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Monday, 26 April 2010
 The other day we told you that Team MRF was all set with a two-car team for the 2010 Asia Pacific Rally Championship. The Malaysian Rally just got over and what a great finish that was! India's Team MRF Tyres delivered a 1-2 finish at the Malaysian Rally 2010, the first round of the APRC. Katsu Taguchi won the title ahead of Gaurav Gill. Both drove Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10 cars. 38-year old Taguchi has formerly been an APRC champion. Great benefits came in when leader Alistair McRae with co-driver Bill Hayes dropped out on with a broken radiator to abandon his 27-second overnight lead over the Japanese veteran. With co-driver Mark Stacey, Taguchi’s performance was phenomenal. Our very own Gaurav Gill did very well too. The 28-year old from Delhi and Indian champion, along with co-driver Glen Macneall, amazed everyone with spectacular performance. He was the quickest through the opening five stages. It was the overheating brakes that posed a problem and Gill fell behind. Team MRF won in spite of the presence of excellent contenders. Their Mitsubishi cars stood by the racers and saw them end the Malaysian Rally successfully. The field included three topnotch competitors, former World Rally drivers Chris Atkinson and Alistair McRae, and Karamjit Singh, the former World Rally production car champion. Both Atiknson and Malaysian Karamjit packed up on the first day. 39-year old McRae’s case was a little different though. It seemed like the Scotsman would win the title. A nasty bump at the end of Stage 10, with six more to go, destroyed the racer’s dream. The bump left his Proton Satria Neo S2000 with a damaged radiator and he was forced into an early exit. Taguchi never looked back as he seized the opportunity to coast home to victory in a total time of three hours, 19 minutes, 07.7secs over the 589 km rally. In the end, he had something to say. 'Accidents do happen in rallying and it can cost you the race. It has happened to me before. Today was my day I suppose. But to be honest, I must admit that Alistair has a very fast car and for me to close the gap would have been quite difficult. What's more, all of us have to face up to a very tricky venue with plenty of challenges, especially the condition of the track,' said the Yokohama native Taguchi. The Proton R3 had a real sad ending. Everything went on well until Alistair's mishap and the problems undergone by the team’s other entrant, Chris Atkinson with co-driver Stephane Prevot. His car suffered an electrical failure. 'But that's rallying. You can have a perfect day and then you pray everything will be fine the next. But sometimes, it don't work out that way,' said McRae. While Team MRF grabbed both first and second positions, coming in third was Indonesia's Rifat Sungkar in a Subaru Impreza WRX with Malaysia's Muhammad Rafiq Udhaya, also in a similar vehicle, finishing fourth. In fact Rafiq's achievement had taken the limelight off local favourite Karamjit Singh and his desire to win his 11th All-Malaysian Rally title. The Malaysian, however, had never-ending problems popping out of his eight-year old Mitsubishi Evo-8 that crashed his dreams on the very first day. Race cars can have their own way. Labels: APRC, Asia-Pacific-Rally-Championship, Car-Racing, Gaurav-Gill, Malaysian-Rally, Mitsubishi-Cars, Team-MRF
Tuesday, 7 July 2009
Here is good news for the car buyers as well as the manufacturers. Earlier when the excise duty was reduced for small cars, big cars did feel the pinch as the segment was excluded from the benefit. But now even they have a reason to smile as the excise duty is reduced on the high-end cars. This benefit will be passed on to the customers in the form of reduced price tag. According to the revised scheme, additional excise duty will be reduced on big cars with engine capacities of 2,000 cc and above by Rs 5,000 per unit. The first car company to declare the price cut is Hindustan Motors, about Rs 6,000 on its partner Mitsubishi's Pajero, Outlander and Montero cars. Other car manufacturers like General Motors, Toyota, BMW, and Tata too have followed suit and announced the price cut but the exact discounted price is not revealed yet. Though some of the car manufacturers have decided to pass on the benefits to the customers, there is other car brand like Honda which refused to reduce the price, stating inflation as one of the primary reasons. But the car manufacturer does not understand the fact that this decision will affect their sales target as other cars will be sold in lower price. Labels: Honda-Cars, Mitsubishi-Cars, Small-Car
Friday, 8 May 2009
The stunning Mitsubishi Pajero is all set to arrive in an all-new avatar. The SUV will get a new design as well engine. It is said that the car will carry a Paris-Dakar Raid car looks, interior similar to Outlander, and the Tiptronic-like INVECS II automatic gearbox. Just like Toyota Fortuner, even the Pajero is based on a truck called Triton. The upgraded version of Pajero will come with a choice of two diesel engines powered by a 3.2-litre engine with an output of 165 bhp and a 2.5-litre engine that delivers 140 bhp. The car was launched in India in 2002 and is available as completely built unit in cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kochi, and Chandigarh. The vehicle recently got a facelift which is available worldwide with a 3.2-litre diesel engine. The present third generation Pajero is powered by a 2.8L turbo-diesel engine that generates 117 bhp. It seems the company wants to upgrade the car both in terms of design as well as power to tap the highly competitive Indian car market. Labels: Mitsubishi-Cars, Mitsubishi-Pajero, SUV
Monday, 13 April 2009
Mitsubishi Outlander is one of the best cars that have recently rolled out on Indian roads. The car is doing just wonders in the market but still there are many who are not happy with the appeal and front look of the car. For many the Outlander is just a plain looking car that evokes no sort of emotions and maybe because of that many don’t feel like buying the car. It’s a well known fact that whenever new thing comes in front of you the first thing that appeals you is the looks. Now to get rid of the simple look, the car manufacturer plans to jazz up the front fascia with the looks borrowed from the Mitsubishi Evolution X. You’ll still find the same silhouette, same design, but only the nose will be different. And amazingly the looks carried over from the Evo X blends well with the actual design flow of the car. Though the company decides to give a new look to the Outlander there is no confirmation on whether the Evo-faced Outlander will go into production. And if yes there are no details as to when the market will witness the launch of the new faced Outlander. Labels: Mitsubishi-Cars, Mitsubishi-Outlander, New-Car-Launch
Monday, 30 March 2009
car prices hike has become a recent buzzword amidst recession. In recent times, Indian car market has witnessed a major jump in car prices of many models. Now Mitsubishi Motors has revealed its plan to increase the prices of all its models. Mitsubishi cars will see a price hike of 4-5 per cent that will be applicable from 1st April. The company assembles its cars in Chennai through a joint venture with Hindustan Motors. Since the localisation levels in Mitsubishi models are still not very high, the company is finding it difficult to combat with the expenses on the imported kits due to rising value of Yen. Let’s have a look as to how much the Mitsubishi cars will see a price surge. To start with, the SUVs models Outlander and Pajero will get a price hike of around Rs 1 Lakh. The Cedia and the Lancer will be increased by Rs 50,000 and Rs 40,000, respectively. Also, the recently launched 2009 Montero priced at Rs 42 Lakh will see a steeper hike due to increased duty levies. Labels: Car-prices, Indian-car-market, Mitsubishi-Cars
Tuesday, 9 December 2008
Mitsubishi feels happy to pass on the benefits of reduced excise duty to its customers. The company has combined the benefits of lower excise duty with the year-end schemes. All the five Mitsubishi cars running on Indian roads will now be available at cheaper price tags. The ex-showroom price of Montero and the recently launched appealing Outlander is slashed by 1 Lakh, they now carries the price tag of Rs 38.31 Lakh and Rs 20.35 Lakh, respectively. You can buy the Pajero at Rs 20.25 Lakh, Cedia at Rs 9.80 Lakh, and the Lancer at a price of Rs 7.74 Lakh. For the company this is the right time to boost car sales. And for consumers, this is probably the perfect time to buy a Mitsubishi car as this offer may not last for long. Labels: Car-prices, Car-Sales, Mitsubishi-Cars
Friday, 29 August 2008
Driven by the growing demand of SUVs in India, Mitsubishi plans to roll out its Outlander soon. There was news that the company plans to roll out its SUV in the first quarter of 2008. The first quarter is now over. No dates are being confirmed for the launch but the newsy air still whispers that ‘Mitsubishi plans Outlander for India’. Priced at about Rs.15-25 lakhs, the car is expected to compete with the Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara and Honda CRV. The Mitsubishi cars are already doing wonders in the Indian car market. Mitsubishi Pajero is a successful SUV running on Indian roads and Mitsubishi Lancer has no comparison in the luxury car segment. With such a successful story in the Indian market, Mitsubishi is sure to win applauds and acclamation for its upcoming SUV, the Outlander. The new car will come with a competitive price tag and superior features. The 2.4 litre MIVEC petrol engine and a 6-speed automatic transmission coupled with paddle shift are the most attractive features. The company has taste the success in India with only selected models. Does the slogan, ‘slow and steady wins the race’ apply to Mitsubishi brand? Will the Mitsubishi be able to win the race in the highly competitive India market? Labels: Mitsubishi-Cars, New-Car-Launch, SUV
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The other day we told you that Team MRF was all set with a two-car team for the 2010 Asia Pacific Rally Championship. The Malaysian Rally just got over and what a great finish that was! India's Team MRF Tyres delivered a 1-2 finish at the Malaysian Rally 2010, the first round of the APRC. Katsu Taguchi won the title ahead of Gaurav Gill. Both drove Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10 cars.
