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Thursday, 26 November 2009
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. Labels: EcoCa, Low-Cost-Car, One-Lakh-Rupee-Car, Tata-Morors, Tata-Nano, World’s-Cheapest-Car
Thursday, 12 November 2009
Japanese car behemoth Honda is not keen to bring out a low-budget car.
In the time of economic turndown, many car giants have decided to bring out small low-priced cars to up their plunging sale records.
Though the car maker will focus in the Indian and Chinese markets for future growth, it will not enter the ultra low-cost car segment. Honda is presently working on a small car to keep up with the demands in these markets.
The Japanese car major is yet to declare when they will come out with its new product. Honda is presently busy studying the Indian small car segment so that its upcoming compact car is packaged to meet the requirement of Indian customers, Indian price-point while adhering to the Honda brand. The car, Honda revealed, would be smaller than current hatchback Jazz.
Currently, India and China are Honda’s top priority. China has emerged as a rare bright spot for Honda. It sold 50,600 cars in the country in October, up 42 per cent from a year earlier. Honda sold 34,430 cars between April and October in India, an increase of 38 per cent from a year earlier.
Honda's Japan operations are expected to stay in red though demand has been brisk, helped by generous tax reductions and incentives on hybrids like the Insight.
Honda’s US sales spiked temporarily in August helped by the cash-for-clunkers programme, but the impact was short-lived and followed by a sharp slump in demand the following month.
In June, Honda launched the Jazz in India, the smallest car in its stable. The company makes and sells premium sedans Honda City, Civic and Accord in India. Labels: Honda, Honda-Small-Cars, Low-Cost-Car, New-Cars-India, No- Low-Cost-Car-From Honda, Small-Car-Segment, Ultra-cheap-Car, Ultra-low-cost-Cars
Thursday, 17 September 2009
What would have been that encouraging factor for Hyundai from which the idea of a low-cost car stemmed, without further thoughts; it could be the Tata’s dream child, Nano. This small wonder has been in the news for some time now, and what would stop Hyundai from making one such car so that they will get flaunted and praised like never before. Or is Hyundai really concerned about the interest of the Indian crowd who would be greatly pleased to have such economical cars. Could be both, but India is an emerging market and this new car, for sure, will not be a reason to regret for the company later in the future. And again, the country’s common interest on small cars will be of great benefit for the company. The company had voiced its ideas of bringing out a small car in the beginning of this year, which they are planning to launch in India and other similar emerging markets. And now more details of the car are revealed. It will be an 800cc new model car which will be manufactured at the company plant in Chennai. And the most attractive part, the price, it will be priced at Rs 1.77 lakh. It is not as cheap as a Tata Nano, as the base model of Nano costs only Rs 1.25 lakh, well, it seems like no one can really compete with Nano in terms of the pricing. But there are still more hurdles to cross before we could say whether this small car from Hyundai is a competent to Nano and the Maruti models such as the Maruti 800 and Maruti Alto. It is not sure when this model will hit the Indian car markets, but let us expect that the launch of this low-cost car will happen soon. Labels: Hyundai, Low-Cost-Car, Tata-Motors, Tata-Nano
Monday, 29 June 2009
Ever since the launch of Tata Nano was announced in 2008, environmentalists have been crying hoarse. They say that Nano will clog the roads. But will Nano alone be responsible for clogging of roads is a questionable factor. Let us look at facts of Tata Nano first- it is a low cost car easily available to most people n India. But Tata Motors will be able to manufacture only one lakh cars per annum. On the other hand big car manufacturers like Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai along with the other major car makers have production capacities in excess of 2 lakh units. In the year 2008-09, 15 lakh units of passenger cars including utility vehicles and multipurpose vehicles had made their presence felt in the Indian road space. Maruti Suzuki has been the chart topper after having sold the most number of cars in India. Alto, the top selling car of Maruti Suzuki has sold more than 10 lakh units in the last nine years and the fast selling Swift has sold nearly five lakh units in just four years. Compare them with Nano’s yearly target, and Nano would certainly stand pale in front of them. It will take half a decade to reach Swift hatchback’s record. Moreover, most Nano cars will sell in urban areas, while Maruti and Hyundai plan to move to rural markets to gain more sales in numbers. So, environmentalists get your facts right before pouncing on the Tata Nano. Labels: eco-friendly-cars, Low-Cost-Car, Tata-Nano
Monday, 16 March 2009
Bajaj’s small car that was showcased at the 2008 Auto Expo will not debut on the scheduled date. The car was earlier announced to make its debut by 2011 but now it may see a delay of five to six months. It is said that the company is not content with the design and positioning of the proposed ultra-low-cost car. The project will start from the scratch as the older project insisted on major alteration in terms of design and other details. It is sad to know that the teams who worked over a year to finalise the project will have to begin from the sketch. It is also speculated that the project could see further delay due to technical hitches as well as the financing problems at Renault’s end. During the tie-up stage between the three car manufacturers, it was decided that the power train, platform development, and supply lines would be provided by Bajaj whereas Renault-Nissan will chip in with design and engineering for the ‘small car’ project. Carrying a little higher price tag, this new car is expected to offer better performance and mileage compared to its rival Nano. Labels: Low-Cost-Car, Nano, Small-Car
Friday, 12 September 2008
As the low-cost mini game continues, Hyundai is the latest entrant of this game. This may be a micro battle for the car manufacturers who are racing to introduce the best car in the small segment. The company plans to produce its low-cost small car with support from its own facility set up in Hyderabad. The new small car from Hyundai is expected to compete with Tata Nano in all aspects. Hyundai has studied the deep core massive Indian market to make its car suitable, affordable and feasible for the Indian buyers. Hyundai has also studied the minds of Indian customers so that it can make better cars with improved driving conditions, styling cues and other features. Apart from Nano, the company also plans to beat other micro-offerings from Toyota, Fiat, Baja-Renault, Volkswagen and even General Motors. The new car will be designed exclusively for the Indian market. With this, the number of new cars in the industry is increasing at a faster pace. So, after Hyundai, how many more small and low-cost cars are expected to hit the Indian car market? Labels: Low-Cost-Car, New-Cars, Tata-Nano
Thursday, 12 June 2008
The countdown for the smallest low-cost car, Tata Nano, begins now. Singur plant is underway of rolling out the Nano and bringing it on to Indian roads.  Not only the company, but also the consumers and car dealers of Tata are eagerly awaiting the launch of this car. It’s great to know that the bookings for this car will start in mid-September. Tata dealers in Kolkata and New Delhi are more excited with the launch of this car and are pursuing consumers to check out the final booking dates in the first week of September. The launch will be coinciding with the holy festival of Durga Puja. Both the celebrations together would be a great day of fun, entertainment and enjoyment for all the people across the country. Labels: Low-Cost-Car, New-Car-Launch, Tata-Nano
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