Monthly Archives: May 2009

Step into the shoes of Lamborghini Reventon

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New Lamborghini Gallardo LP560/4 Cars In India

The Lamborghini Reventon supercar is a mid-engined sports car that races like a dream and sports drop-dead gorgeous look. Reventon’s stealth body design and fighter jet-like performance is awe-inspiring.

In a different stratum closely related to the Reventon’s rhythm, a French designer at Subaru in Japan has now come up with sneakers inspired by the Lamborghini Reventon. So if you cannot purchase the car, you can get your feet in some smart Reventon shoes. But these shoes are just concepts and a production version is not yet on the cards. Even if these shoes do not appear on shelves of showrooms, you can drool over their aesthetic images.

The French designer has given the shoes Reventon’s sleek, angular look and has used a healthy dose of carbon fiber trim for the frame. You need to take a closer look at the suspended heel design to admire the creativity of these sneakers. If these shoes become a reality, they will surely be more affordable than a Reventon.

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Hyundai Plans a New Santro Variant

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Santro is all set to get a new variant by the end of this year. Though the specifications of the new variant are not yet disclosed, it is speculated to get subtle changes in the design while the engine and the price tag is expected to remain same.

Santro has been the most successful car model for Hyundai Motors. It has immensely helped the company to get a strong hold of the Indian car market and achieve the second largest car manufacturer position in the country. In 2003, the company launched a new variant of the Santro Xing, and after two years it got the eRLX technology Santro variant. The car is also available in CNG and LPG versions introduced in 2007 and 2008, respectively.

With a price tag ranging from Rs 2.6 Lakh to Rs 3 Lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), the car offers unmatched performance, striking interior and exterior designs, and impressive fuel efficiency. It is also ranked by the J.D. Power Asia as one of the dependable cars in India. It is one of the favourite compact cars of Indian buyers. Being a preferable small car among the Indian masses, it has clocked around 44,371 units of sales in the month of April 2009 when other car models witnessed a major fall in sales. Santro is also exported to the overseas markets like Columbia, Mexico, Sudan, South Africa, and Algeria.

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Honda’s New Small Car with an Attractive Price Tag

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Honda is working on another small car project while it is preparing for the launch of the Jazz. The new small car is likely to carry a price tag below Rs 5 Lakh lesser than the upcoming car Jazz that is expected to cost Rs 7 Lakh. To achieve a cheap price mark, Honda is emphasizing on localizing the component for the production of the car.

The new car with its competitive price tag will make Honda face the highly competitive small car segment that is currently dominated by car manufacturers like Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motors, and Chevrolet. Presently car models like the Swift petrol and diesel, Hyundai Getz, Hyundai i20, Skoda Fabia, and Chevrolet U-VA are doing good business in the Indian car market.

This will be Honda’s first car that will be built keeping India as a lead market. Lead market for the Jazz is Japan whereas U.S. is the lead market for the Accord and the Civic and Thailand for the City. The company is planning to manufacture the car in large volume unlike the Jazz which is expected to get modest volume production due to its high price. The car will be manufactured at Honda’s new Rajasthan facility that will hold the initial capacity to produce 60,000 cars annually and will be later increased to 2.5 Lakh.

Honda’s first contender ‘Jazz’ in the small car segment has already started getting appreciations even before its launch. And the new car with an attractive price tag is sure to strengthen the company’s base in India.

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Global Car Manufacturers Imitate Maruti’s Policy

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New Maruti Suzuki Cars In India


Maruti Suzuki is known to pioneer many innovative ideas since 1983. Its successful strategies has made the company India’s largest car manufacturer. Maruti still continues the trend which is now inspiring many global car manufacturers. What has attracted them is the way Maruti Suzuki manages to improve its brand image with every launch. They are trying to emulate the idea of launching a hatchback and a sedan version of the same model.

Maruti has the Swift hatch and the Swift DZire sedan available in both petrol and diesel variants. Car manufacturers like Toyota, Volkswagen, Honda Motors, and Ford Motors want to imitate the same philosophy. They plan to use the same technology for their future launches in India and abroad. It has been learnt that Toyota plans to launch a small and a big car based on the Yaris platform. Volkswagen plans to do the same with the upcoming car model Polo. But, Volkswagen should be careful not to eat its subsidiary Skoda India’s share which has a small car Fabia and big sedans in the premium segment. Similarly, Honda Motors will launch the small car ‘Jazz’ which is based on the City platform. This policy actually saves time and is cost effective while providing options for the buyers in a single platform.

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Bhaichung Bhutia Gets Scorpio Getaway Lifestyle

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The Indian football captain and the star of Sikhim Bhaichung Bhutia received the Scorpio Getaway Lifestyle – a customized concept of the Scorpio Getaway built especially for the star.

The all-new Scorpio Getaway Lifestyle is a perfect offroad vehicle which carries stylish, sporty looks and go anywhere capability. Based on the platform of Scorpio Getaway, this stunning model gives an option of both two-wheel and four-wheel drive. It is meant for those who seek thrill and adventure in a car.

It gets a high degree of customization that imparts a distinctive character to the car. The striking features that make this model exclusive are motorized cargo bay cover and sunroof, a rear camera with sensors, custom-built front guard in stainless steel with auxiliary lamps, modified bonnet with nose treatment, twin scoops on bonnet, custom-built front bumper corners, styled heel arches with Allen head screws, custom-made inset side scoops with mesh, side guards in stainless steel, “C” pillar bezel with mesh & inset turn signal lamp, window line blackening, body shell in custom paint, alloy wheels, custom painted brake caliper, body modifications to house the Scorpio w tail lamps, S.S. exhaust tail end in twin pipe, custom built triple pipe rear roll case in stainless steel with auxiliary lamps, rear spoiler with built in brake lamp, custom built tail gate bezel.

The dual colour co-ordinated cabin does not stay behind either in terms of style that takes its occupants into the world of luxury, comfort, and convenience. Other attractive interior features of the customized car include leather upholstery, Mp3 music system with speakers, custom floor carpeting & floor mats, and the Ipod docking station.

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Nissan’s New Weapons in Indian Car Industry

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Despite the recession cloud hovering over the car industry, Nissan has taken a bold step to introduce eight new car models in India by 2012. These models will include both imported as well as locally produced cars from the Chennai plant.

Among the new launches, the company will initially focus on the small car Micra. Though there is no confirm news about the launch of Micra, it is expected to hit the Indian shores by 2010. Micra also called March will be positioned against the Maruti Suzuki Swift and will be come in both petrol and diesel versions. Wrapped in aluminium, the new petrol model will sport a light weight 1.2-litre three cylinder engine with superior fuel efficiency. The diesel variant will be fitted with a 1.5-litre Renault engine that is currently being used in the Mahindra-Renault Logan.

Micra will be then followed by another model from the sedan segment which will compete with the Swift Dzire and will be built on the Micra platform. The all-new sedan will come with more powerful petrol and diesel engines.

The list does ends here, it is also speculated that the company is planning to bring in a compact SUV and a MUV for the Indian buyers which will be produced at Chennai plant. The rest car models will be imported which include the all-new Teana, X-Trail, Murano Crossover, and the 370Z (a sports car). It seems Nissan has aggressive plans to engulf the enticing Indian car market as it is also looking forward to expand its car dealership from 5 to 35 by 2012.

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Aston Martin One-77 Bags Top Design Award

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The supercar Aston Martin One-77 won the top award for design of concept cars and prototypes at the Concorso d’Eleganza Design Award held in Italy recently. The Aston Martin cars are best known for their association with the fictitious famous British spy James Bond. It has been featured in several Bond movies.

The One-77 was unwrapped at the Concorso d’Eleganza event where critics and car enthusiasts witnessed the car for the first time. They were highly impressed by its clean flowing exterior lines and the well-crafted luxurious interior. The One-77 is a strikingly beautiful car that takes style and design to a new level. It is fitted with a powerful 7.3-litre V12 engine that delivers 700 bhp power and 750 Nm torque. The crowd was so overwhelmed by the supercar that it got almost 30 percent of the total votes leaving behind the rest eight contestants. Every single part of the car ranging from the grille, to the gearbox and interior trim can be customized by the buyers. The handcrafted seats can also be tailored to fit the driver’s taste.

The company has tried to maintain the exclusivity of the unique car by initially building only 77 cars which will come with a price tag of $1 million making it the most expensive car in the world. It has overtaken the Bugatti Veyron in performance as well as pricing.

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Mahindra Xylo facing Production Hurdles

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Mahindra Xylo production is experiencing a rough ride as the deadlock between Mahindra and the laborers continues. The ongoing strike has eventually left the customers with a long waiting period for the car.

Mahindra Xylo was launched in January this year, since then it had bagged more than 15,000 bookings within three months. The company had also increased the car’s production from 60 to 135 units per day seeing the huge demand for the car.

Xylo proved to b e a mascot for the company which has brought good profit even in the time of economic slowdown. Similarly, car models like Maruti Suzuki Swift hatch, Swift DZire sedan, and Hyundai i20 saw good responses in the market.

Mahindra now fears the risk of losing its prospective buyers for the car to its main rival Toyota Innova if the production does not starts quickly. The Innova has a waiting period of four weeks and Xylo currently has a waiting period of four-six weeks. Xylo has its target audiences in urban and semi-urban areas who may take the delivery delays in a negative way. Mahindra is in tight spot now as it has to protect the market of its leading car model while maintaining a cordial relationship with its employees as well as customers.

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Maruti Suzuki to Retain M800 and Omni

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Maruti is not ready to phase out the models Maruti 800 and Omni and is planning to retain the models in the market against its announcement. This year in April, the company has declared that it will stop the production of these cars due to tighter emission norms. It had also revealed that the necessary modification of the engines to make it comply with the emission norms will involve a heavy investment and this is the reason it is planning to pull out the models from the market. It is said that Maruti plans to phase out the cars eyeing the strong competition from the Nano.

But the company clearly states that the debut of the Nano will not affect M800’s sales and it is not in the mood to take out the car from its product portfolio. Instead, it is working on upgrading the Maruti 800 and Omni to obey the Bharat Stage 4 emission norms that will be applicable from 2010. Well, Maruti has taken an intelligent step by not discontinuing its iconic car models M800 and Omni.

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Automatic and Diesel Nanos are On Cards

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Though the first phase of allotment of Tata Nano is still due in July, Tata Motors is in full swing to diversify the car’s model range. Interestingly, the company is likely to introduce an automatic variant and a diesel variant of the Nano. The production of these new models of Nano will take place at Sanand, Gujarat and are expected to hit the market by the end of this year.

Currently, Nano comprises three variants – Nano, Nano CX, and Nano LX with a 624 CC engine which gives an approximate mileage of 22 km/l. This figure suggests that it is one of the most fuel efficient petrol cars in India. It is speculated that the diesel variant will give a mileage of 25 km/l which will set a new benchmark in the Indian car industry.

The automatic Nano will be dearer to women and beginners (who hate gear shifting) with a 4-speed automatic CVT gearbox. Sources in the industry said that the automatic gearbox is being manufactured by the Pune based Kinetic Group which is taking help from the Avtec Ltd. and a Canadian firm CVTech-IBC for manufacturing the CVT gearbox. An automatic gearbox in a small car will revolutionize the car industry as it is not very common in the small car segment. Only premium small cars enjoy the automatic transmission feature. Both the variants (Automatic and Diesel) will definitely help the ultra-cheap car to spread its wings wider and grab a larger market share.

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