Indian Car Blog - Carazoo.com

Towards the end of last year, after economic recession hit the world badly, General Motors tasted the bitter pill called bankruptcy in the U.S. The company then decided to start off with a fresh approach and innovative strategy. It wanted to see a new dawn for a brighter future. Any guesses what the strategy was? Yes, General Motors planned to set up its used car business. Chevrolet OK was the name and it would sell used cars from General Motors alone as part of the project. Now what? BMW wants to follow.

BMW saw other leading market players rejoicing success with their used car wings. It wants to get a similar feel. We heard that the company will open its first used car showroom in Chennai. When? The inauguration will happen very soon, in April this year. That’s not all. It has plans of opening a second used car showroom in Gurgaon sometime during the second half of this year. Isn’t that a great step to move ahead? The car industry is already enjoying success with the increase in sales it has seen since January this year. February was the best month ever in the history of many car makers.

BMW’s used car business venture, BMW Premium Selection would soon spread the virus to all major cities in India. Who knows, you may soon see one in your city. Isn’t that great? It is indeed going to be a quality business. The proficient BMW engineers and technicians will select cars eligible for resale. The selection would be only after a thorough inspection. Also, the used BMW cars will be sold on warranty. It is probably going to be a comprehensive 2-year or 40,000-km warranty whichever is earlier, 24-hour roadside assistance, test driving, and also individual financing.

What do you think BMW has in mind about the business? BMW expects the used car business to contribute to 30 per cent of the total sales. The company, however, is not new to the used car industry. It sells used cars in the U.S., Europe and Russia under the BMW Premium Selection programme. With the care that the company takes during the selection of used cars, it sure seems like the new step is going to be a success.

The company will be focusing on the car’s health. The engineers will check for details like visible signs of accident damage, defects in paint and tyres, and complete examination of the brake system, shock absorbers, battery and electrical components. Even the mirrors, windows, sunroof, central locking and interior lights, seat belts, fluid levels, clutch, brakes and transmission, wiper blade and washing system will be taken care of. A test drive for performance and noise will be tested.

BMW set up shop in India in 2006. Till date it has successfully sold over 8,000 cars in the country. Its sales target for the year 2010 is over 4,000 units. In addition to the pre-owned car business that it plans to start next month, BMW India will also kick off its financial services. This programme is also expected to drastically reduce the financial burden on car buyers. It will certainly guarantee a well-maintained, first-class automobile with a comparatively low price tag.

Labels: BMW, BMW-India, BMW-Pre-owned-Cars, BMW-Premium-Selection, BMW-Used-Cars, General-Motors, General-Motors-used-cars, old-cars, Pre-Owned-Cars, Used-Cars

posted by Carazoo.com @ Wednesday, March 24, 2010 0 Comments Links to this post

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It’s found that modern cars give slightly more fuel efficiency than old cars. This is practically proved in a report by the journal of Energy Policy published in United States. The study was conducted recently on vehicles manufactured from 1923 to 2006. The report reveals that since 1920 there has been a little progress in fuel efficiency statistics. Researchers unveiled that the overall fuel economy of vehicles in United States in 1923 was 5.9 km/l. But in 2006, the average fuel efficiency was 17.3 km/l.

They found that overall fuel efficiency decreased to 5 km/l in 1973 from the earlier 5.9 km/l in 1923. However, there was a rapid improvement by 1991 when cars reported 7.1 km/l of fuel efficiency. Also, from 1991 to 2006 the improvement was less than 2 percent compared to earlier years. Whereas, fuel efficiency of cars improved from 5.6 km/l in 1973 to 9 km/l in 1991, but after 1991 there was only a marginal improvement of 9.5 km/l in 2006.

Though car manufacturers have introduced many engines that consume less fuel, it has been noted that still some of the modern cars consume same amount of fuel as old cars. They should stress more to bring in new technologies in the car industry that ensure improved mileage.

Labels: Car-Manufacturers, Fuel-efficiency, old-cars

posted by Carazoo.com @ Thursday, May 07, 2009 2 Comments Links to this post

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Gone are the days of old car engines that were filled with clean petrol fuel. Here comes the era of biofuel with the new biofuel policy announced in the country.

Some of you must be aware that since a long time the Indian Government is planning to make the entire range of Indian cars compliant to strict emissions norms. The time has finally come when the new policy has compelled car manufacturers to shift gears to comply with the new policy that states compulsory blending of 10% biofuels with petrol by the end of 2012. With such a standard, it would really be difficult to have all the present generation cars on roads after 2012.

Cars that are E10 and E20 compatible have the power and strength to run on such fuel but what about the remaining Indian cars? You would be even more surprised to know that even Maruti Suzuki doesn’t have any such cars that can follow the guidelines of the new policy. Though the company is making efforts to roll out a car that can run on blended fuel but nothing is yet confirmed.

For General Motors, there is nothing to worry. Infact, why should they worry if they have E10 compatible cars in India? They are now trying to bring their E 20 engine technology to India. Other car manufacturers are silently responding to the wait and watch policy…waiting for the final nod to watch the alterations in the engines of their respective car models.

Don’t you think that this year is really tough for the Indian car market?

Labels: Bio-Fuel, General-Motors, Indian-cars, Maruti-Suzuki, old-cars

posted by Carazoo.com @ Tuesday, October 07, 2008 1 Comments Links to this post

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Despite a competitive market and a negative slope in the car sales, car manufacturers are not kicking off their old car models while launching new cars.

Car manufacturers think that old cars along with new or revamped models help to add strength to the existing car volumes. This also gives an opportunity to the consumers to have wider choices at different prices. Let’s take the example of the recently launched Tata Indica Vista, a revamped version of old Indica. After the launch, the company has only phased out few variants of the old and the rest are still there is the market but with a reduced price tag. Skoda’s Octavia and Laura also share the same story where no brakes have been applied to the selling of old model after the launch of new one.

Not only Tata and Skoda, other car manufacturers like the Ford India, General Motors and Mitsubishi are also following the same trend. According to the industry sources, after the launch of Chevrolet Cruze, Chevrolet Optra will be retained at a lower price. Even a new version of Ford Ikon is to be rolled out but the older version will stay back.

This is one of the best ways to boost volumes and is also considered to be a common trend in developed markets where both old and new cars are sold at different price segments for incremental sales.

But in this era of falling sales, will this common trend succeed? Will car manufacturers win success by selling both old and new together?

Labels: Car-Manufacturers, Car-Sales, old-cars

posted by Carazoo.com @ Monday, September 01, 2008 3 Comments Links to this post

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During this time of inflation and high interest rate, car sales is declining. In a step to boost car sales, Maruti Suzuki rides on new cars and drives back the old.

Maruti Suzuki comes up with an exchange offer to push luxury car sales. The company is turning their heads towards 15-20 years old cars that are either not working or are in a very bad condition, cars that don’t serve the purpose to their owners. With such an effort Maruti is luring customers to exchange their old useless cars of any model or make for new Maruti cars.

The exchange of old for new is the latest marketing strategy by Maruti with a firm belief that the offer will push car sales. In order to reap more benefits, the company has also tied up with scrap dealers across India who will help the company to dispose of old cars and give a discount offer of about Rs 40,000 to customers. Apart from selling new for old, the company is also inviting bids for old cars from scrap dealers in various cities.

Sometimes it is really difficult to understand the actual motive behind the offers produced by various companies. Most of the car manufacturers give such kind of exchange offers. These manufacturers revamp the old cars and sell it in the market. But will 15-20 years old cars give the actual return even after revamping and refurbishing?

Labels: Maruti-Suzuki, old-cars, Used-car- Market

posted by Carazoo.com @ Thursday, August 14, 2008 3 Comments Links to this post

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