Monthly Archives: June 2009

Porsche Cayenne Hybrid to Come Next Year

New Porsche Cayenne Cars in India

Ok everybody, green is in. Now we didn’t vouch on that. It is being endorsed by the big guys. You see! And when it is Porsche who is endorsing green, we better sit back and believe it.

Porsche, The celebrated sports car maker has bit the newest green car fad. It seems like being fuel guzzlers is not a matter of pride anymore. Ferrari has already announced that it will be bringing a hybrid sports car. A similar announcement has been made by Lamborghini too. So how could Porsche, another European sports car manufacturer be left behind in the race for green technology?

Porsche has announced that it is working on launching a hybrid variant for its best selling SUV Cayenne. Did you hear that? A green Cayenne on its way to put a sock in the rattling mouths of the eco workers. The launch is expected to happen next year. At the same time, the newly launched four seater sedan Panamera too will be getting a hybrid sibling in the near future. As per the industry grapevine, Porsche is planning to develop a new engine that will deliver a fuel economy of 11 km/l on the Cayenne. This is an advancement of 25 percent of the current fuel efficiency of 6 km/l in city and 8.9 km/l on the highway.

Since it has a reputation to maintain, Porsche engineers are working on a hybrid system that is better than what the world has seen so far. So far the biggest market for hybrid cars has been contained to United States, Europe and Japan. Other countries have a lot of catching up to do in terms of developing green technologies which will pave way for co-existence of environment and modern engineering.

Porsche Cayenne is already available in India as an imported model. It is available in five variants in India including sporty GTS and Turbo versions. It is available with a price tag of Rs 56 lakh upwards in the country. If India is to get the hybrid model it has wait for some more time. (Tell us something new eh!)

As the country has always been received technologies long time after the world has tested it. There are a few exceptions to it. Hybrids have never been received with open arms by the Indian consumers as they have other options to like the CNG and LPG variants. It will take some aggressive marketing to push the Porsche hybrid Cayenne in the Indian car market.

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Spruced up Corolla Altis in Sports Edition

New Toyota Corolla Altis Cars in IndiaToyota Motors sporting up their cars can be quite a strange thing at times. But the Japanese car giant has just done that with their Corolla Altis.

Toyota Corolla Altis, the executive sedan is all set to pump up more blood in everybody’s heart with the sports version of the car. The sports version of Altis is a limited edition with only 300 of it being manufactured in India. The sportier version of Corolla Altis is aimed at the youth.

Corolla Altis Sports is created with all new sporty and exhilarating features that are worth experiencing. Some of the exciting features that transform Altis sports are aerodynamic front and rear bumper spoiler, a refined headlamp garnish, sleek side skirts and elite rear LED spoilers. The interior is seen with a two-tone seat fabric and wood finish rear cup holders add extra charm to the premium car.

Toyota Corolla Altis was launched in 2008 as a replacement to the ageing old Toyota Corolla which received impressive response. This inspired the company to bring in the sports version which is expected to add extra mileage to the sales figure.

Available in two attractive colours of metallic grey and metallic silver, Corolla Altis Sports comes with the price tag of Rs Rs 11.35 lakhs, ex-showroom, Delhi, which is higher than the existing Corolla Altis.

posted by admin @ Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 Comments Off links to this post
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Swift Getting Glamourous with GLAM

New Maruti Suzuki Swift Cars in IndiaAfter the Suzuki A-Star and the Ritz, Maruti has launched a new car. Well, it will be wrong to call it a new car as this car is a limited edition variant of the Swift. This “newly launched” car is christened as Glam.

The new hatchback from Maruti Suzuki is all decked up to match its contenders. Swift Glam will have an appealing dual tone dashboard, exquisite beige upholsteries, sizzling new wheel covers and handy rear parcel tray. This sporty car will now sport body-coloured Outside Rear View Mirrors (ORVMs) and door handles.

The Swift VXI Glam will come with an integrated audio system and Keyless remote entry. Moreover, Maruti has introduced two new paint schemes for the Glam Limited Edition. The new colour shades are named Goldsmith Black and noble Arctic White. Only Maruti knows what’s black about goldsmiths and noble about the Arctic!!!

But, why a limited edition? Competition is the answer. The new Fiat Grande Punto is positioned squarely against the Suzuki Swift, and the Hyundai i20 and the Honda Jazz are definitely more of premium hatchbacks than the top-end Swift. Moreover, there is a speculation that the Glam edition is Suzuki’s ploy to clear stocks before they introduce the K12M engine in the Swift.

The Maruti Suzuki Swift Glam Limited Edition is only available in the petrol variant.

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3 Million Cars on Indian Roads by 2015

The Indian car market contrary to the global meltdown is growing in a faster pace than ever. Indian car market currently has about 1.7 million units on the road and is expected to grow by 3 million by the year 2015.

It has been observed by market researchers that irrespective of the present scenario, the Indian car market is in the right direction. If India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) shows an annual growth of 6-7%, the car market is booming at the rate of 10-12 % which in turn showcases the flourishing rate of 5 per cent in the Indian economy annually.
New Cars in India
The average Indian vehicle buyer for personal mobility is now shifting from scooter and three-wheeler towards motorcycles and cars. There is a wafer-thin margin between the cost of scooters and second-hand small cars. Furthermore, it has been anticipated that the days of owner-driven commercial vehicles are coming to an end and the fleet owners will dominate the scene including the design of the vehicles and their configuration according to intended use. In this run, the local carmakers need to scale up production and improve technology for the fear of being pushed around by the global contenders.

The car market in India will see a major expansion in the mid size B segment while the growth of the small car segment will decelerate. India is likely to produce 3 million cars and Maruti and Hyundai are expected to dominate the market with a share of 1 million each. Other car giants such as Honda, Volkswagen, Mercedes or BMW will grow in their own niches.

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Tata Motors Brings Land Rover and Jaguar to India

New Land Rover Range Rover Sport Cars in India

Finally the two iconic brands from Britain, Jaguar and Land Rover (now owned by Tata Motors) did make a grand entry to the Indian road space.

These award winning popular models with international fame includes range of luxury models like Jaguar XF, XFR and XKR and Land Rover Discovery 3, Range Rover Sport and Range Rover.

The launch of these premium brands in India is a momentous occasion not only for Tata motors but for the entire Indian car industry. The price range of the Jaguar models will start from the Rs 63 lakh up to Rs 92 lakh while Land Rover has priced its models between Rs 63 lakhs and Rs 89 lakhs.

Tata Motors has plans to introduce more models from the Jaguar and Land Rover in India. Both these brands were quite popular with the Indians in the past but the popularity had waned out. Now with the advent of these models in India, the whole Indian automotive sector could get an added boost. It’s up to these premium brands to see how they fare in the Indian terrain.

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Jaguar to Compete with Merc and BMW

New Jaguar XF Cars in India

The leaping cat seems to be aiming for the throats of its enemies. Recently launched Jaguar is coming to get the Mercs and the Beamers for its share in the Indian Car market.

Mercedes-Benz and BMW have been a hit with the people of India and are well placed in India. People have varied opinions on which brand is better and the stand is divided as a two party country with strong loyalty for either of the car brands. They are followed by dissidents like owners of Porsches and Ferraris in India. But they are small in number and can be ignored.

The iconic British luxury car maker Jaguar has finally entered India. It has launched three models which will be strategically placed in the Indian car market with its competitive pricing of all models which are between Rs 63 lakh to Rs 90 lakh. The Jaguars are likely to compete with Mercedes E class and BMW 5- series. In fact several of Mercedes, Audi and BMW cars are priced in the same price range too.

Other costlier models like BMW 7 series and Mercedes S class are priced higher than this price range. Jaguar is expected to cannibalise into the market share of Mercs and Beamers as the years roll by. The pricing is something that the luxury brands will have to fight tooth and nail to regain their hunting territory.

Jaguar is a rare car with its stunning design and exemplary technologies. Jaguar has spent a fortune on development of new technologies and had launched the XF in 2008 as an epitome of its efforts. Its racy looks, advanced interior gadgets and real race car like performance is likely to draw a lot of Indians to its showrooms. Jaguar cars are considered rare pieces of engineering even by sports cars standards.

The luxury car brands in India has a very small niche market with just over 10,000 units of these premium cars sold in the last fiscal which was priced over Rs 40 lakh. BMW and Mercedes-Benz have a lot at stake in the Indian car market. Mercedes alone has a market control of about Rs 400 in India. It if closely followed by BMW. Now with the launch of Jaguar cars in India, only time will tell if the cars have succeeded in making a dent in the premium car segment in India.

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Tata Nano to Become the Next India’s People’s Car

The world’s cheapest car, Tata Nano will soon be ruling the small car segment in India within a year, provided everything goes according to Tata Motors’s plans. Maruti 800s and Omnis which were the chief people movers in India now would be taken out of the roads of eleven cities by January 2010 as they have failed to meet the required Indian emission norms.

Tata Nano could benefit the absence of Maruti 800 and the Omnis as the possibility of a worthy contender to the Nano at least now has been marginalized. But the important question here would be Cab Tata produce enough units of Nano to meet the demands of the Indian small car buyer looking for an alternative for Maruti 800 and Omnis.

Even if the Nano becomes the highest selling car in its segment, it would take some time to fill in Tata’s coffers. Tata Motors posted almost Rs 2,500 crore as loss in the last fiscal largely due to the tribulations of its UK subsidiary of Jaguar and Land Rover.

Technically speaking, Tata Motors has to sell at least 2.5 lakh units of Nano to make up for the loss. The company may be in a position to produce the Nano in these numbers only by the end of 2010 once its plant at Sanand, Gujarat becomes operational.

The basic model of Maruti 800, is priced at Rs 2.15 lakh whereas the Nano is attached to a price tag of Rs 1.35 lakh. This small car with its small budget is alluring prospective car buyers in India. Now with M800 and Omni phased out in eleven cities, Nano will positively rule the roads. These cities account for one out of two cars sold in the country. So we can imagine India teaming with Nano. Good Luck to you, Nano!

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Tata Nano: An Environmental Threat? Move over Eco Workers

Ever since the launch of Tata Nano was announced in 2008, environmentalists have been crying hoarse. They say that Nano will clog the roads. But will Nano alone be responsible for clogging of roads is a questionable factor.

Let us look at facts of Tata Nano first- it is a low cost car easily available to most people n India. But Tata Motors will be able to manufacture only one lakh cars per annum.

On the other hand big car manufacturers like Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai along with the other major car makers have production capacities in excess of 2 lakh units. In the year 2008-09, 15 lakh units of passenger cars including utility vehicles and multipurpose vehicles had made their presence felt in the Indian road space.

Maruti Suzuki has been the chart topper after having sold the most number of cars in India. Alto, the top selling car of Maruti Suzuki has sold more than 10 lakh units in the last nine years and the fast selling Swift has sold nearly five lakh units in just four years. Compare them with Nano’s yearly target, and Nano would certainly stand pale in front of them. It will take half a decade to reach Swift hatchback’s record.

Moreover, most Nano cars will sell in urban areas, while Maruti and Hyundai plan to move to rural markets to gain more sales in numbers.

So, environmentalists get your facts right before pouncing on the Tata Nano.

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Volkswagen Signals Suzuki For Partnership

This is where the East meets West. German car manufacturer Volkswagen is looking for partnership with Suzuki Motors Corporation (SMC). The reason is Volkswagen wants access to Suzuki’s small car technology which is abundantly used in emerging markets like India. Asian cars are in huge demand across the world nowadays. And who better than Japan can deliver small cars. Right?

According to news circulated by Reuters, Volkswagen is considering on securing a deal with Suzuki Motor Corporation and gain access to small car technology used in Suzuki cars. This initiative is in pursuance of Volkswagen’s global plans to beat Toyota and fight to the top Numero Uno position.

Interestingly, Volkswagen already has small cars in its portfolio like Beetle, Rabbit, GTI, Polo and Up. But the German company feels that Suzuki truly knows how to make small cars. They are, inexpensive and less powerful than Volkswagen cars, but are very user friendly. It also has a 660 cc vehicle in Japan. Suzuki is the second largest car manufacturer in Japan, just behind Toyota, the world’s largest car manufacturer. It is also the majority partner in the Maruti Suzuki India. It is the builder of Maruti Suzuki Alto and A-star, which are hugely popular in European markets.

But nobody is sure if the deal will get through this year. In the past too, Volkswagen has sent a similar request to Suzuki, but the deal never materialized. A lot of its future plans are at stake in this latest deal for Volkswagen. Suzuki will need to play its cards carefully before accepting the deal.

posted by admin @ Friday, June 26th, 2009 Comments Off links to this post
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The Indian Twist to Phoren Tale

Indian car market has been in news for strange reasons like marketing some of the world’s smallest cars like Maruti 800 and Tata Nano.

With the advent of Maruti 800, small cars were first introduced in India by Suzuki Motor Corp in a joint venture with Maruti Udyog and there was no looking back for them as they introduced the small car fad which later was taken up by other car makers as well. What continued to amaze the car pundits in the international scene was the demand that small cars commended in India even when big cars and gas guzzlers was the norm in western countries.

When General Motors, the then world’s largest car manufacturer entered India, they had to restructure their plans and bring in a small car which paved the way for Chevy Spark. Even Honda Motors which prided itself of marketing only premium sedans has been humbled to launch its hatchback small car Jazz in India. Toyota Motors, which until now has marketed big cars, now has been forced to bring in their Yaris to join the small car bandwagon fray. Breaking all the rules of game, Tata Nano has opened a whole new car segment in itself with the introduction of Tata Nano. Now another American automobile major Ford Motors has plans to launch a small car too.

So why are so many small cars entering the small Indian car market suddenly? Of course it is the Moolah which attracts them all. More than 80 percent of the Indian car market is dominated by the small cars. Maruti Suzuki itself controls nearly 58 percent of that small car market in India. So much so, that the revenues from Maruti surpassed the revenues from Suzuki’s U.S. market. Indian car market has shown a strong preference for small cars. The small car market is so strong, that it refuses to fade away in the next couple of decades.

The big car manufacturers feel that they will be able to reach out to customers more easily through small cars in India. These foreign based car companies want to enter the segment by bringing their highest selling cars in the international car market. If these companies are able to sell even a few lakhs units here in India, they can make a dent in the Indian car market.

posted by admin @ Friday, June 26th, 2009 Comments Off links to this post
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