Monthly Archives: June 2010

Who Towed Britain’s Best Towcar Award?

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land-rover-discovery-4-16-06-10 Any guesses who towed the best towcar award? It was one of the very few cars that did exceptionally well and grabbed ‘Britain’s Best Towcar’ title in the annual Practical Caravan, The Camping & Caravanning Club & What Car? Towcar awards 2010. Most of the cars scored very low for practicality than for towing and the organizers felt that car makers really had to think harder about the needs of towcar drivers. Land Rover led the way, though. Yes, the Land Rover Discovery 4 won the title.

With its life-size spare, self-levelling suspension, Trailer Stability Programme, massive boot and a lot of other realistic features, the Land Rover Discovery 4 can drag more boxes than just about any other car. It rightly deserved the award. It was the best car in this year’s tests by some margin and a more than worthy overall winner.

Anthony Bradbury, marketing director, Land Rover UK, said: “This is a hugely significant award for the Discovery 4 – which was comprehensively updated last year – and a true testament of the vehicle’s overall capability, package and refinement. With seating for seven, powered by the new LR-TDV6 3.0-litre diesel engine which delivers better fuel economy and a whopping 600Nm of torque, and a number of new, user-friendly technologies, it is the ideal towing vehicle and we are delighted to have been recognised in this way by Practical Caravan, The Camping & Caravanning Club and What Car?”

The Land Rover Discovery 4 was launched in September last year. There were plenty of cars at the competition that were far from good as tow cars. But the Discovery 4 did have a tough competition. It had to compete against the likes of the Mercedes-Benz E350 CDI Blue Efficiency Sport Estate, the Volvo XC60 D5 SE Geartronic, the Range Rover Sport 3.0-litre TDV6 HSE and the Kia Sedona 2.2 CRDi 3 auto which had their unique features as weapons against the Discovery 4. But the winner was no less. The Discovery 4 features the best-in-class 3500-kg towing ability and comes with optional intelligent towing technologies like Tow Assist and Trailer Stability Assist.

David Motton, Towcar editor, Practical Caravan hailed the Discovery 4’s all round capability, saying: “The Land Rover Discovery 4 is an exceptional car. The old model was one of our favourite towcars, but the new Discovery 4 improves upon it in just about every area. It’s hard to say whether the 3.0-litre engine or the superb ride and handling deserve top billing.”

Land-Rover-LRX

There’s good news for India too. We may have the ‘lightest and most fuel efficient’ Range Rover ever in India, the latest addition to the Land Rover Series, within the next few years. It will be a hybrid 4WD derivative. The new car will be available by 2012 and will hit the road in 2013. Land Rover is believed to be focussing on parasitic loss and weight reduction, and increasing powertrain efficiency and the first diesel hybrid prototype, the ‘range_e’ will be tested by this year end.

Land Rover managing director Phil Popham says, “Land Rover has announced that the all-new compact Range Rover will be available in 2WD. This is good news for the company and for our customers. A 2WD option is just one way in which we are developing our vehicles efficiency whilst adding to the Land Rover range and expanding our customer base.”

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Another Car Price Hike?

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Price increasing graph Citing excuse of rising raw materials and labour costs, car makers increased the prices in January 2010 and we kept quiet. Then came the great fat Indian budget 2010, and the car makers got another excuse for increasing the car prices. We still nodded our heads and let it pass. The Indian government brought the new emission norms and the car prices took an upward plunge for a third time. And now the Indian car buyers will be subjected to a fourth price hike in July 2010.

So what has brought on this price hike? Car makers say that the costs of raw materials have shot through the roof and hence it becomes inevitable for them to pass on the manufacturing costs to the consumers. Car makers are not absolute monsters, though. Companies like M&M, General Motors, Ford, Toyota and Maruti are conducting meetings with their vendors and trying to contain the price hike to a minimum. “But, if commodity prices continue to rise at the current rate, we will be forced to go in for a price hike,” said Pawan Goenka, president, auto and farm division, M&M.

indian-rupees1

Prices of raw materials like steel and rubber, since the second quarter, have gone up in a steep upward direction and most of the increases have come in April-May. “Overall, the commodity price curve has gone up by 20-25%,” said Rajesh Jejurikar, chief of operations, auto division, M&M.

But, are the auto companies worried about losing market share due to the price hike? Apparently no. Passenger vehicle sales in India has gone up by 35% in April-May as compared to the last year’s statistics, and the auto makers feel that they can safely pass on the cost burden to the car buyers.

Honda and Maruti Suzuki will make their decision known in the next month. In fact, Honda, in addition to commodity prices, will consider the yen-rupee exchange rates for the upcoming car price hike.

Ford has already started the fleecing process and increased the price of its hatchback Figo from June 2010. And it will decide on another price hike by July 2010. “We will assess the effect of a rise in commodity prices on our products by the end of the current quarter,” said Ford India president and MD Michael Boneham.

On a different note, the prices of Tata Nano will also be revised in August 2010 and you can expect it be more expensive by about Rs 5000 – 15000. Earlier, we have mentioned that the small wonder will soon be available off-the shelf and Tata Motors will take a call on price increase once it completes delivery of one lakh units. According to a company spokesman, “Tata Motors has not made any decision on any price increase on the Tata Nano. As for the next phase of deliveries, Tata Motors will make appropriate announcements in due course of time.”

For now we just hope that the car makers would put a brake on their price hike habits.

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An Enhanced Logan? M&M Will Have to Pay More to Renault

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mahindra-logan Finally some updates on our dear forgotten Logan, Mahindra and Renault’s only child. The parents have separated and hardly anyone in India wants to take home the abandoned child. But, India’s largest SUV maker M&M has decided to take full responsibility of the oversized sedan. The car maker will hold negotiations with ex-partner Renault for reforming the Logan platform and making it usable for applications other than passenger cars.

When the relationship was at its peak of disaster, Mahindra had bought Renault’s 49 per cent stake in the joint venture. However, M&M which is trying hard to improve its fortunes has only limited independence to the Logan. Besides the developmental costs for making engineering changes to the Logan or its platform, M&M will also have to make payments to Renault. Yes, the French car maker holds the original right for the car.

Renault will have to give its approval before M&M moves ahead with its modification plans for the Logan. Right now, M&M is checking if a shortened version of the Logan can be feasible. We had spoken about it earlier, remember? A Logan less than four metres would attract less tax, thus making it cheaper than the current one. Renault, meanwhile, is open to extending all technological or design support needed by M&M. Renault has signed a technical licence agreement and hasn’t sold the platform to M&M, which restricts them to make any free changes.

Mahindra will also have to think of a new name for the car. The Renault branding and the Logan name will have to be discontinued post December 31 this year, as part of the rearrangement of the joint venture agreement between the two companies. Post January 1, 2011, rebranding the car will be M&M’s responsibility.

After buying Renault’s stake, M&M had slashed the Logan’s price by as much as Rs 80,000, and yes, the trick did work. An improved trend in the Logan’s sales has been observed. 303 units were sold in April while 450 were rolled out in May this year. The reduction offer was brought in force in the final week of April, just over a week after Mahindra and Renault split.

Will M&M build a new car on the Logan platform? ‘No’ says M&M, at least not for the time being. “We have several options in front of us, such as a utility vehicle, multi-purpose vehicle, SUV and cross-over, since we have the expertise in that segment with the Scorpio, Bolero and Xylo,” said an M&M official. For now, M&M wants to scale up sales of the Logan to 900-1,000 units a month may be by December.

On the other side Renault is getting ready to bring to India its first standalone car by mid-2011. The Koleos SUV and a premium mid-segment sedan, the Fluence are also on their way to the Indian car market. These two come as a result of the Nissan-Renault JV and will be produced at Nissan’s Chennai facility.

Renault’s plans don’t end there. The car maker plans to have five models on the Indian roads by 2013, including a small car based on the platform on which the Nissan Micra is built. The MPV Kangoo, which will compete against the Maruti Suzuki Eeco and Tata’s Venture, will also be launched.

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SUV Segment To Take The Indian Market By Storm

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Mahindra-W201-World-SUV-Concept-Render While the small cars in India are hogging all the attention of the car manufacturers and car buyers, there is another segment that is making a quiet but quick progress. Yes, we have seen multiple small car launches in the past one year but, in stark contrast to our notion, SUVs are not sulking either. The SUV segment in India has already started its journey towards a bright future and it would not be very long till it sets the sales chart on fire.

About a decade ago, things were real easy for SUV makers like Mahindra (with Scorpio, Bolero), Toyota Qualis and Tata Motors (Safari, Sumo). But in the recent past, international hunters have taken notice of this potent segment and launched new models of SUVs. Most of the global car manufacturers in India have at least one SUV in their inventory. And Indian car buyers are grabbing the opportunity to acquire the new vehicles, with a result that the companies either stop the bookings or launch new models.

Every other car maker wants to grab the lion’s share in the SUV segment in India and Mahindra and Mahindra has outlined a massive investment outlay of Rs. 5,000-crore from FY 09 to FY 12. M&M already has a very comprehensive fleet of SUVs and it will bring another one, an all new premium SUV from its Chakan plant, to strengthen its dominance in the Indian SUV segment. The naming ceremony of the new SUV has not been done yet, and likely it will be rolled out by the end of 2011 or the beginning of 2012. The World SUV has been in the focus for quite some time now, and is estimated to have a tag of Rs. 10 lakh and above. While it will try to lure the buyers in international markets, it will try its luck in India.

Dr Pawan Goenka, president – Automotive Sector, Mahindra & Mahindra, said, “We will be launching the vehicle by 2011-end or a year later. The new SUV, which is in the R&D stage, will be ‘more premium’ than the company’s current offering of Scorpio”.

So, is M&M the only one who has got a whiff of the upcoming boom in the SUV segment? The answer is, no. There is another Indian car maker which is preparing itself for the SUV storm. Tata Motors has been rumoured to bring in the all-new Safari by next year, and the Aria cross-over may see an early 2011 launch too. The details regarding the new Safari are quite sketchy as of now and a few magazines have claimed that it will be based on the Aria platform.

The all new Safari will also boast of advance features like ABS, Airbags and Climate Control. We can very safely speculate that Tata will fit the 2.2L VTT DiCOR engine in the new Safari. The SUV has been made to comply with the EuroNCAP safety norms, since Tata Motors want to taste a bit of the European market too.

Tata-Aria

Well, the story does not quite end there. We have now Force Motors also which wants to enter the SUV market. And that will likely happen either late in 2010 or early 2011. The company will roll out the SUV from its Pithampur plant in Madhya Pradesh. Built on a completely new platform, the SUV will come with a price tag of Rs 10 – 15 lakh.

“A substantial part of the vehicle has been developed in-house using indigenous expertise. We are targeting the final months of this [calendar] year, or the early months of next year,” Force Motors‘ managing director Prasan Firodia said.

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5 most practical and popular techniques of Solar Energy Use

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This blog is the extension of the previous blog published on Solar Power.

1. Small portable solar photovoltaic systems. We see these used everywhere, from calculators to solar garden tools. Portable units can be utilised for everything from RV appliances while single panel systems are used for traffic signs and remote monitoring stations.

2. Solar pool heating. Running water in direct circulation systems through a solar collector is an extremely practical way to heat water for your pool or hot spa.

3. Thermal glycol energy to heat water. In this method (indirect circulation), glycol is heated by sunshine and the heat is then transferred to water in a hot water tank. This process of collecting the sun’s energy is much more practical now than ever before. In areas as far north as Edmonton, Alberta, solar thermal to heat water is economically sound. It can pay for itself in three years or less.

4. Integrating solar photovoltaic energy into your home or office power. In many parts of the world, solar photovoltaics is an economically feasible method to supplement the power of your home. In Japan, photovoltaics are competitive with other forms of power. In the USA, new incentive programs make this form of solar technology ever more viable in many states. An increasingly popular and practical way of integrating solar energy into the power of your home or business is through the use of building integrated solar photovoltaics.

5. Large independent photovoltaic systems. If you have enough sun power at your site, you may be able to go off grid. You may also integrate or hybridize your solar power system with wind power or other kinds of sustainable energy to stay ‘off the grid.’

How do Photovoltaic panels work?

Silicon is mounted beneath non-reflective glass to produce photovoltaic panels. These panels collect photons from the sun, converting them into DC electrical energy. The power created then flows into an inverter. The inverter transforms the energy into basic voltage and AC electrical power.

Photovoltaic cells are prepared with particular materials called semiconductors for example silicon, which is presently the most generally used. When light hits the Photovoltaic cell, a specific share of it is absorbed inside the semiconductor material. This means that the energy of the absorbed light is given to the semiconductor.

The power unfastens the electrons, permitting them to run freely. Photovoltaic cells also have one or more electric fields that act to compel electrons unfastened by light absorption to flow in a specific direction. This flow of electrons is a current, and by introducing metal links on the top and bottom of the -Photovoltaic cell, the current can be drawn to use it externally.

Do you know the advantages and disadvantages of Solar Power ?

Solar Pro Arguments

- Heating our homes with oil or propane or using electricity from power plants running with oil and coal is a reason for climatic change and climate disruption. Solar energy, on the contrary, is clean and environmentally-friendly.

- Solar hot-water heaters require little maintenance, and their initial investment could be recovered in just a relatively limited time.

- Solar hot-water heaters can work in nearly every climate, even just in very cold ones. You just need to choose the right system for your climate: drainback, thermosyphon, batch-ICS, etc.

- Maintenance costs of solar powered systems are minimal and also the warranties large.

- Financial incentives (USA, Canada, European states, India…) can aid in eliminating the price of the first investment in solar technologies. The U.S. government, for instance, offers tax credits for solar systems certified by by the SRCC (Solar Rating and Certification Corporation), which amount to 30 percent of the investment (2009-2016 period).

Solar Cons Arguments

– The first investment in Solar Hot water heaters or in Photovoltaic Electric Systems is greater than that required by conventional electric and gas heaters systems.

- The payback period of solar PV-electric systems is high, as well as those of solar space heating or solar cooling (only the solar warm water heating payback is short or relatively short).

- Solar water heating do not support a direct in conjunction with radiators (including baseboard ones).

- Some air con (solar space heating and the solar cooling systems) are expensive, and rather untested technologies: solar ac isn’t, till now, a truly economical option.

- The efficiency of solar powered systems is rather influenced by sunlight resources. It’s in colder climates, where heating or electricity needs are higher, that the efficiency is smaller.

About the writer – Barbara Young, our Guest contributor writes on Solar Energy in her personal hobby wesbite-12voltsolarpanels.net. Her work is centered on helping people save energy using solar powered energy to eliminate CO2 emissions and energy dependency.

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What’s Solar Energy?

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solar-panels-drawing Solar energy is radiant energy which is produced by the sun. Daily the sun radiates, or sends out, an incredible volume of energy. The sun radiates more energy in a second than people have used since the beginning of time! The energy of the Sun originates from within the sun itself. Like other stars, the sun is known as a big ball of gases––mostly hydrogen and helium atoms. The hydrogen atoms in the sun’s core combine to form helium and generate energy in a process called nuclear fusion.

During nuclear fusion, the sun’s extremely high pressure and temperature cause hydrogen atoms to come apart and their nuclei (the central cores of the atoms) to fuse or combine. Four hydrogen nuclei fuse to become one helium atom. However the helium atom contains less mass than the four hydrogen atoms that fused. Some matter is lost during nuclear fusion. The lost matter is emitted into space as radiant energy.

It takes an incredible number of years for the energy in the sun’s core to make its way to the solar surface, and then somewhat over eight minutes to travel the 93 million miles to earth. The solar energy travels to the earth at a speed of 186,000 miles per second, the speed of light.

Simply a small part of the energy radiated by the sun into space strikes our planet, one part in two billion. Yet this volume of energy is enormous. Each day enough energy strikes the United States to supply the nation’s energy needs for one and a half years!

Where does all this energy go?

About 15 percent of the sun’s energy which hits the earth is reflected back into space. Another 30 percent is used to evaporate water, which, lifted in to the atmosphere, produces rainfall. Solar power also is absorbed by plants, the land, and the oceans. The remaining could be employed to supply our energy needs. Who invented Solar Energy?

Folks have harnessed solar power for centuries. As early as the 7th century B.C., people used simple magnifying glasses to concentrate the light of the sun into beams so hot they’d cause wood to catch fire. More than 100 years ago in France, a scientist used heat from a solar collector to produce steam to drive a steam engine. In the beginning of this century, scientists and engineers began researching ways to use solar power in earnest. One important development was obviously a remarkably efficient solar boiler invented by Charles Greeley Abbott, an American astrophysicist, in 1936.

The solar water heater became popular at this time in Florida, California, and the Southwest. The industry started in the early 1920s and was in full swing just before World War II. This growth lasted prior to the mid-1950s when low-cost propane became the primary fuel for heating American homes.

People and world governments remained largely indifferent to the possibilities of solar technology before oil shortages of the1970s. Today, people use solar power to heat buildings and water and also to generate electricity.

How we use Solar Power today?

Solar power is used in a variety of ways, of course. There are two very basic forms of solar energy:

* Solar thermal energy collects the sun’s warmth through 1 of 2 means: in water or in an anti-freeze (glycol) mixture.

* Solar photovoltaic energy converts the sun’s radiation to usable electricity.

(the second part of this post to be continued)

About the writer – Barbara Young, our Guest contributor writes on Solar Energy in her personal hobby wesbite-12voltsolarpanels.net. Her work is centered on helping people save energy using solar powered energy to eliminate CO2 emissions and energy dependency.

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The All-New Volkswagen Jetta Explored

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VW-Jetta-image Volkswagen India is busy preparing for the Vento’s launch, the car based on the Polo platform due next month. Meanwhile, we have good news from the other side of the globe. There was this jazzy ceremony at the Times Square in New York yesterday. Wonder what was happening? Volkswagen unveiled its all-new jazzy Jetta sedan at the ceremony.

Based on the sixth generation Golf platform, the Jetta has been a Volkswagen roaring success with over 9.6 million units of the previous five generations sold. So VW must have thought, how about another bestseller? The new car has been carved to be greater and bolder than before. Yes, the new Jetta no longer looks like Golf with a boot. The new model is no way related to the Golf. VW now wants everybody to believe that the Jetta is as independent a platform as say the Tiguan, sharing no components with the Golf.

This new model was first revealed as the NCC concept at the Detroit Motor Show. The all-new Jetta has grown longer with an overall length increase of 90 mm. The wheelbase has increased by 70 mm. There’s more room inside and this could well be a sarcastic message sent to rivals like the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, Skoda Laura and Chevrolet Cruze, ‘I am way more spacious than you’. The interior legroom too has increased by 67 mm taking overall legroom up to 967 mm with genuine five seater capability. So, ready to get lost in the huge space inside the new Jetta? Hold on! The car is currently available only in the U.S. and Europe. We would have to wait a while for the smart Jetta to come in. For now, let’s be happy that the Vento will soon be here.

As far as the exteriors are concerned, the ‘design DNA’ concept of group design chief Walter Da Silva and Klaus Bischoff focuses on making the car appear tauter. With the trapezoidal head lamps, a black radiator grille and splitters on the front bumper, the new Jetta is typically Volkswagen, yet has its own identity. Then there’s the strong waist line and knife cut wheel arches that are very different from the previous Jetta that was considered ‘boring’ by many. The tail lamps draw inspiration from the handcrafted luxury car, the VW Phaeton. Also, the alluring pinched lines have increased giving the car a more interesting look.

VW-Jetta-rear-image

Six new engines are being offered on the Jetta in Europe. A 1.6-litre TDI with 105 bhp and 2.0-litre TDI with 140 bhp will be the core of the diesel array. Four new petrol engines – a 1.2-litre TSI motor with 105 bhp, a 1.4-litre TSI motor with 160 bhp, a 1.4 TSI with 122 bhp and 2.0-litre TSI with 200 bhp complete the range. Both the 1.2 TSI and 1.6 TDI feature Volkswagen’s Blue Motion technology while six-speed DSG will be available as an option with all engines, except the TSI. Manual gearboxes too come standard with these engines.

After the U.S. and Europe, let’s hope it is India’s turn to behold the new Jetta. The second quarter of 2011, may be that’s when it will arrive. Of course, it will be a bit expensive. The 2.0-litre TDI will be here for sure, don’t you think so? But will the fuel-sensitive turbo petrol motor set foot in India? Well, let’s wait and watch.

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Chevrolet Cruze Engine To Power Beat (Spark) For The WTCC Racing

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WTCC-1.4ltr-Chevrolet-Beat-Spark-400x266 Talk about Chevrolet Beat, and we will have to stifle a yawn just to give an impression that we are civilised beings. Here we are talking about the 1.0 and 1.2 litre engine powered small car that was recently launched by General Motors.

But, did you hear about the Chevrolet Beat (Spark) that would participate in the World Touring Car Championship races this year? No? Ok, here are the details of the car. And trust us; you won’t have to be careful about your manners, you can drop your jaw and gawk at if you want to.

Chevrolet has brought a special edition Beat (Spark) that is powered by 1.4ltr turbocharged inline four cylinder engine that unleashes the power in Chevrolet Cruze. These Super Chevrolet Beats have been brought to prove their mettle in the World Touring Car Championship races which are happening later this year. While the standard production Beat / Spark produces about 67 and 80 BHP, the special edition will bring as much power as 140 BHP and 148 pound-feet of torque.

The WTCC special edition Spark is scheduled to make its debut appearance during the World Touring Car event at Zolder, Belgium. And that date is approaching fast, that is this weekend (June 19-20). There are a few lucky people who got to attend the 24 Hours of Le Mans the past weekend, and also got the opportunity to spot the turbocharged Spark pace car on display along with the Chevrolet WTCC Cruze and its exquisite GT2 C6.R Corvettes.

The Beat / Spark will carry a sparking red livery, but that is only for the WTCC race. Its definitive “dress” will be the winning design of this year’s ‘Young? Creative? Chevrolet!’ contest for young artist across Europe.

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Mahindra Trilogy, Coming Soon!

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mahindra-india Small cars seem to be flavour of the season as far as the Indian auto market is concerned. And every car manufacturer wants to try its luck in the segment. The latest one to display its willingness to do the new is Mahindra and Mahindra. The Indian carmaker plans to introduce not just one or two but three new hatchbacks by the year 2013-14.

Yes, the secret is out in the open now and everything seems to fit in. While the M&M SUV’s are admired by most Indians, the company currently has nothing to offer to the small car buyers. The company has taken notice of this gap and plans to invest about Rs 1000 crore to lure the small car buyers in India. The recent news of the car maker developing a smaller version of the Xylo SUV seems to fit in the larger picture. It would also be safe to assume that the Mini Xylo MUV is being used as a bait for something else that M&M has up its sleeves.

Another piece of the puzzle that makes sense is the M&M Logan. The car maker already has the Logan platform which will help it experiment easily for a small car. M&M’s small cars will flaunt a very competitive price tag of Rs. 2-5 lakh. It is also speculated that M&M is building a new platform and the small cars, codenamed as S101, S102, S103 and S104, are likely to be based on it.

Small cars apart, there are rumours that the Mahindra W201 World SUV will also hit the Indian roads in early 2011 or 2012. Much to our irritation, M&M has not revealed any specifications of the SUV, but that does not stop us from putting our brains to the tough task of speculation. Mahindra’s natural choice for the SUV should be the 4-cylinder 2.2 CRDe engine. We also have some unconfirmed statements saying that Mahindra might actually be working on V6 petrol engine. But considering that the SUV would be launched in the European and American markets, four cylinder diesel and V6 petrol engine options do not really sound very fancy.

The W201 World SUV looks attractively muscular and has the trademark Mahindra grille. The SUV has been developed on an entirely new monocoque frame and will compete with titans like Chevrolet Captiva and Ford Endeavour.

All these give a clear indication of the high voltage competition that Mahindra plans to serve to the other car makers in India.

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Volkswagen’s Small Car

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2010-Volkswagen-Fox So many small cars one after the other! The small and green car production fever moved from one car maker to the other within a matter of days. We had the Tata Nano, Ford Figo and the Volkswagen Polo. Hold on! Volkswagen Polo is a small car and everybody agrees with that fact. However, Volkswagen does not seem too happy. May be the car maker wants to be the one producing the smallest car.

Yes, VW India had decided to bring in a small car, smaller than the VW Polo hatchback. The last five years have been simply great for the compact car segment as it experienced steady growth. Experts believe that this steadiness will be maintained at least for the next five years. So, we can expect the same momentum at least till 2015. Great! It has become so evident now that if an automobile manufacturer wants to have a greater share in the market, at least one fast selling small car in the inventory is a must. VW seconds this thought by announcing their small car plan.

Volkswagen’s first small car is expected to hit the market by 2013. “Believe me, we will have something smaller than the Polo. We are working on it,” Volkswagen Group’s India Communication Head Kurt Rippholz said in Wolfsburg, Germany. “First you have to conceptualise and then assess the market potential,” Rippholz added. For an automotive major like Volkswagen, bringing in a small car to India is child’s play. Don’t you think so?

VW has so many cars in its portfolio that are currently doing very well in the European market. It just has to introduce one of them in our country. The small car details are under finalization at the moment. China is at #1 and India comes second as far as the small car market is concerned. VW has realized this and is intelligent enough to not miss out this lucrative opportunity that easily. 75 per cent of the total car sales in India have come from the small cars and the year 2009 recorded sales of over 2 million cars.

Maruti Suzuki, as always, has been dominating the market with 55 per cent market share of total cars sold. But there are others like Hyundai, Tata, Fiat, Ford and GM that have joined in. Our friends from Japan, Nissan, Toyota and Honda too are eagerly waiting to bring in their small car offerings.

Seat-ibiza

Back to Volkswagen, which small car do you think will land here? Fox or Ebisa? Mr. Rippholz says, “There’s the Fox in Brazil and Ebisa that’s sold in Spain. But India is a different market. First, we have to decide which car it will be.” The Fox shares the PQ24 platform with the Polo and so, it may be very easy to bring in this car as the existing tooling at Chakan could be easily altered to fit in the new car. The Fox is also available in a range of petrol engines with capacities ranging from 1.2 to 1.6 Litre and a 1.4 Litre diesel.

But, for all you know, VW may bring in the highly anticipated VW UP! We are waiting to know more, Volkswagen. Please hurry! For now, we only know that we will have a German-engineered small car on our roads. Okay, let’s not disturb VW further. The car maker is already too busy preparing for the Vento’s launch, the car based on the Polo platform due next month.

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