Bavina Readying To Launch New Electric Cars

In early part of this year we had written about a Bavina Cars India planning to make electric cars just like Maini Reva electric cars is already doing in India. It is now clear that Bavina Cars has received land from Tamil Nadu government. It is now aggressively pursuing its plans to bring out plug in series hybrid cars in a couple of years time.

The company has laid out its plans on manufacturing the car. Of course it won’t be a fully indigenous car. At least 80 percent of the car will come from imported sources. Except for the body panels all other parts will be sources from outside the country. The most important of all the fuel cell battery and the onboard petrol engine of a small capacity will be imported. The transmission will be sourced from BorgWarner in the United States. The technology would be sourced Velozzi from US.
When the car hits the road in 2011, it is be the closest rival to Maini Revai cars. Bavina will be able to manufacture 40,000 units per annum. Since the prototype of the car has not been tested we are unable to tell how many kilometers the car will run on a single charge. So far Maini Revai manages to deliver 80 kms on a single full charge. Bavina cars will have to outperform Maini Revai cars to get the buyers attention.

The price will be of prime importance for Bavina. Since it is importing most of its products compared to Revai which has mostly indigenous parts, Bavina is likely to cost more. It would require a Herculean effort for Bavina to bring prices below the Rs 3 lakh mark around which Revai now sells.

Another aspect that will pitch the companies will be forced to market their products in select cities, which will escalate competition. Since Bavina and Maini Revai competition will be sharp as both are located in the south of India and will to capture these markets first.

The next decade is going to be an interesting phase in the electric passenger car segment.
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GM India now part of the New GM Company

General Motors India has now become part of the new General Motors in United States. The launch of the new company will help the Indian subsidiary pursue an aggressive marketing strategy in India.

General Motors is now officially known as the General Motors Company, after steering away from the bankruptcy with a little aid from the US Government. The Indian subsidiary has said that it has received a boost from the new company and all its plans for the country are on track. It would also go ahead with the planned new car launches.

It looks like the bad period is over and sunshine is blazing brightly over the company again. The launch of the new company is an important development in the world of automobiles. The once lost glory of this iconic car maker seems to be reviewed in the process.

What it means to the consumer? The consumer will continue to receive the benefits of warranty and other services as usual. The numbers of GM dealerships are likely to increase over the next two years as GM US is now firmly in place. There would not be any drop in the re-sale value for any GM cars bought in this country.

GM India under the new company is likely to emerge stronger and more aggressive than in predecessor. It is likely to give the established players like Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motors and Tata Motors a tough fight for the market share in all car segments and a run for their money.
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Maruti Suzuki Ritz’s Namesake

New Maruti Suzuki Ritz Cars in IndiaHere’s an interesting piece of information about Maruti Suzuki’s latest small car for the Indian car market called the ‘Ritz’. Before 15th May 2009 (its date of launch), the hatchback was eagerly awaited and was extensively referred to as ‘Splash’ by the media. Somewhere in between, Maruti Suzuki was forced to rename and launch the car as ‘Ritz’ even though the same car is known as the Suzuki Splash in the international market.

The reason for this sudden move came after Maruti Suzuki’s sudden realization that the name ‘Splash’ was already registered as a brand by Ford Motors which had already applied for this name in 2002 with the Controller General of Patents Designs and Trademarks Registry in India. Ford India is planning to introduce a small car in the country next year which it wants to market as ‘Splash’.

When Maruti Suzuki approached the trademarks authorities for introducing its new hatchback, its petition was withdrawn and the car manufacturer was forced to rename it as ‘Ritz’. And that is how the Maruti Suzuki Ritz came to be known as the Ritz. Looks like car manufacturers are clashing over more than just the sales of their small cars in India.
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Dodge Viper Faces Extinction

New Dodge Viper Cars in IndiaThe legendary Dodge Viper, one of the top muscle cars of the world, is on the brink of extinction and might soon pass into history textbooks as it has not found any takers after Chrysler put it up for auction recently. Just like the famous Ford Mustang has its followers, the Dodge Viper too has had a great fan following across the world and has several achievements to its credit over the last two decades. When Chrysler filed for bankruptcy, the company put it up for auction but found that they were no takers for the fuel guzzler anywhere. Chrysler had listed the Viper as an asset to be disposed off to raise money to pay off its debts. To worsen the situation, only 120 vipers have been sold so far this year, while 1545 units were sold last year.

The current model Dodge Viper SRT10 is powered by huge 8.4L V10 engine that delivers a stunning 600 hp of power. It is one of the fastest performance cars in the world and is considered as the ultimate American sports car with world class performance. It is capable of accelerating from 0-100 km/h in less than four seconds.

New Dodge Viper Cars in IndiaIf the production of the car is stopped due to lack of response from car buyers, the Dodge Viper will become one of the performance cars of all time that lived the shortest. The decision to let the legend live lies with Fiat as it recently bought out Chrysler. Since Fiat also partly owns the Ferrari brand of sports cars, it’s possible that Fiat will make every attempt to revive the Viper’s lost glory.
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Hybrid Sports Car from Honda Likely

New Hybrid Cars in IndiaHybrid cars are a relatively new concept in India and the Honda Civic Hybrid is the only hybrid car in India right now. However, in the rest of the world hybrids have been around for quite some time and there are enough of them already. Just when hybrid cars are starting to get boring and predictable, Honda has worked out a way to revitalize the dying trend and set a foundation for the continuation of hybrid car technology into the future. It is working towards manufacturing its first hybrid sports car and rumours suggest that car it might be launched by February 2010. The new hybrid sports car is tentatively named as ‘Honda CR-Z’. The news of launch of this car has excited enthusiasts across the world.

Honda plans to sell it first in its home country of Japan and later move to its other popular markets such as the United States. The car manufacturer has been significantly encouraged by the excellent performance of its latest hybrid sedan Honda Insight and is planning to release a hybrid version of its famous small car Honda Fit (which is the Honda Jazz in India). The way Honda is planning things, the car manufacturer’s portfolio might soon be filled with plenty of hybrid cars.

Ever since the first car was created, it has been an upward journey for car manufacturers who have been continuously testing the limits of man and machine. Sports cars arrived to cater to speed enthusiasts across the world and now that the speed bug has been firmly planted in world culture, people would be unwilling to sacrifice it for the sake of hybrid energy. Honda’s new hybrid sports car should free sports cars enthusiasts of any pangs about environment. Hybrid car technology has established itself as a strong foundation for the cars of the future and cars that run on it are no longer fringe players in the world of automobiles.
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Maruti Ritz Buyers Opt Petrol Version

New Maruti Suzuki Ritz Cars in IndiaMaruti Suzuki’s latest pin up car, “tall boy” Maruti Suzuki Ritz has been hitting the roads in decent numbers since its launch in May. It has been reported that buyers prefer Maruti Suzuki Ritz petrol variant to the diesel one. In fact, about 70 percent of current Ritz sales are for the 1.2-litre petrol engine version, with the remaining opting for the 1.3-litre Multijet diesel version.

This marks a significant shift in preference among buyers of B-segment small cars in India as these customers have preferred diesel versions for their lower running costs over the ages. One of the reasons for this preference for the Ritz petrol is that it is significantly cheaper than the diesel version. Another reason for the popularity of the Ritz petrol is that it is powered by Suzuki’s new generation KB series engine which offers improved refinement and relatively better fuel economy. This helps it to narrow the gap in terms of efficiency and running costs between the petrol and diesel versions.

The increased popularity of petrol engines among hatchback buyers is an important new trend in the Indian car industry. It is also an indication of the increasing maturity and sophistication of car buyers in India, who are carefully weighing the pros and cons of petrol and diesel versions and not buying diesel merely out of habit.
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X6 – BMW’s Macho Machine

BMW X6, a Sport Activity Vehicle (SAV) from the German premium car manufacturer BMW has been pulling a lot of eyes in India recently. This car is imported in India as a Completely Built Unit (CBU). The BMW X6 comes in two versions the X6 xDrive50i in petrol and the X6 xDrive30d in diesel.

The X6 is world’s first Sports Activity Coupé to be equipped with BMW Dynamic Performance Control that imbues it with excellent driving dynamics. This BMW is equipped with a twin-turbo direct injection V8.

The new BMW X6 has all the agility and elegance of a coupé plus the impressive versatility of a SAV. The car has been named as Sports Activity Coupe as it ensures all the comfort and luxury of the coupe. This seven-seater coupe also provides generous spacing for both the driver and front passenger.

This luxury SAV offers a unique synthesis of exclusive luxury, sporting dynamics, and powerful style. With a wide range of colors and materials, the BMW X6 really highlight its sporting character to suit individual style and personality. The petrol variant of the BMW X6 is priced at Rs. 83 Lakh while the diesel is available at Rs. 65 Lakh.

The coupe X6 can be ordered across all 13 BMW dealerships in India. The German car giant has deferred the launch of its luxury hatchback the Mini in India till next year. BMW 7 series, 3 series and X3 are the other models of the world’s largest premium car make that are sold in India.
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Car Makers on a Price Slashing Frenzy

The 2009-2010 Budget is what changed the face of big cars in India in just a week’s time. The cars are now much cheaper, but still do not leave the small car segment jealous.

Most of the companies do not seem to be very enthusiastic about this small cut in the excise duty, as they were expecting for more. Hindustan Motors has already raised its opinion regarding this, but whatever said and done, the companies are reducing the prices of their big car models strongly believing in “something is better than nothing”. The big car manufacturers should be happy and compare themselves with the small car segment along with the auto parts and the tyre industry, which was not even glanced at by the government.

Hindustan Motors was first to come up with a reduced price tag for partner Mitsubishi’s big car models namely Outlander, Pajero, and Montero cars. This announcement was soon followed by Ford and Honda, slashing their prices on their cars up to Rs 6,000. Honda had initially announced that the company was not planning for price reduction because of the depreciating rupee in the global market, but the decision was changed overnight and the company reduced Rs. 5,000 on its luxury sedan Accord and SUV CR-V.

Hyundai on Wednesday slashed the price of its premium sedan Sonata Transform by Rs 5,000. Volvo, who didn’t want to lag behind in this price-slashing frenzy, cut almost Rs 4 lakh on its sports utility car Volvo XC90. And now Nissan has also joined the legion by cutting Rs 5,000 on its SUV, X-Trail, which will be now priced between Rs 20.35 lakh and Rs 24.65 lakh and Teana for Rs 21.42 lakh.

With the announcement from other auto giants such as Tata, BMW, Toyota pending, the dedication of the companies to pass on the benefits to the car customers should be appreciated, but the most haunting thought is that whether these slash in prices would really urge the customers to buy big cars.

A reduction of Rs 5,000 or Rs 6,000 is not going to benefit the big car buyers as most of these cars are heavily priced.
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BMW skeptical Over Mini Launch

It looks like the German premium car maker BMW, is skeptical of launching its iconic luxury hatchback, the Mini in India. The launch of this hatchback was supposed to happen by the end of this year. BMW had announced its Mini launch plans during the launch of BMW X6, a sports activity coupe in India.

The Mini is a three-door luxury hatchback that was likely to be imported as a CBU in India. The BMW Mini would carry a price tag of Rs20 Lakh. The delay in the launch of this luxury hatchback owes largely because the luxury hatchback market in India is not developed. Moreover, BWM thought the investment to launch a new brand would be substantial in this condition. Any carmaker needs to look at the potential business opportunity before launching a car, especially when it’s a luxury car. BMW Mini would have faced a tough competition with the Fiat 500 if it had been launched in India at the prescribed date.

The German car giant would reconsider the launch of the Mini by the end of the third quarter of the calendar year. BMW competes with European rivals DaimlerChrysler (DCXGn.DE) and Volkswagen (VOWG.DE) in the premium Indian car market. This German carmaker makes the 3 and 5 series in India and also sells its 7 series from imported kits.

To strengthen the dealership network, BMW will set up dealerships in 10 more cities by the end of 2010. Presently, there are 13 dealerships in the country. The company has invested $30 million in India, including setting up a plant in Chennai.
BMW has lined up a slew of launches in 2009 like the new BMW 7 series, the new BMW 3 series, and a diesel variant of BMW X3.
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Chevrolet Beat India Bound

Though General Motors has declared bankruptcy, the Indian subsidiary of GM is going strong. The GM India has also ensured that the bankruptcy of GM in U.S. will not have any affect in India.

The company has proved this by rolling out few variants of its product line here in India. Chevrolet Beat, which was revealed in the 2009 Auto Expo is speculated to be launched this August. The launch is pretty confirmed as the test mules have already been seen testing in the roads of Mumbai.

Globally, Chevrolet Beat, is known as Spark, but since Chevrolet has already a car by the same name in the small car segment. The Beat which is positioned below Spark in India was earlier christened as Mini but the name did not match the stylish car.

The car is expected to be seen in both petrol and diesel version and will be the third-small car in GM’s product line, after Spark and Aveo U-VA. The exact specification is unknown but it is said to carry an engine with the capacity of 1.0-1.5-litre under the hood. The car will be locally assembled at the GM’s Talegaon plant in Gujarat.

Chevrolet Spark is doing well on the Indian roads and the launch of Beat is expected to Beat add more value to the car manufacturer. Beat will be entering the league of powerful hatchbacks like Suzuki Swift, Indica Vista, Hyundai i20, etc. We all hope that Beat will offer something more than these players that will make this small car stand out in the crowd.
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