BMW MINI India – Price List

German Luxury car maker, BMW has today launched its MINI brand in three versions in India. The three versions of MINI include Hatchback, Convertible and Country range. It comes powered by a petrol engine mated to a six-speed automatic transmission.

Dr. Andreas Schaaf, President of BMW Group India said, “With the launch of MINI, we have brought the world’s most exciting premium small car brand to India. MINI is more than just a car – it is a personality on wheels – a fashion statement – and a way of life. MINI expresses a whole generation’s approach to life – it is extrovert, open and full of zest in life. No other brand exhibits the attributes and essence of a modern urban lifestyle like MINI and there is no doubt that it is one of the world’s most emotional auto brands.”

Schaaf also said, “By launching the new MINI ten years ago, we created the world’s first premium small car brand in the world. With MINI our approach was: ‘From the Original to the Original’. Since then, we have sold over 2 million MINIs and converted the MINI brand from a single-model offer to a family of six models. Three of them, namely the MINI Hatch, the MINI Convertible and the MINI Countryman are now available in India. Our main focus this year will be to concentrate on successfully establishing the MINI brand in India.”

The ex-showroom prices of the new MINI cars in India are as follows:

i) MINI Cooper – Rs.25,50,000

ii) MINI Cooper S – Rs.28,60,000

iii) MINI Cooper Convertible – Rs.30,70,000

iv) MINI Cooper S Countryman – Rs.32,80,000

v) MINI Cooper S Countryman High – Rs.35,90,000

Maruti to launch A-star sedan in 2013

India’s largest car manufacturer, Maruti plans to launch the sedan version of its A-star hatchback in 2013 in India and other countries. The company mainly targets at the eastern Europe countries to sell the new A-star sedan. Eventhough, the A-star hatchback is recorded as the largest export model of Maruti, it has not performed so well in India. This may even enhance the company to go for a sedan version of A-star. Also, the sedan cars have a great craze than the hatchback in our country which may also insist Maruti for this new idea. However, the design and looks of the A-star sedan cannot be predicted exactly. We have to wait till 2013 to see the new A-star sedan.

BMW to unveil X1 facelift

BMW, the German luxury car maker plans to unveil the facelifted version of its X1 model at the New York Auto Show. The exterior styling of the new X1 looks upgraded with a heavily profiled front bumper featuring altered grille with silver slats and the lower section which is completely redesigned with a silver accent. New internal graphics with an optional LED corona ring main beam lights are now present in its headlamps. The new X1’s interior features a slightly modified central console along with high gloss air vents and a new range of optional trim elements. The rear bumper has also been modified with more body coloured surfaces and a larger silver scrub-plate element. Both the interiors and exteriors of the new X1 holds a lot of new good features which will surely make the car a more successful one after its launch.

Volkswagen plans for 10 used car dealers by this year end

Volkswagen plans to have 8-10 used car dealers by this year end. Regarding this, Mr. Neeraj Garg, Director of Volkswagen Passenger Cars, India reported that it is a global plan for them. It’s called Das Wealth Auto. This is what they have announced at the Auto Expo on January 5 that they are going to bring Das Wealth Auto into the country and start the pilot by the Q2 of this calendar year.

Garg said that by the end of this year possibly, we will have around eight to ten dealers on a pilot-basis. The dealers in the pilot project will come up in big towns, Tier 1 and Tier 2 towns.

He finally added that it is a well-known fact that customers do not have a disciplined used cars sales process. It is speculated that the number of used car transactions are equal to the number of new car transactions.

Auto LPG Price Hiked

Due to the hike in the oil prices, the Auto LPG prices has been hiked by Rs.6 per litre. It means that the price of the Auto LPG for 1 litre has increased from Rs.43.65 to Rs.49.72. Recently on March 1, the prices were hiked from Rs.40.7 per litre to Rs.43.65 per litre. Hence this will be the second hike in the price of Auto LPG within one month of time period. As like the petrol prices, the LPG prices are also increasing nowadays. The one and only convincing option for the customers is the diesel until its price gets increased. This worst situation makes the customers only as the victims.

Renault launches new E4D variant of Fluence

As mentioned yesterday, Renault has today launched a new diesel variant of Fluence at a price of Rs.15.20 lakhs (Ex-showroom, Delhi). The new variant has been christened E4D and it comes with an upgraded diesel engine. The new 1.5 Energy dCi 110 engine of the Fluence features an upgraded turbo which churns out a peak power of 108bhp and also offers a very good performance. The turbo-lag of the new Fluence is also very less compared to the existing one due to the upgraded turbo. Both the interiors and the exteriors of the car holds a lot of goodies such as leather upholstery, dual-zone climate control, electrically adjustable and foldable rear-view mirrors, rain sensing wipers and so on.

Renault to launch a new diesel variant of Fluence

A new E4 diesel variant of Renault Fluence is to be launched tomorrow with an upgraded engine. The upgraded turbo present in the new engine offers a peak power of 108bhp. With an aim of obtaining an efficient turbo performance, the air intake of the engine has been reduced and hence the performance of the car will be very good. The interior of the new Fluence Diesel features leather upholstery, rear sun-blinds, USB and Bluetooth equipped audio system, dual-zone climate control and rear AC ducts. The updated Fluence also holds a lot of goodies which are as follows.

i) Electrically adjustable and foldable rear-view mirrors

ii) Rain sensing wipers

iii) Auto headlamps

iv) Cruise control

v) Chrome-lined trunk-lid and window sills

vi) Rear parking sensors

Hyundai i-Gen i20 – Features & Price list

The new i20 features a reverse camera with display in the cabin mirror, electric folding and heated wing mirrors, auto-headlights, six airbags, four-wheel disc brakes, supervision cluster and rain-sensing wipers, a smart key with push-button start, a leather-wrapped steering wheel and gear knob, tilt and telescopic steering wheel and a 2DIN CD/MP3 audio system with four speakers, USB, aux-in and Bluetooth connectivity along with steering mounted audio controls.

The prices of the variants of the new i20 are as follows:

PETROL:

ERA – Rs.4,73,400

Magna – Rs.4,97,310

Magna(O) – Rs.5,27,278

Sportz – Rs.5,75,247

Asta – Rs.6,21,082

Asta(O) with Sunroof – Rs.6,65,894

Sportz AT – Rs.7,67,405

DIESEL:

Era – Rs.5,96,334

Magna – Rs.6,20,243

Magna(O) – Rs.6,50,213

Sportz – Rs.6,98,183

Asta – Rs.7,44,013