Monthly Archives: November 2009

Nano To Go Green

Green is the new colour code and Tata Nano is all set to embrace it with gusto.

Well, Tata Motors is planning to bring in a hybrid version of its cheapest offering, the Nano. Hence, there is a probability of the world’s cheapest car aiming to become the world’s cheapest hybrid car!

Ratan Tata, the Chairman of Tata Motors feels that the car industry’s future lies in eco-friendly models. As a result the company is joining the other carmakers that have already gone green. The company is also contemplating on the electric version of the Indica Vista in India by 2011 after studying the feasibility in the country. The car is now being developed with a green technology engine for the European countries of Britain, Norway and Denmark with a collaboration of Norwegian company.

Mr Tata also thinks that low-priced goods would create stronger demand than high-end products in India, and the so-called low-price revolution would continue across the world.

A hybrid version the Tata Nano could go well with the general mass in India and across the globe. At present, people are showing an inclination to eco-friendly cars.

posted by admin @ Monday, November 30th, 2009 Comments Off links to this post
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A Look Into BMW xDrive

BMW has a new reason for pulling the attention of the customers. This time it is for the vital drivetrain instrument cluster. The German luxury car maker earlier have always have had more than one reasons to bring its fans to showrooms. Its feat includes latest technology in engines, transmissions, chassis controls and cockpit infotainment systems.

The differential is a compact gearbox which is housed in the recesses between an automobile’s drive wheels. It helps in making a smooth delivery of engine power while going around in turns. Its array of gears and shafts makes it possible for the left and right wheels to spin at different speeds even though they are geared together on the same axle.

The rear differential at the heart of the BMW xDrive all-wheel drive system used in the X6, X6M and X5M goes beyond maintaining forward motion in adverse weather. The new BMW xDrive is smart enough to lend a helping hand in extreme cornering manoeuvers.

The version of xDrive in these BMW cars includes a capability called Dynamic Performance Control whose purpose is to contribute what engineers call a ‘yaw torque’. Dynamic Performance Control pitches in once the hardest-working tyres have reached their traction limits. This added yaw torque is generated at the rear. By forcing the outside rear tyre to push forward while the inside-rear tyre pulls back a bit, a helpful turning force is generated about the imaginary vertical axis.

What accomplishes this execution is an ingenious collection of clutches and gears inside the differential. The beauty of this arrangement is that it works independently of the BMW’s propulsion system.

Whether the driver is accelerating, braking or coasting through a tight turn, this new differential is always on call to add a yaw-torque contribution.

posted by admin @ Monday, November 30th, 2009 Comments Off links to this post
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Electric Indica on the Way

Tata Motors must have thought about adverse environmental affects in India and decided to roll out the Indica Electric in the country. Hence, India will welcome another electric car in the coming years.

The Tata Indica Electric will be launched in India at the same time as it will be launched in the markets of Europe. The company will make a market studyfor the car before they introduce it in 2011.
The introduction of the electric version of the Indica in India would depend on the cost factor, as the price tag attached to it will be a bit heavy. Tata Motors has always been wise on pricing its cars and other vehicles. Hence the company will tackle this problem easily. Another hurdle Tata Motors has to face is the availability of electricity for the car in the country. The car is said to be suitable for Indian roads.

The Indica Electric is being developed by Tata Motors along with a Norwegian company. The car is scheduled for launch in Britain, Norway and Denmark in 2011. If the feasibility study in India shows positive results, the Indian launch of the car will coincide with its launch in European markets.
The Tata Indica Electric was unveiled at the 2008 Auto Expo.
The Indian car market will soon have a few more electric cars in its catalogue. The upcoming Auto Expo will showcase the Toyota Prius. Hyundai has announced to build an electric variant of the i10. Moreover, the REVA NXR and NXG are India bounded.

posted by admin @ Friday, November 27th, 2009 Comments Off links to this post
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Ferrari 166 Inter

The Ferrari 166 Inter was Ferrari’s first GT car. It was manufactured between 1948 and 1950, with 37 units being produced.
The 166 Inter was a road version of the 166 sports racing models like the 166 MM Barchettas. The 166 Inter was built on a 2420 mm wheelbase tubular steel chassis and was powered by a 2-liter V12 aluminum engine coupled with a 5-speed gearbox driving through a rigid rear axle. The engine delivered 115bhp having been available at 6000rpm when compression was set at 7.5:1. With this amount of power the 166 Inter was able to hit a top speed of 185 km/h.
The engine on this model had a twin distributor and coil ignition system, and was fitted with a single twin choke carburetor as standard although a triple twin choke carburetor set-up could be specified as an option to obtain extra performance.
The 166 Inter was the only road production Ferrari models of the period available with disc type road wheels, as an alternative to the more popular and sporting wire wheels. Although the Inter series were built as road cars, many owners used them frequently in competition.
Normally, the Ferrari 166 Inter had coupe bodywork, although Stabilimenti Farina produced three examples in cabriolet form and Bertone also produced a single cabriolet body for the model. Various coachbuilders’ bodywork was fitted to the series, all with their own interpretation of how they felt a Ferrari should be. Apart from Stabilimenti Farina, Bertone, and Carrozzeria Touring, the latter having bodied the first 166 Sport coupe for the 1948 Turin Salon, there were also examples of coachwork from the design houses of Ghia and Finale.
The Carrozzeria Touring examples were the most numerous and bore a strong family resemblance to the style of their 166 MM Barchettas, although on a longer wheelbase chassis and with a smoothly curved three box coupe body. The examples from Stabilimenti Farina and Ghia were very similar in overall shape, featuring fastback coupe bodies that appear slightly heavier in comparison to the Touring interpretation, whilst the Stabilimenti Farina cabriolets were virtually identical to the coupes from the waist down, and featured a folding canvas soft top, as did the Bertone bodied car. The Finale styling offering was also a fastback coupe, but of a much lighter design than those from Farina and Ghia, providing a stronger sporting image, which made them second in popularity, in terms of numbers produced, to the Touring version.
Although any two models from one coachbuilder might appear identical, each body was hand-built and the client had the opportunity to personalise the car, so that virtually every car came with an individualistic car design.

posted by admin @ Friday, November 27th, 2009 Comments Off links to this post
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Tale of an Auto Maker

Kanak GogoiThis is a tale of an auto maker from the land of blue hills, green valleys and red rivers. Kanak Gogoi is just 12th passed, but his intellect is comparable with those from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

This 47-year-old entrepreneur from Guwahati, Assam has spent his hard-earned Rs 1.5 Crore in the past 13 years to design air-powered car, gravity-operated bicycle and many more, but steadfastly refuses to commercialise any of them.

Techwhiz Kanak Gogoi designed a handglider, an aeroboat, a water cycle, an amphibian boat and the much talked-about TRYGO-X, a two-seater car assembled from motor parts of obsolete vehicles. His latest innovation boasts a method to generate electricity by moving vehicles over a rubble strip or speed breaker. The mechanism of the speedbreaker is based on the principle of conversion of potential energy into kinetic energy, which in turn can be used to generate electricity. His latest innovation has been certified by the department of design of IIT Guwahati. Moreover, IIT Guwahati has already developed the prototype of Gogoi’s aeroboat that can travel on just four inches of water.

Among his innovations, there is also a solar hybrid car, whose 320 watt battery is charged by solar panels and is powered by a 100cc engine. There is one more car that Gogoi has build from integration of motorcycle and Maruti 800 engines. This car can run on air energy powered by a hand glider and can reach a maximum speed of 120 km/h.

In spite such mind-blowing innovations, Kanak Gogoi is not recognized for his work by the state government. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) offered him to build a fully furnished laboratory in Guwahati. The Chief Minister of Assam had granted him about 1.6 acres of land in 2007, but the file is still lying untouched at the local administrative office till date.

In fact, it is the National Innovation Foundation, headed by noted scientist Raghunath A Mashelkar that applied for a patent on Gogoi’s behalf for his gravity operated cycle, which converts gravitational force released by pedaling of the cycle into kinetic energy.

Kanak Gogoi is recently honoured by the National Innovation Foundation (NIF) with the National Innovation Award by the President of India Pratibha Devisingh Patil for his achievements.

Carazoo.com is covering the story of Kanak Gogoi. But there are more techwhizs like him in India whose innovative ideas need to be recognized.

Carazoo.com salutes all of them and wishes them luck.

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Threat to Nano’s Title

There is a threat to Tata Nano’s title as the ‘world’s cheapest car’. The challenge is given by EcoCa, a little-known company in London which is all ready to roll out a 340 cc two-seater petrol car for as little as $2,200 (Rs 1 Lakh).

Carazoo.com would like to remind its readers that though the Tata Nano is called the ‘one-lakh-rupee’ car, the base variant of the Tata Nano comes with a price of Rs. 1.15 Lakh ($ 2,500).

EcoCa is a small engineering and design Taiwanese company based in London. The company kicked off with an investment of around 8 million pounds. This company is setting its eyes on the lucrative Indian automobile market and is hunting for a partnership to foray in it. Moreover, with a price tag of $2,200, the company says that it can still ensure healthy profit margins with its low-cost car, which will be know as the company’s name.

EcoCa had plans to make use of India’s low-cost manufacturing base to keep the price down for both global and domestic markets.

The company also revealed that some Indian car makers have shown interest to assess the prototype of its car for performance, fuel efficiency and safety standards.
The rumour mill says that EcoCa has approached the Indian SUV maker Mahindra & Mahindra for a talk.

The EcoCa car is very much inspired by the iconic Volkswagen Beetle and hence comes with convertible roof and automatic gearbox.

The prototype of the car is made of lightweight, a high strength ABS plastic, which has good resistance to impact, heat and chemicals. It weighs only 330 kg against Nano’s 635 kg and will be replacing the Nano as India’s lightest car too once it is launched. Besides, it will give a mileage of 27-28 km/L of petrol against Nano’s 23.6 km/L under standard test conditions. But, it has a top speed of 70 km/h, much lower than Nano’s 103 km/h. The car has cleared the frontal crash tests in Europe like the Nano and carries options of front airbags.

The EcoCa is out to challenge Tata Motor’s small wonder. But only time will decide the winner.

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Porsche in woes before VW’s absorption

The parent company of German sports-car maker Porsche declared a massive loss on Wednesday though it states manufacturing the iconic cars was still profitable.

Porsche Automobil Holding SE’s ploy of taking over Europe’s biggest carmaker Volkswagen was foiled this year forcing a drastic write-down in the value of the smaller company’s portfolio of Volkswagen stock.

In its latest business year the Porsche parent booked a loss of 3.6 billion euros ($5.4 billion), a massive plunge from the record profit of 6.4 billion euros in the 2007-08 year. Unusually for a German company, Porsche’s business year ends every July 31.

Though it secured a majority of Volkswagen stock, Porsche had to admit defeat in the merger battle. Instead of Porsche taking over Volkswagen, the reverse happened, and Porsche’s options on Volkswagen stock were later sold at a loss to Qatar’s sovereign wealth.

Martin Winterkorn, the Volkswagen chief executive who has now made himself chief executive of Porsche SE as well, said the Porsche car factories in themselves were still profitable, despite the world recession, with a profit margin of 10.3 per cent.

“Over the course of 2010, Porsche AG expects a revival in sales,” said a statement. Porsche AG is the car making unit, while SE is its parent.

The two main factors in the huge loss at SE were both financial. One was a sharp write-down in the assessed value of SE’s Volkswagen options, which stripped 2.5 million euros from SE’s books.

The other was the consolidation of Volkswagen losses into Porsche’s accounts at the moment it claimed a fleeting tactical victory in the struggle by capturing 50.76 percent of Volkswagen. That brought Porsche a paper loss of 3.1 billion euros.

The end result was a mountain of debt which crushed Porsche.

The accounts showed Porsche SE owed a net 11.4 billion euros as of the end of July. A year earlier it had been 6.4 billion euros in credit, thanks to strong car sales and successful stock market moves.

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9 out of 11 car manufacturers in India have improved quality: J D Power’s Study

As per the results of the J.D. Power Asia Pacific 2009 India Initial Quality Study (IQS) released today, overall new-vehicle initial quality in India has improved notably from 2008. Yes, you just read that right.

The study, which measures the problems of owners and their experience with their new vehicle during the first two to six months of ownership, examines more than 200 problem symptoms covering categories that include engine and transmission, AC, controls and displays, interiors, audio, entertainment and navigation systems and others. All problems are summarized as the number of problems per 100 vehicles (PP100). Lower PP100 scores indicate a lower rate of problem incidence and higher initial quality.

Overall, initial quality in India averaged 155 PP100 in 2009, compared with 187 PP100 in 2008 (hence an improvement of 32 PP100). Among the 38 vehicle models also included in the 2008 study, 25 show improvement by at least 10 PP100 in 2009.

Initial quality in the engine and transmission category improves more than in any other category, with 12 fewer PP100 than in 2008. Although excessive fuel consumption continues to be the single issue most commonly reported by owners, this problem area improves more than any other area, compared with 2008.

It is roughly Nine out of 11 automotive manufacturers have improved in initial quality since 2008, and as an industry, manufacturers in India have consistently delivered increasing levels of initial quality throughout the years opines Mohit Arora who is the senior director at J.D. Power Asia Pacific, Singapore.

Two Honda models rank highest in their respective segments. The Civic(46 PP100) ranks highest in the premium midsize car segment for the second consecutive year, improving by 32 PP100 from 2008. The City (79 PP100) ranks highest in the midsize car segment.

For the third consecutive year, the Chevrolet Spark ranks highest in the compact car segment with a score of 116 PP100. The newly launched Maruti Suzuki Ritz ranks highest in the premium compact car segment with a score of 95 PP100. In the entry midsize car segment, the Ford Ikon ranks highest with 90 PP100. In the MUV/MPV segment, the Toyota Innova (77 PP100) ranks highest for the third consecutive year.

Incidence of problems, particularly during the initial ownership period, leads not only to increased dissatisfaction, but also to lower levels of loyalty and advocacy. Owners who report an initial quality problem are much less likely to repurchase or recommend the same make, compared with those who do not report experiencing a problem. Loyalty and advocacy intentions decline by 9 and 14 percentage points, respectively, among owners who report experiencing problems during the initial ownership period.

The 2009 India IQS, now in its 13th year, is based on evaluations from more than 6,600 owners who purchased a new vehicle between November 2008 and July 2009. The study includes 50 vehicle models covering 13 makes. The study was fielded from May to September 2009 in 20 cities across India.

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Hildebrand and Di Resta to Test Drive for Force India

Paul-di-RestaMercedes DTM frontrunner Paul di Resta and American JR Hildebrand will drive for Force India in Formula One’s upcoming young driver test at Jerez that will go on from 1st to 3rd December.

The Scottish race car driver is highly esteemed by Mercedes and was linked to a race seat with Force India team last January, before the team chose to stick with Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil for 2009.

The 23-year-old Scot finished third in this year’s Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) and tested for McLaren at the end of last year.

Paul di Resta says he is excited to get back in an F1 car again and that he hoped it could lead to a more permanent position within Force India.

Formula One has always been di Resta’s dream and the opportunity with Force India will take him a step closer to make his dream come true.

Indy Lights champion John R. Hildebrand Jr will join di Resta to share the solitary VJM02. Hildebrand is also expected to get a full day’s running as the two drivers alternate between morning and afternoon on the first two days.

JR Hildebrand
The twenty-one year old Californian is ecstatic to have his taste of F1. For the 2009 season Hildebrand signed with defending championship winning team AGR-AFS Racingand after winning four races and taking five pole positions, he eventually claimed the title at the penultimate round at Chicagoland. He also competed in the final round of the A1 Grand Prix series for A1 Team USA at Brand Hatch, finishing 4th in the Sprint race in 2009.

Vijay Mallya’s Formula One Team Force India is yet to confirm its driver line-up for 2010.

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Renault-Mahindra JV to Continue

The joint partnership between French Renault and Indian Mahindra & Mahindra will continue as the French car maker has no intentions of upsetting the Logan project.

However, it is still not clear if there will be any change in the retail strategy for the Logan sedan. At present, it is displayed along with the Scorpio in the Mahindra & Mahindra’s showrooms. Renault is clear, though, that it is working on an independent retail strategy for its future India products and it remains to be seen if the Logan will be part of this revised plan.

The only thing that has to be clarified for Renault is how to market and sell its products. Moreover, this is not an issue with Nissan because its retail plan is in place. Renault is working on something and is clear about an exclusive identity in the form of showrooms, advertising campaigns and so on.

Mahindra & Mahindra and Renault entered into a 51:49 partnership three years ago to manufacture the Logan. The Mahindra-Renault partnership saw a bright future for the Logan initially, but soon its dream shattered. The monthly sales of the Logan started to decrease gradually and losses last fiscal totalled nearly Rs 500 Crore.

The Indian SUV maker has found a way out to revive the Logan sedan. It believes that the way forward is to reduce the length of the Logan to four metres so that it qualifies as a small car in the Indian context and can avail of the lower eight per cent excise duty (instead of the current level of 20 per cent).

This is applicable to any car up to four metres long whose engine capacities do not exceed 1.2-litre for petrol and 1.5-litre in the case of diesel. Trimming the Logan will certainly help reduce its price tag by at least Rs 50,000. Moreover, according to Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of Nissan and Renault, the other solution lay in localisation of components which would play a key role in bringing down costs.

It now looks as if the partners are working overtime to sort out things. Carazoo.com hopes that Mahindra-Renault will come up with a new Logan in the upcoming 2010 Delhi Auto Show.

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