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Thursday, 25 March 2010


Car DiscountsJust the other day we mentioned that the Mahindra Renault Logan would come out with a smaller body. The dealers were burdened with the existing car stock and the makers too were annoyed. Just 500 units of the Logan were being sold every month. Mahindra-Renault decided to offer a discount of Rs 50,000 on the petrol variant and Rs 18,000 discount on the diesel counterpart. All this would be in addition to the corporate discounts that employees from certain organizations already enjoy. If you thought that that wasn’t good enough, here’s something more.

The sales this year had gone so high for almost all cars. They walked with heads held high. Just then, post union budget, the steel prices went up and so did the car manufacturing costs. The manufacturers may have thought that the car prices could further be increased. However, that will not happen. The sales have gone very low now. Car makers say that the recent increase in excise duty has impacted the new car bookings. In a few days, the BS-IV emission norms will be effective in 13 cities.

The fact is that more than 50 per cent of the car sales volumes in the months of January and February 2010 came from these cities. So, the existing car stocks need to be cleared before that. What do you think the manufacturers are doing to clear the space?

Offering huge discounts seems to be the only solution. Car sales this month have gone so slow that the manufacturers are getting a little worried. So, their discounts this year are 10 to 15 per cent higher than last year. Once the cars are upgraded to the new emission norms, the prices are surely going to rise. Isn’t it better to buy one before that?

The discounts, right now, range from Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000. Whoa! Isn’t that a real good deal? The multi-brand outlets are topping it with an additional Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 discount on the smaller cars. If you think this is too good to be true, hurry and grab a car before it’s too late. These multi-brand outlets buy cars in bulk from dealers and so, they get a better discount. At a time when the sales are real low, why not pass on the additional discount on to the customer? That would be a great idea and they are doing it. There will be an Rs 35,000 discount on the Spark with a three-year maintenance package too.

While Maruti Suzuki dealers are giving a discount of Rs 42,000 on the WagonR and Rs 26,000 on the Alto, you can expect an additional discount of Rs 10,000 and Rs 9,000 respectively from multi-brand outlets on these cars. The Ritz and Estilo from Maruti come with Rs 27,000 discount when bought from dealers. The same cars are being offered at multi-brand outlets at Rs 33,000 and Rs 37,000 discounts respectively.

The Mahindra Xylo and Logan come with a discount of Rs 50,000 while multi-brand outlets sell it with an additional Rs 5,000 and Rs 15,000 discount respectively on the two cars. The Hyundai i10 and Santro come with Rs 28,000 and Rs 26,000 discount tags.

Resellers are offering the same vehicles with discounts of Rs 35,000. Tata Indica Xeta comes with a discount of Rs 30,000 and resellers are offering the same with an additional discount of Rs 8,000. Whoa! Mighty discounts everywhere and everyone benefits. Long live the discount deals.

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Friday, 13 November 2009

Guess who's next to bring in a lakh rupee car in India!

"Maruti Suzuki?" No.

"Hyundai?" No.

"Is it Honda after a second thought?" No.

"GM or must be Ford?" No, it's our desi clock and home appliances manufacturer Ajanta, which is famous by its brand Orpat.

Well, Ajanta is planning to buy a Chinese electric car company based in the Guangzhou province of China. The renowned quartz clock maker will then launch a sub-one-lakh-rupee car in the Indian market. To add icing to the cake, it is not just an ordinary low-cost car, it’s a low-cost electric car!

Apart from clocks and home appliances, the Rs 1,500-Crore company, which has its headquarters at Morbi in Gujarat, also makes electric bikes. It ventured in the automotive world in 2007 with the two-wheeler electric vehicles, and it manufactures around 10,000 bikes every year at its Kutch facility.

Ajanta has made a layout of Rs 100 Crore to acquire an existing assembly unit of an anonymous carmaker, which can roll out 5,000 units a year. The deal will be finalized within this year. The acquisition will help the company acquire technologies for molding, designs and battery production, among others. Furthermore, it would help in creating and establishing a new market for electric cars in India.

The company is seeking government support so that it can develop low-cost cars for the Indian market. Besides, VAT and excise duty put together make almost a fourth of the total manufacturing cost of the car. Ajanta feels that if the cost is lowered, the company can come out with battery-powered cars at Rs 1 Lakh or less.

Moreover, the clock maker has revealed that it will go with its own 'Oreva' brand for the cars. Oreva is derived from the names of Ajanta’s founder OR Patel and his wife Revaben.

The name is musical enough for the Indian ears and sounds like someone is addressing the REVA, calling it "Oh REVA" in a sing-song way. Carazoo.com feels it has been a good idea to adopt the brand name Overa as the name screams of an eco-friendly car like the REVA.

A prototype of the expected car is being designed and it can run 120 km per one charge of 7 units of electricity that will cost nearly Rs 35 per charge. The company has designed more than 10 battery-powered cars of four-seater and six-seater capacity. The six-seater will cost nearly Rs 1.5 lakh, while the four-seater can be available for Rs 1 lakh.

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Saturday, 31 October 2009

Tata Nano is the car that brought in the trend of small ultra cheap cars. In fact Tata gave the courage and encouragement to the car makers in the country to make ultra cheap cars that will lure the buyers. Tata was in the news for a long time and is still in the news connected to the Nano. And we expected many companies to join Tata, launching ultra cheap cars and Fiat was one among them. We were literally celebrating each and every news that came out regarding the launch of ultra cheap cars. And we had our hopes high especially with Fiat, as Fiat has now tied up with Tata. But what you are going to read will certainly pull your expectations down, especially if you were waiting for an ultra cheap from Fiat.

The speculation about Fiat launching a small car was very much alive. But there is no hope left when the company authorities are themselves denying any plans of the company to enter the ultra-cheap car segment.

But we have a relief. The company is still in the process of developing several low cost cars. It is expected that these low cost cars will probably be in the bottom of the B-segment for the Indian market in the coming 3-4 years.

We are not aware of what will be the fuel options available in this proposed car. The engine option of the car is also not known, the company is still in the process of deciding it. This small car is expected to join the Indian small car market in the next few years.

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Wednesday, 3 June 2009

It was only recently that we had blogged on an ultra cheap car Pico that was developed by engineering students at M S Ramaiah Institute of Technology in Bangalore. This time, it’s students from Sapathagiri College of Engineering in Bangalore who have created a hybrid car as a part of their final year academic project.

This set of creative heads has put together an automotive wonder that is a special type of hybrid car as it runs on two engines. The car is powered by an old Sipani Montana 850cc engine that has been modified to deliver extremely low fuel consumption. Besides this, the car runs on LPG as well as petrol.

Creating this hybrid marvel was not an easy job for this as there were no available sponsors and every penny required was put in by them on their own. Car parts were sourced from garages across the city and this was the easy part. It took them a while to obtain the engines for the car.

The group is looking forward to seeing their pet project being produced commercially but currently it has to undergo a few more changes to come out as a complete car. This is a good example of how young auto engineers are coming up with new and innovative concepts that have the potential to revolutionize the current global car manufacturing scene.

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