected in a few weeks time.

Bajaj which was rumored to be in the race for ducati / triumph later satisfied with 18% KTM stake. Bajaj bought 14.5 per cent stake in the Austrian firm for €566 million (about Rs 300-350 crore) from the open market and later bought 3.5% more. Bajaj and KTM also announced they would jointly build bikes in the coming years.

Vahan show: Interview with Anil K Baali, Chief organizer of BikeX expo

As we reported in our previous post, Last week Chennai hosted BikeX expo, India’s second biggest bike exhibition at Chennai Trade Center. Sunstar exhibitors which organized a similar expo at Delhi on January 2007 has organized this event also. We spoke with Mr.Anil K Baali, chief organizer of the event and director of Sunstar exhibitors, about the event, response from the manufacturers for such an event and people’s response , naval idea of organizing exhibition for bikes and future plans of Sunstar exhibitors. Watch the video and share your comments.

Bikex Expo, Chennai

Event: Bikex India, Chennai

ideal Expo..

Indian automobile industry is very hot now-a-days and as many players are evolving they need a platform to showcase their products. Everyone cannot send millions of rupees for advertising but if not they are devoid of public attraction. The best way to overcome is exhibiting products where people gather, what we call as exhibition. From January 10th, Delhi Auto Expo – one of the asia’ s biggest auto show is going to held for a period of 7 days. For the 2008 auto expo more than 1 million visitors are expected to visit the show. Certainly, this is the ideal platform where you can showcase their products But at the auto expo, Tata will unveil its much expected 1 lakh car and many other established players will also roll out their popular products. The result is the much needed publicity and the media glare are barred for small players. Then what’s way to grow? the solution is simple , small is better! exhibiting at regional shows and where products like yours get most attention. There has already been autocar performance show which hosts mainly the performance oriented cars and bikes, vahaan yatra in Bangalore and Bikex in chennai. For the query on motive of the Bikex? Mr Anil K Baali, director of Sunstar Expositions, organisers of the event, responded that the idea behind the exhibition was to create a niche exhibition market for bikes alone. “Generally, if bikes are placed beside cars at an automobile exhibition, they lose out on attention. We thought we should create a forum exclusively for bikes,” he said. Click on the link to watch the Entire interview with Mr. Anil K Baali, Organiser of BikeX India.

Bikex india’s first dedicated bike show..

Bikex India is a dedicated bike show organised by SunStar Exhibitors. SunStar is conducting various shows across India. The first Bikex held at Delhi on January 2007. More than 200000 visitors and more than 100 companies which includes 20 overseas firms with their entire range gathered at the delhi bikex. Some of the bigger names participated in the Delhi Bikex includes Bajaj,Honda, Yamaha,Kinetic and TVS.

Bikex at a glance: bikex banner/barbie cycle for children/ATVs/TVS stall at the bikex/old men riding a ebike/stunts in apache

Chennai electrified…

Chennai Bikex is the second dedicated bike show from sunstar to spread the bike mania. Anil K Baali, director of Sunstar Expositions, organisers of the event, said that the idea behind the exhibition was to create a niche exhibition market for bikes alone. “Generally, if bikes are placed beside cars at an automobile exhibition, they lose out on attention. We thought we should create a forum exclusively for bikes,” he said. According to him, the export market for Indian bikes was poor. “We feel that through exhibitions such as these, we can promote the export market of local bikes,” he said. Chennai Bikex is held at Chennai Trade centre from 14th to 16th December 2007.An entry fee of Rs30 was collected per head. Chennai Bikex reflected the future of indian two wheeler market in its own style. It seemed like electric is the theme for this Bikex. Popular electric vehicle manufacturers like Hero – Ultra and Induselectrans (Yo byke) showcased thier entire range. Regional players like Vijaya, Matrix and accura also participated at the expo. Few component manufacturers like Tata green and Tafe also show cased their products. TVS stall was filled with youth as the company displayed the recently launched 125cc Flame. But cult bike maker Royal enfield was absent. This bikex is special especially for Hero – Ultra and Induselectrans as this allows them to show their prowness to south indian customers. This is very crucial as these duo are opening thier first dealership in chennai. “We have recently made our entry into the South Indian market and this is an opportunity to showcase our products to potential trade partners as well as customers,” Mr. Ghosal, Director (Marketing) of Ultra Motors , said. Barbie and Walt Disney cycles for children drew a lot of attention. Similar to other auto expo there were glitz and glamour. While customers were looking for bikes youth enjoyed the expo, as fashion shows and dancing held then and there at the expo. Also, where young men made the beeline is where motorbike stunts made by internationally-trained professionals. A lucky draw and a carburettor tuning competition, are some of the other highlights of the expo.Almost all the ebikes showcased were available for test drives outside the stall area and people starting from kids to women to ageing men stand in queues to feel the bikes. Representatives of various manufacturers were politely teaching the kids on how to ride the bikes and answered various queries patiently. Credit must be given to sunstar and manufacturers for making the expo not just to see but to feel the bikes. Worrying why missed such an exciting show? make yourself ready for the Chennai Bikex in 2009. Every alternate year Bikex will be conducted

About sunstar:

Sunstar is trade show and exhibition organising and management company. Along with india’s first bike expo sunstar has conducted several international shows this year. For the 2008, Sunstar is planning more dedicated shows such as engine expo, tyres expo, autoelectrica, commercial vehicle and equipement expo and vehicle dynamics expo in india.

Bajaj plans two stroke bikes

History repeats itself! two stroke engines will be back soon and they may power the future indian bikes. Once wiped out from Indian two wheeler industry for failing to comply tougher emission norms will be back nearly after 10 years. But how it can be possible, when Indian government is making the emission norms more stringent. Two stroke engine gets a new life through a new technology similar to common rail which saved the life of diesel. In this technology, two stroke engines will be fed through injection rather breathing through carburettor. Hence, these advance two stroke engine meets the stringent emission norms with 50% lower carbon monoxide ((CO) and 25% lower hydrocarbons and nitrous oxides (HC+NOx) than the earlier 2-stroke engines. Also this technology improves the fuel efficiency/mileage substantially

Bajaj which made great strides in the two wheeler market through its DTSi technology has recently introduced the GDi (Gasoline Direct Injection) technology in its three wheelers. Bajaj has brought the GDi to indian market through RE – GDi three wheeler. Bajaj got the license from the Orbit corporation of australlia (maker of gasoline direct injection technology). For more information on GDi technology visit Is direct Injection Bajaj’s next DTSi? Now following the three wheelers Bajaj is working on fitting this technology into bikes and scooters. Bajaj is believed to be working with Bosch for customising GDi technology for two wheelers. Bajaj may use this GDi equipped engines for the proposed global car ($3000 car) which it produces jointly with Renault.

Also Economic times reports, Bajaj is working to combine its proven DTSi technology with the GDi technology on bikes with smaller engines. The company wants to put the same technology in the volume-generating 125-150cc segments as an alternative to the existing four-stroke engines.

Kinetic to launch CNG/LPG 4S and electric scooters

Kinetic 4S CNG / LPG:

Kinetic which recently launched the 125cc Flyte seems to have a greener plan for its future offerings . Kinetic will launch a CNG or LPG version of Kinetic 4S (if launched first CNG or LPG scooter in India). Kinetic will be launching the CNG or LPG 4S by the end of January 2008. We have already reported you the major manufacturers such as Bajaj and TVS are working on CNG or LPG variants of their models. These bikes are expected to hit the market in 2008 and with the 4S CNG kinetic is preparing for the greener battle.

Kinetic electric scooter:

Also, if Hero goes electric with maxi and velociti through its tie-p with Ultra Motors, then why not kinetic? Kinetic will also launch a electric scooter which is expected to hit the market in next two months. Kinetic will first launch the electric scooters first in Maharashtra, then in Gujarat before going nationwide. TVS motors has already proposed an electric variant of scooty.

CNG to be available across India

CNG and LPG are clearly the future fuel atleast in India! With petrol prices continuing to increase, acceptance level of alternate fuel vehicles among Indians are growing. When this combines with government initiative, CNG and LPG wave seems to be fastly spreading across India. Here’s a word from M S Srinivasan, secretary, ministry of petroleum and natural gas on CNG availablity, “20 major cities of the country would be covered by CNG by 2010” that means this would cover nearly 45 to 48 per cent of the vehicle population of India. Currently, the availability of CNG is currently confined to select centers in the west and north, the penetration of LPG dispensing stations has been concentrated on specific cities, with their network on highways remaining almost negligible.
But the situation will change quickly as more manufacturers rolls out CNG and LPG variants. Few major manufacturers have already rolled CNG and LPG variants of their popular products and other such as Toyota will too join the club in 2008.

YO Smart – Pictorial Review

1) Electrotherm’s YO smart: It is the most popular model from Induselectrans. Why it is called smart? Indus cites the following reasons, smart because it runs on futuristic technology, electricity. Smart because it is soft on your wallet. Smart because it is pollution free. Also smart in its looks.

2) Electrotherm’s YO smart: Buoyed by the sucess of ebikes, leading banks have come forward to offer finance for the buyers. Indus is offering tie-ups with financing and insurance companies (ICICI and GE Countrywide) to offer the kind of benefits that now exist for traditional vehicles

3) Electrotherm’s YO smart: Similar to most ebikes, yo smart doesn’t require any registration or license to drive as the power output is below 250W and as the maximum speed is limited to 25km/hr. The maintenance free VRLA battery charges in 6-8hrs and it gives a mileage of 75km/c according to Indus.

4) Electrotherm’s YO smart: The weight carrying capacity is limited to 75kg but ideal for a woman or a old man to deal with domestic need. Also with a maintenance cost of 1/3 of a conventional scooter and a running cost of 1/10th of a conventional scooter yo smart is more ideal household usage.

5) Electrotherm’s YO smart: The design language is simple with a steeply raked apron that is extended to serve the function of front fenders. The bulgy body panels ends in a large tail lamp cluster. One thing common in all bikes is gaps between the tyre and body panels are larger which gives these bikes a naked look.

Easily read out black back dash features speed, battery level indicator and tell tales.

6) Electrotherm’s YO smart: Tall riders must be uncomfortable with the yo smart as we find footboard space is limited. It better to practice how to save your knees.

7) Electrotherm’s YO smart: The indicators are integrated with the headlamp and tail lamp which ensures that it does not get smashed off easily. Lookalike aluminium handle levers feels good.

8) Electrotherm’s YO smart: available in four exciting colours – Lemon Yellow, Silver, Splash Blue, Red and Black.

Discounts on Maruti Suzuki SX4

Maruti Suzuki which is offering discounts across most models through its Happy Customer Offer has so far kept the popular models Swift and SX4 out of the scheme. But now Maruti seems to have opened the doors for SX4, a token discount of Rs 5,000 is offered on the top end variant of SX4 i.e SX4 ZXI. Maruti’s SX4 is the market leader in its segment with monthly sales clocking around 3,000 units of the model as compared to Honda City that sells about 2,500 units and Hyundai’s Verna at about 2,200 units.