Monthly Archives: December 2010

BMW India to launch X1 on 23rd Dec 2010

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BMW X1 Rejoice guys…It is the end of the long wait for all BMW X1 fans. The BMW X1 will make its presence felt in the Indian car market on 23rd December 2010. Santa has certainly come in calling early this Christmas and what a gift…

As per the invite BMW India has sent us, the luxury crossover will be launched in New Delhi at Deutsche Motoren on the above-mentioned date. The BMW X1 will feature a 1,998 cc, turbocharged, common rail diesel engine that pumps out 177 bhp 359 NM of torque mated to a six speed auto tranny. Yes, it is the same engine, which powers the BMW 320D sedans if you think you have heard about the engine earlier.

x1-bmw-02

BMW India probably will be launching two variants (Corporate Edition and High line) of the X1. So it’s quite but logical that the baby Bimmer would be priced anywhere between Rs 24-30 Lakh and the deliveries should begin sometime early next year.

Since the BMW X1 probably will be the cheapest BMW available in India, do not expect any fancy eye-popping gadgets to come as standard fitment. All said and done X1 is that product which will take brand BMW to new heights in India.

Watch this space for more…

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Audi A1 heading to India

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audi_a1 Here is another Audi Blog of the day. This one certainly promises to be much better than the last. We have just come across reports suggesting Audi AG might bring in its small hulk of a car, the Audi A1, to India.

Yes, the small luxury hatchback that had created ripples last year when it was for the first time launched online. We had predicted that the car would grace Indian shores back then and it seems pretty much that the time has come.

India, though a predominant budget small car market, still has loads of space to accommodate luxury hatchbacks (read Volkswagen Beetle and Fiat 500) as well. Audi A1 just fits the luxury hatchback bill to the Tee. We assume that the car will be priced around 18-20 Lakh (excluding duties) when it comes to India. This car being small and fuel-efficient might be a hit with people who have a thing or two for status.

OK, the car does not have a legendary past as that of its competitors, but that minor thing is made up with its flawless refined German engineering. Read the next para and you should be able to decide for yourself.

Audi_A1_rear

When it comes to India, the Audi A1 will probably adorn a 121 bhp 1.4 L turbocharged fuel stratified injection (TFSI) engine that will spew out a torque of 200 Nm at 1500 rpm, which can make the A1 reach from 0 to 100 kmph in just 8.9 seconds giving a top speed of 203 kmph. Want More… well A1 will get Audi’s S-Tronic 7 speed automatic transmission as well. Satisfied? Yes…the car will be available both in petrol and diesel variants.

The luxury features that come complimentary with the A1 include i-Pod connectivity, Bluetooth, sports-style multifunction steering wheel, climate control, etc. Again going by the reports we heard, the car should be here in 2011.

Do we hear “When can we book it” already…?

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Audi India sales up two-fold in Nov

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Audi Logo Well well, Luxury car segment in India seems to shining bright at the moment. Most of the Luxury car makers have already reported profits and have seen the car sales grow over the time.

Audi India is no exception. Just recently, Audi India reported an over two-fold jump in sales to 256 units in November, 2010. Audi India had sold 101 units in Nov 09.

During the January-November period, sales of the company’s luxury vehicles were up by 80.06 per cent at 2,791 units, compared to 1,550 units in the year-ago period. By the way, Audi had set a sales target of 2,700 units for 2010. It had sold 1,658 units in 2009.

“Given our outstanding performance in the first eleven months of the year, we are confident that the month of December will help Audi India finish the year strongly, exceeding our expectations yet again,” Audi India Head Michael Perschke said.

The company will continue to enhance its product line with the launch of luxury sedan A8 L and its new R8 super sports car, which is equipped with a V10 engine, he added. It might not be long before we see the Audi Q3 testing Indian waters soon.

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BMW Back at Number One in Luxury Car Segment

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BMW Logo The last time we wrote about the battle between BMW and Mercedes Benz, it was Mercedes that was on top, or probably it was BMW; we can never say anything with absolute surety when it comes to these two arch rivals. Anyhow, we will tell you which of the two mega car makers is standing tall and smug this time around.

Anyhow, BMW has regained its top position in January-November period after a fierce battle for the top position with Mercedes Benz in the Indian luxury car market, thereby enhancing its chances of being the leader in 2010.

Mercedes Benz, after losing its number one position last year to BMW, was crestfallen and had beaten its fellow rival BMW in the race for the top spot in the Indian luxury car segment in January-July period of the year with a 79.31 per cent jump in sales. According to the statistics from Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), BMW has made a phenomenal comeback and sold 5,345 units compared to 5,109 units sold by Mercedes Benz during the last 11 months of this year.

BMW has registered a jump of 60.17 per cent during the period over 3,337 units sold in the corresponding period last year. Mercedes Benz’s sales soared by 75.27 per cent compared to 2,915 units sold in the year-ago period, SIAM said. In 2009, BMW emerged as the top luxury car maker in India with an increase of 33.78 per cent at 3,619 units. The company sold 2,705 units in 2008. On the other hand, Mercedes Benz sold 3,247 units in 2009 against 3,625 units in 2008, a decline of 10.42 per cent.

Industry experts say that since only one month is left in the year, Mercedes Benz is unlikely to surprise us by catching up with BMW. Mercedes Benz, which once ruled the Indian luxury car market, is not aiming to be in the rat-race anymore. The Indian market is expected to cross 15,000 units mark this year. Last week, Mercedes-Benz India Managing Director and CEO Wilfried Aulbur had said made it very clear when he said: “We are not concentrating to be the number one. Our focus is on profitable growth and we are investing heavily on customer relationship.”

Audi, which is a lesser known German luxury car maker in the Indian market, is also trying to bob its head up for respect and recognition. The company sold 2,803 units in the January-November period, as against 1,645 units in the comparable period last year, clocking growth of 70.40 per cent.

BMW has an assembly facility in Chennai and it recently enhanced its production capacity to 5,400 units per year on a single shift basis from 3,000 units earlier. It will further invest Rs 70 crore by 2012 to add more capacity.

Mercedes Benz has its plant at Chakan in Maharashtra. The company has just started the second shift operation to produce 10,000 units every year from an annual output of 5,000 units earlier. Besides, it is investing Rs 200 crore to set up a paint shop at the plant over the next 18 months.

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Toyota to Introduce a Sub-Innova MPV in India

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toyota avanza Toyota recently launched the Etios sedan in the Indian market, and the response to the entry level sedan has been overwhelming. Just within a week from its launch, the Etios sedan has registered bookings for more than 3,077 units. Additionally, Toyota has announced the launch of the Liva hatchback in the month of April 2011, but that’s old news and we are not here to bore you with old gossips.

Toyota is now planning to launch a mini MPV positioned between Etios and Innova. Toyota Motor Asia Pacific Senior Vice President (Area Operations Division) Vonce S Socco said, “There is a room for another model between Etios and Innova. We are seriously considering it and a study is going on for this. But if anything like that happens, it will be in 2012 or after that. Nothing has been finalised yet, but our inclination is towards a multi-purpose vehicle.”

Quite expectedly, he refused to give any further details or the possible specifications of the model. But if we look at the options that the Japanese carmaker has, it could make good use of the Etios platform to make this MPV. Additionally, it also has the choice of going back to the IMV platform (that underpins Fortuner, Innova and Hilux pickup truck) to form the framework for this new Multi Purpose Vehicle. And if all those don’t appeal to Toyota, it could also work on the Toyota Avanza that is sold in many Asian countries with a petrol engine, and fix a compact diesel engine on it.

Toyota_Avanza Rear

Toyota, which earlier catered only to high-end SUV and sedan buyers in the Indian market, has finally realised the potential of the entry level car buyers. And after the launch of the Etios, the company wants to further its boundaries in the segment with the launch of the MPV.

Another reason is that General Motors, Hyundai and Ford are already making plans to launch their respective MPVs in the Indian market, and sure enough, Toyota does not want to be left behind in the race. This new MPV would also help Toyota re-enter the segment which it so unnecessarily quit after it stopped selling Qualis in the market.

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Tata Motors Offers Guaranteed Happiness with Nano!

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Tata Nano The falling sales of the Tata Nano have finally started to worry the car maker. And the marketing guys at Tata Motors have already pulled up their socks and come up with a strategy that would lure the most honest-to-God skeptics to give a thought to buying the infamous Rs.1 lakh car.

Tata Motors has announced a host of new benefits on the Tata Nano, as it tries to strengthen its customer reach-out initiatives to expand open sales of the car across the country. The Tata Nano now comes with a 4-year / 60,000-km (whichever is earlier) manufacturer’s warranty, at no extra cost. But there is catch – you can avail this offer only if the car does not burn down to ashes on its debut tour (Pun intended). This offer is available not only on new deliveries, but is extended to all l existing owners of the car.

And if that is not attractive enough for you, here is another advantage of buying the Tata Nano now. All new buyers have the choice of availing a comprehensive maintenance contract at only Rs.99 per month. Now, this will easily help you take care of running maintenance of the car.

These benefits are supposed to enhance the satisfaction among Tata Nano customers. Since July 2009, when dispatches to those who had booked the car started, Tata Motors has delivered over 71,000 Tata Nanos across the country.

According to Tata Motors, customer satisfaction studies with current Tata Nano owners indicate that over 80% are satisfied or very satisfied with the car, because of it being small yet spacious, its performance, maneuverability, durability, mileage and SAFETY (No pun intended).

The company has earlier said that the Tata Nano provides assured reliability, durability and safety. And now, the company has made the car ever more robust, as announced on November 9, with enhanced features in the car’s electrical and exhaust systems. The new Nanos are being offered with these enhanced features. Additionally, existing customers are being offered the choice to install these features in their cars, at absolutely no extra costs.

And if you are too cash-strapped even for buying a Nano, you have the option of availing auto loans up to 90 per cent at very easy rates. Quite a few financiers have come forward to offer extremely attractive packages.

Since August 2010, Tata Motors has started the open sales of the Tata Nano, and it is available in 12 states across the country. Retail sales of the car have substantially increases in the first five states of open sales. By March 2011, Tata Motors would start the open sales of the Nano in the entire country.

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Mercedes rolls out 30,000th locally assembled car in India

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Top executives of Mercedes-Benz India at the roll-out of 30,000th locally produced car from the company’s plant at Chakan, Pune. Mercedes Benz India has attained quite a feat yesterday when it rolled out its 30,000th car produced here In India. It must be noted that Mercedes had reached the mark of 20,000th locally produced car in 2008, 13 years after start of operations in India. But coming up with a magic number of 30,000 was achieved in a short span of less than 3 years. This is certainly an indicative growth of the luxury segment in India and obviously the presence of the company in India.

The Managing Director and CEO of the company, Dr. Wilfried Aulbur ceremonially crowned the Mercedes-Benz logo on the shimmering black E350CDI Avantgarde in presence of the leadership team of the company at their manufacturing facility in Chakan, Pune on the occassion. Dr. Wilfried Aulbur said, “Take 2010 as an example. The luxury car market grew by approximately 65% in Jan-Nov 2010 while Mercedes-Benz India grew faster than the market at 86% in the same period”.

Mercedes-Benz’s strategy for the Indian market have been focused upon offering a comprehensive product portfolio, delivering the highest value to the customer as well as ensuring world class sales, after sales and vehicle ownership experience. These initiatives coupled with aggressive product launches and network enhancement to smaller towns and cities have reinforced the strong traction with Indian market in 2010. This is also reflected in the growth of the company. “Our plant is regarded among the best CKD plants of Mercedes, globally. Within two years of moving into the new facility we have already fulfilled our first shift capacity. Start of our second shift will cater to the increased market demand as we foresee in the years to come.” commented Dr. Aulbur.

Envisaging continued strong growth, Mercedes-Benz is gearing itself to harness the additional growth opportunities. “We plan to indigenize more and more products in India, focus upon local sourcing and optimize local value addition. We have decided to increase the portfolio of locally produced cars beyond the S-Class, E-Class and C- Class range starting 2013” commented Suhas Kadlaskar, Director Corporate Affairs and Human Resources.

With state-of-the-art, manufacturing facility and start of second shift catering to the demand from this burgeoning market, Mercedes-Benz decided that time was right for it to establish its own paint-shop in its facility at Chakan. Piyush Arora, Director-Technical, elabo-rates: “The rapidly growing market makes it a strong case for our own paint-shop. We have taken the decision to invest in a state-of-the-art technologically advanced paint-shop, capable of environment friendly water based painting going forward. This facility, set-up with a substantial investment will be ready by the second half of 2012 with the capability to paint all models from the Mercedes cars range.”

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Lotus is Now Lotus Renault GP

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2011 Lotus Renault GP F1 Car Lotus has joined hands with Renault for the upcoming Formula One season. The strategic liaison between the two companies will provide Group Lotus with significant technological and commercial opportunities for its range of road cars.

The return of Lotus in 2010 season after an exile of 16 long years seemed like a half-hearted attempt. But the recent development in the Group Lotus, along with the full support of its parent company Proton, marks the compete return of the manufacturer to the motorsport. Group Lotus will become a major equity partner of Genii Capital in Lotus Renault GP, and the two parties have signed a title sponsorship agreement that stays till the end of the 2017 season.

Gerard Lopez, Chairman of Renault F1 Team, commented: “We are delighted that we can now go public with the news that we will be racing as Lotus Renault GP in 2011. It is extremely exciting to begin a new era for the team in partnership with Group Lotus, and we will continue to enjoy a strong relationship with Renault over the coming seasons. It is a tribute to the excellent work this year by the team in Enstone that we have been able to attract both major sponsorship and new investment for a very bright future.”

Group Lotus CEO Dany Bahar said: “I can think of no better platform for automotive brand communications than motorsport and F1 is the very pinnacle of open-wheel racing. We’re well aware that there has been a lot of controversy around the usage of our brand in Formula One and I’m delighted to be able to formally clarify our position once and for all: we are Lotus and we are back.”

Now, Renault has sold its remaining shares in the team to Genii Capital. Group Lotus will become a major equity partner in Lotus Renault GP, which will be co-owned by Genii Capital. Renault will show its support and dedication to team by supplying engines and technological and engineering expertise.

Lotus Renault GP will continue to compete with the Renault chassis name and Renault will enjoy pre-eminent brand exposure on the livery. And guess what, the Lotus Renault GP cars would feature the iconic black and gold colours that were used when Lotus and Renault had joined forces in the 1980s.This livery, which has been on the drawing board for more than two months, is sure to strike a connect with sport enthusiasts around the world.

The Renault F1 team scored a strong fifth-place finish in the 2010 constructors’ championship, including three podium finishes by Robert Kubica. In the upcoming season, Lotus Renault GP will aim leap ahead and compete with some of the most prestigious names in Formula One.

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Silver, Black in Race for World’s Most Popular Car Color: DuPont

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2010_auto_popularity_color According to paint manufacturer DuPont, silver and black are locking horns for the title of “world’s most popular car colour“. Every year, the DuPont report shows data from established and emerging growth markets in the automotive industry; and in 2010, for the first time, it includes trends from South Africa.

DuPont’s study is considered to be the original and most comprehensive report on global automotive colour popularity and remains the first of its kind compiled on a global basis.

Silver is the world’s most preferred car colour for 2010, and just two points behind is black. White and gray come next in the list, with gray becoming ever more popular when compared to the last year’s statistics. Red, the only non-neutral colour in the top five, is slowly becoming more popular among the masses.

The other colours in the list are: blue at number 6, brown/ beige at number 7, green at number 8, yellow/ gold at number 9 and other colours at number 10.

In the Indian car market, white seems to be the leading colour of choice for cars, with 29 percent share in the market. Just five percent behind at number two is silver, at 24 percent. Brown/ beige, with 11 percent, are at the third spot for the Indian market. Gray and black follow at 9 and 8 percent respectively. Black/black effect (8 percent) is lowest in the ranks in India among all of the regions, with a fifth place finish.

In Chinese car market, silver is at the top in this year’s report, with 33 percent share in popularity. Black is back at number two, with 8 percentage points compare to the last year’s 23 percent. Gray holds the No. 3 position with 18 percent, with white (9 percent) and red (4 percent) in fourth and fifth places respectively.

In the European markets, black, with 24 percent, is leading overall across all vehicle categories. Five points behind with 19 per cent is gray, and silver has fallen to 17 percent popularity in Europe.

“Even though neutrals lead the colour popularity for the European region, we’re still seeing consumer willingness and preference to showcase a chromatic hue as a form of personal expression,” said Elke Dirks, DuPont colour designer for Europe. “The volume of blue hues for vehicles has been constantly decreasing over the last years, but it is still the No. 1 chroma colour for all vehicle segments in Europe and will have increasing potential for the future,” she said.

Courtesy: DuPont Automotive Systems

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Toyota to invest Rs. 500 crore for engines and transmissions unit

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Toyota Engine & RnD Toyota after launching its much-awaited Etios sedan in India is already on cloud Nine. The big honchos at Toyota have already charted out plans for India that also includes investing an additional Rs 500 crore to set up engines and transmissions plant for its Etios sedan and Etios Liva hatchback.

Toyota has already invested Rs 3,200 crore to develop the Etios car project and now with an additional Rs 500 crore pumped into the project, it reflects how seriously the Japs want to get a hold of the Indian mass market. This investment also means that localisation of the Etios is being concentrated upon. The scheduled production of engines and transmissions at the Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts will begin in the third quarter of 2012.

As of now, 70 per cent of the components of Etios are locally sourced. However, with this newly planned investment; localisation might go up to 90 per cent by end of 2012. Critical components such as engines and transmissions are being imported from Japan now but with this planned investment; transmission production will begin by 2012 followed by the engine in 2013.

Now adding to the plans are the very positive response the newly launched Etios has gathered. For the sedan with a starting price tag of Rs 4,96,330 (Ex-showroom Delhi), it has already garnered 7,086 bookings since December 1. The majority of bookings (1,200) came from Mumbai.

As per the stats, nearly 40 per cent bookings for the Etios sedan comes from North India while 32 per cent came from South India. Well, yes, the customers of Etios would have to wait for at least four months to take home their cars. Now with Toyota’s new marketing strategy to concentrate on Tier II and Tier III cities to sell Etios and Etios Liva hatchback that will be launched later in April 2011, the strategy will certainly pay huge dividends in the longer run.

Toyota-Etios

Mr. Sandeep Singh, Deputy Managing Director of Marketing for Toyota Kirloskar Motors says, “The ratio of sedan sales in cities will come down to 40 per cent from 70 per cent at present and it will increase in semi—urban and rural areas to 60 per cent from the present 30 per cent.”

Meanwhile, the company has announced the Etios sedan’s four variants, J, G, V and VX, which are priced between Rs 4,96,330 and Rs 6,82,519 ex—showroom in Mumbai.

TKM intends to double sales in India next year to 1,40,000—1,50,000 units, on the back of Etios and Liva. The company currently sells the sedans, Toyota Corolla Altis and Camry, along with the multi—utility vehicle Innova and SUVs such as Fortuner, Land Cruiser Prado, Land Cruiser and Prius.

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