Volkswagen to raise prices of Vento diesel

Volkswagen has announced the price hike of the diesel variant of its mid-sized sedan Vento as 2.2 per cent from July 1 in order to compete with the rising input costs.But the company stated that there is no hike in the petrol variant of Vento.

Mr.Neeraj Garg,Member of Board & Director of Volkswagen Group Sales India Pvt Ltd quoted that they have seen no relent in the input costs over several months now, which has forced them to increase the cost of the Vento.He added that on the other hand they are fully aware that customers who prefer the petrol variants are already faced with the burden of increased fuel costs and therefore they have decided to continue absorbing the additional costs for their petrol variants.

The company offered a reduced interest rate of 6.99 per cent starting June 2011 on select variants of the Vento petrol version.It also declared that all customers who book the Vento Diesel Variant until June 30, 2011, will be able to buy the car without price increase.

Chevrolet to unveil Beat Electric

As promised earlier, GM Chevrolet will unveil an electric variant of Beat car. GM India earlier promised to launch/showcase an electric car in India. GM worked with Reva for the proposed electric car. Following the acquisition of Reva by Mahindra, GM pulled out of the agreement and said it would develop an electric car on its own. Now, electric variant of beat is ready and GM will unveil the beat electric when it launches the beat diesel next month.

Beat electric will have a range of 130kms. Electric motor of beat electric would make 60bhp of power and it would take 8hrs to charge. “The plan is to just showcase our technology and organise test drives for a few people. The vehicles will be assembled here from parts designed and sourced globally. We are not looking to launch this immediately as we do not have the right charging infrastructure for EVs in this country as yet,” said the GM official. GM would also the beat diesel with an 1.0L engine next month.

Mahindra Mini Xylo to take on Premier Rio

The mini Xylo is to be launched soon in India by Mahindra at a price less than Rs.5 lakhs.The third row of  seats from the original Xylo has been removed and hence the mini Xylo features two row of seats.It has a seating capacity of 5 members.The engine capacity of the mini Xylo has been reduced from 2.5-litres to under 1.5-litres by eliminating one cylinder and reducing the bore and stroke.

Click here to see Pictures of Mahindra Mini Xylo

Maruti to launch R3 in 2012

Maruti plans to launch its mini-MPV named Riii in the latter half of this year.Riii which is based on stretched Ritz platform has a seating capacity of 6-7 members.It seems that Riii will be powered by a powerful version of the K-Series engine.Maruti also offers diesel and CNG versions for the new Riii.Maruti offers mind-blowing interiors for its new product which will surely be a rich model of the company.

Click here to see Pictures of Maruti Riii

Maruti to set up new plant in Gujarat

Maruti Suzuki,India’s largest car maker plans to enter Gujarat for the first time and is looking to step out of its home state – Haryana in order to meet the targets set by its parent in Japan.The Gujarat plant of Maruti will initially have a production capacity of 10 lakh units per annum which will be doubled in the second phase depending on the global demand.

The company said that it, along with vendors, could invest up to Rs. 12,000 crore in Gujarat as it looks to produce around 20 lakh units in the long run in the state.

Regarding this issue,the company’s Chairman,Mr.R.C Bhargava quoted that MSI is looking at a phased manner of starting car production in the state.First phase of production would be of capacity of one million cars, which would take approximately five years to install. At current cost, that would entail an investment of Rs. 6,000 crore. In the second phase, if there is justification of another expansion we will do another one million cars with corresponding investment along with that that we will get other vendors suppliers to come here and their investment would also be Rs. 6000 crore.

Mr.Bhargava appreciated the “very positive approach” of Mr. Modi and the State government towards the project and said his company too was “very positive” about setting up the unit in Gujarat.

He also said like in Haryana, Maruti also proposed to start skill development centres at the project site to upgrade the skills of the local people so that they could be given top priority in jobs.

Bhargava said another main reason for exploring Gujarat as an option is due to its proximity to the Mundra port that will help save logistics cost while exporting.If the Gujarat plant was finalised for Maruti, then it will be the third car manufacturer to have units in Gujarat after General Motors.

Indian CEO’s and their cars

The luxury cars owned by some of the top CEOs in India are Bentley Continental Flying Spur owned by Vijay Mallya of Kingfisher,Mercedes-Benz Viano 3.5 owned by the Chairman of Zee Teleflims,Mr.Subhash Chandra,Mercedes Benz S 500 owned by the Telecom Czar,Mr.Sunil Mittal and Maybach 62 & Lamborghini owned by Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani of Reliance Communications respectively.

Click here to see Pictures of CEO cars

Honda to export Brio from India

Honda,the Japanese auto major plans to make India as its export center for its small car Brio.Brio will be manufactured at Honda’s Uttar Pradesh facility and will be exported to the neighbouring countries of India such as Nepal,Sri Lanka,Bangladesh and Burma.Brio is to make its debut in the Indian market during Diwali.

The President and CEO of Honda Siel Cars India Ltd,Takashi Nagai informed that while the Brio is specifically designed for India, they are also targeting the neighbouring export market.

The company had already announced that Brio will feature a price tag of less than Rs.5 lakhs in India.Honda Siel is also focusing on Brio’s potential in the domestic auto segment.Honda plans Brio to mainly compete with Maruti Suzuki’s Swift and Ford’s Figo.

Honda at present has 125 sales outlets in 77 cities and has started expanding its network in small cities and towns to boost the sales of the car.