Indian Car Blog - Carazoo.com

Fiat 500 wins award

The Fiat 500 won the car of the year award for 2008. Fiat is the only automobile manufacturer in the world that has won the coveted European Car of the Year award nine times. It was voted the best by a large contingent of 58 journalists from 22 European countries. The 500 was voted ahead of the Ford Mazda II and Ford Mondeo.

It is Italy’s national icon, with the original 1957 version selling close to four million units, until it was phased out in 1975. After its re-launch, Fiat decided to regain its coveted place in the European car market and is offering the largest possible offer of 500,000 different ways to configure the car with its myriad options. It is also offering the electric fragrance diffuser for those who love the smell of fresh morning air in the cabin. The available engines include a 1.3-litre multi-jet diesel that churns out 74 bhp (which also powers the Swift diesel in India) and two types of petrol: a 1.2-litre that produces 68 bhp and a 1.4-litre that generates 100 bhp.

Fiat comes with a five-star safety rating and is packed with the latest safety equipments including an ABS with electronic stability program. The interiors have a funky design with high quality elements and a digital instrumental panel.

India operations: As far as Fiat India’s plans go, the company plans to turn India into a centre for its Asia operations. Indians have a long association with Fiat, but will have to wait for sometime longer for the Fiat 500 compact car to tread on Indian roads.

Labels: Auto-Shows, Award winning car, Compact cars, Driving imported cars, Fiat, Ford, Foreign cars

 

posted by Carazoo Blog @ Friday, December 07, 2007 1 Comments Links to this post

ABS - For a Power Stop

Recently most of the car ads proclaim that their cars come with ABS. Are you wondering what this ABS is? ABS stands for Anti-lock Braking System.

When it comes to the working prospect, unlike the cars without ABS, cars with ABS will help to stop a car without any skidding. Invariable of how fast your car is moving, if you apply the brake, the car stops immediately though technically there are many actions taking place in a matter of few seconds. The anti-lock brakes use speed sensors to monitor the speed at which each wheel is turning. This data is shared with the vehicle's powertrain control module (PCM) computer. If the PCM detects that one of the wheels is about to lock-up during braking, it takes control and avoids locking, therefore providing the driver with the maximum available braking capacity of the car and also allowing the driver to maintain steering control.

ABS being one of the safest features is being introduced in most of the recently launched and launching cars. Even the drivers of compact cars like Maruti Swift can experience the working ability of an ABS.

These brakes come it handy when you need emergency breaking and on slippery roads. So when you head to buy your next car ask the dealer, if the car is equipped with ABS.

Labels: Anti-lock braking system introduces in Indian cars, Compact cars, Maruti Swift

 

posted by Carazoo Blog @ Tuesday, July 10, 2007 0 Comments Links to this post

Volkswagen to introduce small car in India

Now that many foreign automobile companies are launching their cars in India, it is the local unit of Volkswagen AG, which is planning to release a compact car, especially designed to perform well on Indian roads. The Indian unit of Volkswagen AG is all set to make a smaller version of the Polo car model, which is likely to hit Indian roads by 2009. Blasting sales of this peppy car is predicted. The committee members of Volkswagen surveyed the country roads to learn more about Indian road conditions, before introducing its first car.

Compared to big cars, small cars have a much higher demand in India. Towering fuel prices and bad road conditions insist for powerful and fuel-efficient models. Other than Volkswagen, other companies such as Nissan Motors and Honda Motors are planning to design a compact car to survive Indian road and temperature conditions.

The modified car will be made accessible in both petrol and diesel engine variants. Volkswagen has requested the presence of over 250 Indian vendors to its first supplier discussion as it is planning to have at least 50% of the locals satisfied when it starts making the models. Volkswagen, which supplies a large percentage of automotive parts worldwide, has called audits of Indian vendors to shortlist them for some of the supplies. In the units distributed around the world, Volkswagen has planned to make a million units a year. Initially, in India the planned target is 110,000 units a year. Companies are planning to source a majority of the parts locally to cut down the price factor.

Labels: Compact cars, small cars, Volkswagen GP

 

posted by Carazoo Blog @ Tuesday, June 26, 2007 0 Comments Links to this post