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Monday, 8 March 2010
Ford has entered the small car segment in India with its super-cool hatchback Figo. Bookings have already started and the response from the customers has been great. That’s not all, Ford Motors wants to cash in on the growing euphoria and bring its Fiesta hatchback, which has already been launched in the European markets, to India.
Considering that Ford had earlier an+nounced its plans to launch a new product every 12 or 18 months, it only seems logical to speculate on hatchback Fiesta’s arrival in India. If launched in India, it will face strong competition with the likes of Honda Jazz, which happens to be positioned in the same segment.
The hatchback version will be very similar to the existing Ford Fiesta sedan, but with a trimmed back and new styling. The Fiesta Hatch is likely to feature two petrol DURATEC engine options: a 1.4-litre 79 bhp and a 1.6-litre 99 bhp along with a 1.4-litre/1.6-litre DURATORQ diesel engine.
The details of Fiesta Hatch have not been announced officially. However, if Ford brings Fiesta hatch to India, it will add a new dimension to the small car options of Indian customers. Most of the manufacturers in India, including Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai, have multiple small car offerings.
Ford Fiesta is a subcompact/super-mini car featuring a front-wheel drive system. Currently, it is marketed by the Ford Motor Company and built in Europe, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela, China, India and South Africa. The sixth generation of Fiesta has been made available in the United States (starting January) and Canada (starting March), which makes it the first Fiesta model to be sold in North America since 1978–80.
It is interesting to know that Ford’s overseas Fiesta model is one of the most successful small cars sold in the world. Since its launch in 1976, Fiesta has sold more than 12 million units. Amazing, isn’t it!
Labels: Fiesta-Hatch, Ford, Ford-Fiesta, Ford-Fiesta-Hatchback, Ford-Figo, Honda-Jazz
Tuesday, 12 January 2010
 Guess what? The concept of the small car “ new small” which Honda had displayed in the Auto Expo 2010 is scheduled to be launched in 2011. If this is news that you think you already knew, check this out. The small car of Honda’s will have around 80 per cent of its components made in India. Now that’s a news that we bet you might not have heard of right? Honda also expects that the small car that it will produce in India, sell as many as units as its best seller ‘ City’ does. "Our new small car, to be launched in 2011, will have a rate of around 80 per cent in localisation of components," Honda Siel Cars India Director (Marketing) Tatsuya Natsume told reporters during the 10th Auto Expo in New Delhi. The small car from Honda will be rolled out from the company’s plant in Greater Noida and Honda will take all measures to meet the demands of the customers as soon as the car is launched. Honda also is looking to increase the use of local components of its existing models in India to around the same percentage. While its City and Jazz cars have around 75 per cent localisation of components, the Civic has 71 per cent and the Accord 28 per cent. Labels: Auto-Expo-2010, Honda, Honda-Accord, Honda-City, Honda-Civic, Honda-Jazz, Honda-Small-Car, New-Car-Launch
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
 The People’s car maker Volkswagen has finally done it. It has launched its indigenously built Polo hatchback in India during the Auto Expo week here in Delhi. Volkswagen will be selling the Polo in India from March onwards. The Volkswagen Polo comes both in diesel and petrol engines. The sedan version of the Polo also is slated to be launched in the second half of 2010 which also will be built using the same platform of the Polo hatchback. The company expects to garner its market share in the Indian Car market by about 8-10 per cent in the next 4-6 years. Speaking on the wake of the launch of VW Polo, Jochem Heizmann, Volkswagen AG Member of the Board of management said that “The Polo stands for German engineering and top technology. It is lively young cosmopolitan made in India car." The 1.2 litre VW Polo which comes in three variants is being currently manufactured in its Chakan facility in Pune. When it comes to the pricing, The Polo is said to be very competitive and will be in the range of Honda Jazz, Hyundai i20 and Skoda Fabia. But the exact price will be only out when the cars reach the dealerships in March this year. Labels: Hatchback, Honda-Jazz, Hyundai-i20, New-Car-Launch, Sedan, Skoda-Fabia, Volkswagen-Polo
Tuesday, 22 December 2009
 Tata Nano is one permanent fixture in Carazoo.com for a long time now. This little wonder car has been around in the portal for many reasons and continues to be doing what it does best. Earning rave reviews. The world’s cheapest car has won one of the most significant awards of the country – Indian Car of the Year aka ICOTY. ICOTY and IMOTY (Indian Motorcycle of the Year) awards are the awards that are unbiased and exhaustive evaluation of all the new cars and motorcycles launched in the calendar year of 2009 in India. Although Tata Nano was a contender for this award amongst other heavy weights like were the Chevrolet Cruze, Honda Jazz, Fiat Linea, Fiat Grande Punto, Maruti Suzuki Ritz, Mahindra Xylo, Skoda Superb, Tata Indigo Manza, and Toyota Fortuner, Tata Nano emerged victorious in the end garnering 63 points. The Managing Director of Tata Motors, Mr. P.M. Telang, received the award from the Vice Chairman & Managing Director of JK Tyre Industries Ltd., Dr. R. P. Singhania, at a ceremony in New Delhi. Kawasaki Ninja 250R won the IMOTY award with 53 points. A 11-member expert jury members of the 2010 ICOTY included Yogendra Pratap and Vikrant Singh of Auto Bild India, Gautam Sen and Bob Rupani of Auto India, Bijoy Kumar Y and Srinivas Krishnan of Business Standard Motoring, Aspi Bhathena of Car India, Sirish Chandran and Bertand D’souza of Overdrive and Vardhan Kondvikar and Girish Karkera of Top Gear India. All these jury members evaluate and test cars as part of their journalistic work and are known for their analytic skills and professional competence. Once a year they come together to vote for the ICOTY. To qualify for the 2009 awards, only all-new cars and motorcycles, whatever the country of their origin, that went on sale in showrooms across the country before December 1, 2009 were considered. Existing cars and motorcycles that have had mere cosmetic facelifts or small mechanical tweaks do not qualify for consideration. The jury members judged the cars and motorcycles on various parameters such as price, fuel efficiency, design, comfort, safety, maneuverability, performance, functionality, environmental responsibility and driver/rider satisfaction among others. In addition, technical innovation and value for money were particularly important factors while deciding on the winner. The selection of the winner is carried out by a simple voting system with each jury member having twenty-five points to allot to at least four cars/bikes. They can give a maximum of 10 points to any one of them. A very fair and transparent system makes the ICOTY and IMOTY amongst the most credible and coveted car and motorcycle awards in India. Labels: Chevrolet-Cruze, Fiat-Grande-Punto, Fiat-Linea, Honda-Jazz, ICOTY, IMOTY, Mahindra-Xylo, Maruti-Suzuki-Ritz, Skoda-Superb, Tata-Indigo-Manza, Tata-Motors, Tata-Nano, Toyota-Fortuner
Wednesday, 9 December 2009
Car sales were robust across most segments in November, thanks to a lower statistical base (November 2008 sales were badly down in the aftermath of the global economic collapse in October), easier financing and improving economic situation. In passenger cars, sales growth was the maximum in November over the last five years. Car sales surged about 61per cent to 133,687 units from 83,121 units during last November. The biggest increase since February 2004. Each and every category of cars reported growth, with compact car sales touching almost the one lakh unit mark. But while most brands reported robust sales on improving economic environment and generous discounts, there was negligible manufacturing for some prominent car brands. Not a single unit was produced for Honda Jazz, Ford Fusion and Skoda Fabia even when sales were 546 units, 15 units and 598 units, respectively. For the Mahindra Renault Logan, production this November was significantly lower at just 71 units (610 units) when sales were 279 units (300 units). This indicates excess inventory in the system for select models, despite the overall sentiment being robust. Industry watchers are certain that with continued economic growth, sales by the end of this fiscal could come back to last year's levels. According to industry forecasts, car sales are expected to grow at least 10% this fiscal; in 2008-09, the 13 manufacturers in India sold 1.22 million cars. Labels: Car-Sales, Ford-Fusion, Honda-Jazz, Mahindra-Renault-Logan, Skoda-Fabia
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
The Patience is worth the wait. One would not crib for a Honda Jazz automatic anymore. Honda has brought an end to this by announcing a new automatic variant of Jazz. Well, there is still a long time to go before the company will actually launch it, till then we will just ponder on the thoughts of the new car. But, if you think to buy a Jazz and you will wait for the automatic version to get launched. Then, you can very much do that, but only if you have the patience and profound admiration for the model. After all you could be one such customer, who can go to such an extent to own a Jazz. And no one would laugh at you for doing so as Jazz is one among the cars that rocked the Indian roads. The new Jazz is expected to get launched only in 2010. And as we do not have a specific date to mention we would like to put it as, sometime next year. It is also expected that the car will not have any other new features except for the automatic transmission. The Honda Jazz is priced at the higher end that ranges between Rs. 6.98 and Rs.7.33. And the new automatic version of the car might cost you extra thousands. This is a presumption, as the price has not been announced officially. Currently, the Jazz is available in three variants such as Base, Mode and Active. This is for sure superior thinking from Honda. And the company will benefit the sales of the Jazz. Jazz will now join the legion of Honda’s automatic cars in India, the other AT cars from Honda being CR-V, Civic, City, and Accord. Labels: Automatic-Transmission, Honda, Honda-CR-V, Honda-Jazz
Monday, 12 October 2009
The other day we were talking about the silver car colour mania. Indians also are swept off their feet by this colour. Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motor India have affirmed that the market for them is for whites, silver and other subtle colours. These two Indian car majors have said that 50 per cent of the total sales of the industry are still for the all-time favourites, while red stands at 11-13 per cent. For Maruti, it is all about silver, golden and white. Even Honda says that almost 50 per cent of its sales are off-white and silver. The red colour signifies premium and prosperity and is winning hearts of the Indian car buyers. It is such a hit that car makers are finding it difficult to meet the delivery dates for red coloured car. Almost 50 per cent of the orders for the new Skoda Superb are for Rosso Brunello which is a shade of the colour red. And Skoda Auto India is gearing up to meet the huge demand for that colour. The Czech car company is also seeing an increasing demand for black, which till recently was not really preferred by Indians. Indian car customers symbolize colour with different things. The colour white signifies power, black is considered as ‘evil’ and red as prosperity. Chocolate and blue colours are some of the contemporary car colours. Moreover, the choice for bright colours can be attributed with the age of car buyers. It is a general belief that the young crowd prefers brighter colours. While, most feel what sells is what is shown in the advertisements. A large number of the car ads feature bright colour cars. For example, the cars in the ads of Fiat Linea and Grande Punto, Skoda Superb and Honda Jazz come in red. And it has to be mentioned here that that the maximum sales of Linea are for red, courtesy the advertisement showcasing Linea in Flamenco Red, wine red for Fiat India. Labels: Car-Colours, Fiat-India, Fiat-Linea, Honda-Jazz, Hyundai, Maruti-Suzuki
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
 India’s “biggest small car” Honda Jazz has received a fairly good response after it was launched in India last month. Jazz with a body styling resembling a MUV and a hefty price tag attached to it is still drawing crowds to the showroom. Honda Motors now has plans to add more power to Jazz. It is speculated that Jazz would be seen with a 1.5-litre engine next year. Jazz which is developed on the Honda City platform will share the same engine of the City under its hood. With more power, the Honda Jazz would cost a little extra with an estimated price of Rs. 70,000 more. Besides 1.5-litre engine, the car would be seen with an optional automatic transmission which will add an extra burden of Rs one Lakh on the pocket of the buyers. Currently Honda jazz is powered by an i.2 litre i-VTEC petrol engine which produces 89 bhp and is mated to a 5-speed manual transmission. With more power Honda Jazz will definitely be a star among its rivals. And with Honda’s reliability and popularity there are people who do not mind paying even bigger price for a small car. Honda Jazz is still young in its segment India. Labels: Honda-Cars, Honda-Jazz, Small-Car
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
Honda Siel Cars India successfully organized their celebrated customer interaction programme ‘Honda Fest’ across all its 65 dealerships in India. This is the second such programme, after a similar function was held last year to mark the launch of the new Honda City. The latest Honda fest was focused on the new kid in the block Honda Jazz. Test drives on all the three variants (Base, Mode, Active) of the Jazz was available for the customers. Honda Fest, which had been organised in the third weekend of June, was a treat to the Honda customers as they could test drive all the cars in the Honda Portfolio. With entertainment being the main theme coinciding with the showcasing of the Honda Jazz, recreational programmes such as pupet show was organised for the kids. All India music, dance, quiz and painting competitions were also held during the occasion and the results of these competitions would be announced by Honda Siel Cars later in the year. Honda Siel Cars along with their dealerships sent out invitations to customers and corporate companies across the country to come and participate in the festival. Honda Motors is the only company organizing such customer interaction events, particularly around the time of every new car from their stable is launched. It is an unique initiative by the car manufacturer to increase awareness about their products among consumers. Honda has been conducting similar fests in its other markets such as Japan, Germany and Italy. Honda officials feel that such fests would encourage customers to walk in to dealerships with a positive approach. It is an initiative worth emulating by other car manufacturers in India. Labels: Honda-City, Honda-Fest, Honda-Jazz, Honda-Siel-Cars-India, New-Honda-Cars-India
Friday, 5 June 2009
The launch of the most awaited hatchback of the year Honda Jazz is inching ever so close. Its manufacturer has been boasting that the Jazz will come with a completely new 1.2-litre i-VTEC engine. However, the car is not entirely new to the world. It’s already available in seven countries across the globe though not as a hatchback in all places. However, that’s not where the monotony of the Jazz ends. Firstly, Jazz has been part of Honda since the 1960s when it was the name of their 49 cc scooter sold in Canada and it is still sold as the Jazz there. Secondly, Honda sold the 100 bhp 1.2L 4-cylinder engine Honda City as the Jazz in Europe between 1982 and 1986. The current Jazz that the world knows of is sold as the Honda Fit in the United States. So the Jazz is Honda’s scooter in Canada, their Sedan in Europe, Fit in the U.S., and soon to be hatchback in India. Honda’s addiction to Jazz is questionable. Either they’ve run out of names for their new cars or they strongly believe in the mystical power of names. After all, brand name and brand reliability have worked magic for Honda over the decades. Labels: Hatchbacks, Honda-Jazz
Wednesday, 3 June 2009
The Honda Jazz will be launched soon thereby marking Honda’s first foray into the small car segment. The new hatchback has a heavy price tag and will be ranked second on the list of expensive hatchbacks in the country, beaten only by the exorbitantly priced Fiat 500. The Jazz’s starting price of Rs 7 Lakh puts even reigning price-champions in the segment - Skoda Fabia and Hyundai i20 - to shame. The much awaited Jazz is being looked upon with skepticism by auto analysts and small car buyers alike as this is Honda’s first deviation from regular textbook car launches. So far, all of Honda’s cars have submissively belonged to the segments that Honda has intended them to be in and the Jazz appears to be a rebel that’s pushing the upper limit of the premium hatchback segment. After a similar attempt from Skoda, with its premium hatch Fabia that failed to impress, it’s difficult to really tell if the expensive Jazz will ride a newly developing trend where price wouldn’t defer an interested Indian car buyer. So far, car buyers in the country have always appreciated hatchbacks with traditional prices of under Rs 5 Lakh and Hyundai and Maruti Suzuki have been juicing this market for years. Without a doubt, Honda is relying on brand popularity and India’s symbolizing it with quality. Also to be noted is that Honda’s experiment comes in the face of an unpredictable Indian market which is only just recovering from a hard fall. The launch of the Jazz is important particularly after Maruti Suzuki’s new small car Ritz that promises plenty of goodies such as ABS, airbags, integrated music system, and several other features – all at an appreciable price. What could worry Honda is that the Ritz also promises cheap spares and low running costs which the Jazz, though belonging to a class of its own, could find hard to deliver on. Another worrying factor that Honda has already considered is the crowded nature of the Indian small car segment. The plentitude of small car models lays out all options for car buyers. Labels: Honda-Jazz, New-Car-Launch, Premium-Hatchbacks
Tuesday, 26 May 2009
Premium compact cars are climbing the value chain in the Indian car industry. Both the car manufacturers and the car buyers are eyeing at lucrative opportunities offered by the premium compact car segment. Manufacturers are witnessing the rising demand of such cars and buyers are rejoicing the symphony of practicality, versatility, and affordability offered by premium compact cars. The market leader Maruti Suzuki has recently launched two new premium compact cars, A-star and Ritz. Other car manufacturers are gearing up to challenge Maruti with their stylish and powerful hatchbacks. The segment will definitely be abuzz with new car launches expected by almost all the car manufacturers. Honda is to follow the bandwagon with its most awaited Honda Jazz whereas Hyundai will enter the segment with the diesel version of i20. Moreover, the Volkswagen Polo, Toyota Yaris, and Fiat Grande Punto are also in line to explore the premium compact car segment. A number of small but expensive cars are continually sold in huge numbers in the international markets. And now the same trend is being witnessed in India with more and more buyers shifting from small cars and mid-sized sedans to the premium compact segment. Car manufacturers are now confident of attracting respectable numbers of premium compact car buyers in India despite of the expensive price tag. Labels: Compact-Car-Segment, Honda-Jazz, Maruti-Suzuki-Ritz, New-Car, Premium-Compact-Car, Volkswagen-Polo
Tuesday, 30 September 2008
Currently, Jazz is globally considered to be the smallest car in Honda’s portfolio of cars. Now with high inflation, the company feels the need to produce cars smaller than its Jazz. Aimed at reducing environmental emissions and shortage of fuel in near future, the company is also in progress to design and develop small cars that will take on less fuel and will be lower in CO2 emissions. The way forward, Honda plans to launch small and affordable hybrid engines. It also has plans to add more number of diesel engines in its car portfolio. Honda Jazz will hit the Indian shores by next year and the company will launch another small car in a couple of years, a global car with an improved engine technology and better performance. Expectations are high that Honda will now enter the core of Indian car industry and establish a stronger niche with a range of small cars. Labels: Honda, Honda-Jazz, Indian-Car, Small-Car
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