Harley to assemble bikes in India 2

Reflecting the India’s booming auto industry, Harley Davidson the cult bike maker  today announced it would assemble bikes in India. The milwakee based automaker is known to build bikes only in its hometown and export to other countries only exception being the Brazil.  In Indian market, CBU attract 100%+ duties resulting in expensive price tag and CKD would reduce the cost significantly. Hence all the premium automakers like Mercedes and BMW  are following the CKD route. Harley will join these auto makers to make its products competitive. Harley Indian assembly plant will come in Haryan and is expected to  come up at 70,000 square feet of land. “The plant is likely to be operational by the first half of next year and investments in it will be a part of tens of millions of dollars that we are making in India,” he said.

Harley will assemble only a few models out of the 12 bikes that it sells in India priced between Rs 7.79 lakh and Rs 38.66 lakh. Harley-Davidson currently has four dealerships with the fifth one coming up next month in Bangalore.  It will also add  three more in Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Chennai/Kochi.

BMW to launch X1, Mini and Mini Cooper Countryman in India

In a move to surprise its conventional rivals and premium car makers like Skoda, Honda and Volkswagen, BMW India plans slew of launches to storm the Indian car market. First comes the much expected X1 – cheapest (!) BMW SUV. BMW has already said it would assemble X1 in india and the pricing to be very competitive. BMW X1 will come with a 2.0 turbo diesel engine producing 174bhp at 4000rpm and 356Nm at 1750 rpm.   The X1 is expected to be priced around Rs24 lakhs which means BMW plans to trouble the Honda CR-V, Nissan X-trail, Toyota Fortuner and Chevrolet Captiva.

Following the X1 will be the legendary mini, after dragging so much on the introduction of mini brand, BMW finally made up its mind to bring Mini to India. Mini will be the super premium hatchback and might pose a serious competition to Volkswagen’s Bettle run in India. Mini will be retailed through exclusive dealership across India though assembled at the same BMW chennai plant. Mini is expected to be priced around Rs20 lakhs.

Mini cooper countryman will follow the mini. Mini cooper countryman is actually a crossover but able to accomodate only four occupants. BMW Mini cooper will come with 1.6L engine developing 181bhp at 5500rpm and 259Nm of peak torque between 1700-4500rpm. The 6-speed manual transmission will be a standard option. BMW mini cooper countryman will be sold alongwith mini. Mini cooper countryman is expected to be priced between Rs18 and Rs22 lakhs which means it will take even the soon-to-be-launched Skoda yeti. Exclusive dealership in Mumbai,Delhi and Bangalore will sell the Mini and Mini cooper countryman intially.

GM India to launch Beat diesel, electric car and 800cc Spark

GM Chevrolet India plans to launch much awaited Beat diesel in India in 2011. The beat diesel is long awaited model from chevrolet brand.  A diesel variant of beat could give much required push to sagging sales of Beat. Chevrolet  GM which shelved its electric car plan because of the fallout of Reva tie-up will launch an electric car next year. Electric car which GM plans is developed in-house from engineers in India.

The third car from GM is the 800cc spark which you read it vicky.in years back. GM 800cc spark will take on the Tata Nano and Maruti alto. The 800cc spark is expected to be priced competitively.

Bajaj KTM to launch Duke 125cc and new Pulsar in india

Bajaj auto today said that it will launch the KTM Duke 125cc in India in 2011. KTM Duke 125cc was recently unveiled at an European auto show.
“There are plans to launch Duke 125, which was showcased at Cologne (Germany) this year. The bike will be first launched in Europe and then it will be brought to India,” said S. Ravikumar, the company’s vice-president for business development. “This will happen some time next year… in the first quarter of the next fiscal,” said Amit Nandi, vice-president, pro-biking segment, Bajaj Auto.

Bajaj Auto is also said to be working on new variant of pulsar bike. The new pulsar will hit the market in 2011.  Stay tuned for crackers from Bajaj Auto next year

Tata motors hikes prices of Nano

Tata motor has given Nano another price hike. owing to the raising commodity cost. The average increase is about Rs.9000/- (ex-showrooms), with prices varying from city to city and model to model.

As of now, Tata Motors has announced open sales of the Tata Nano in the states of Kerala (since August 2010) and Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal (since October 2010). The company has tied up with 39 Banks, NBFC, Cooperative and Gramin Banks to offer customers with loans for purchasing the Tata Nano at attractive rates of interest. More such arrangements are in process. As a result of these tie-ups, the Tata Nano can be owned at an EMI of less than Rs. 3000/-.

Announcing Vicky.in Answers, Cars & Bikes Q & A service

We used to get 100s of mails everyday seeking help related with New Car/ Bike purchase, maintenance, insurance , registration etc and Vicky.in team found it extremely difficult to answer all the questions due to the time constraint. We also realized that there is a pattern of questions which is getting repeated, as responding to an email query is an one to one communication platform. To reduce all these efforts and make the system more robust, Vicky.in team is coming up with this online platform, Vicky.in Answers which will be a dedicated Q & A platform for Car & Bike Question & Answers, Advice and Tips.

Our new Question & Answers platform is designed in such a way that anyone can post his / her question using this web form and it will be published immediately. Once the question is published, Vicky.in community will start answering and help the user with the available information. Vicky.in team will also regularly follow the questions and answer when and where needed. So there is a good chance that all questions will be answered with in 3 – 4 hrs of time. The user who asked the question will also have the option to choose the “Best answer (Workable solution)” among the list of answer provided by other users, which in turn will help any new user with the same question to get the best working solution even before his question is posted.

Sounds good. Isnt it ? What are you waiting for?. Start Shooting your questions and help others by answering the questions.

To ask a Question: http://vicky.in/connect/answers/?s=askaquestion

List of Recent questions: http://vicky.in/connect/answers

List of unanswered question: http://vicky.in/connect/answers/?s=open

Bugatti Veyron hits indian market

The mother of all sports cars is here! Bugatti today launched the world’s most expensive car Veyron in India. With the pricing of around Rs16 crores, Bugatti could be expensive for millionaires too. Exclusive motors will sell the Bugatti Veyron in India.

Bugatti sales market manager has said already there are 3-4 enquiries for the Veyron from the Indian customers. Bugatti Veyron is the fastest car on production in the world with a top speed of 407 km/hour with an acceleration of 0-100km/hour in 2.7 seconds.

BMW motorcycles to superbikes in India in December

BMW motorcycles appointed two dealers and announced its foray into india motorcycle industry. BMW will start selling the motorcycles from December 2010. BMW earlier sold F650 in India through Hero group in 1996. With the indian superbike segment booming, BMW will re-enter the market to tap the potential. Superbike majors like Yamaha, Suzuki, Honda, Ducati, Harley Davidson and Hyosung are already selling bikes in India

BMW Motorrad starts its sales activities on the Indian motorcycle market with two official importers as of December 2010. With “Deutsche Motoren” in Delhi in the north of India and “Navnit Motors” in Mumbai on the west coast and Bangalore in the southern part of the country, BMW Motorrad is relying on two experienced BMW Group partners. With these three sales outlets the German motorcycle manufacturer is represented in the strategically important regions.

Hendrik von Kuenheim, General Director BMW Motorrad: “The BMW Group has already established itself very successfully in India with a local BMW automobile production and a sales network for BMW Group automobiles. Now the market for premium motorcycles is beginning to develop, too. The sales activities now commencing with our two experienced BMW Group partners are of long-term significance to BMW Motorrad. We are confident our motorcycles will swiftly become established in timely preparation for the growing market.”

As the most innovative manufacturer of large-volume premium motorcycles in the segments enduro, touring, sports touring and sports, BMW Motorrad is opening a new chapter in its successful market strategy by starting sales activities in India. The motorcycles will be produced at the BMW Motorrad plant in Berlin and supplied to India as CBU (completely built up) units.

BMW Motorrad will initially offer the current models of the R and K series as well as the superbike S 1000 RR, i.e. premium vehicles in each of the relevant categories. The BMW motorcycles of the R series such as the legendary enduro bike BMW R 1200 GS enthuse customers with their unique and distinctive boxer engine in particular.

The BMW K models are regarded as the benchmark in the segment of large-volume 4-cylinder motorcycles due to their technological innovations and superior engine output. Both series also offer the very finest quality in chassis technology and an exemplary standard of safety with the BMW Motorrad ABS. The S 1000 RR, BMWs first superbike, became the most admired sports bike of its class in the motorcycle season 2010.

Honda to launch CBR250R in India

Here comes the sweet news! Honda has officially announced it will launch the CBR250R bike in India. “Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (Pvt.) Ltd. will also start production of the CBR250R next spring and extend sales from India to South America ”  Remember, we reported you about CBR 250R spotted in thailand few weeks back.  CBR 250R resembles the Honda’s legendary VFR in larger which Honda introduced in India few months back. CBR 250R would be the Honda’s real performance yet affordable (believe so) motorcycle for Indian market. For decades, Indian two wheeler industry was dominated by commuter bikes. Last year, Bajaj launched Ninja and its met with huge demand (waiting period to the tune of 6 months in most cities). Mahindra has announced the launch of Mojo by december 2010. What more? suddenly auto enthusiast are spoilt of choice.

Specifications and Price of Honda CBR-250R

Honda which is already ruling the Indian market with CB Twister and CB Unicorn Dazzler will bring the CBR 250R by mid January 2011.  CBR 250R equipped with a single cylinder PGM-FI (fuel injected) 250cc engine.  The power ratings of 4-stroke, 4-valve DOHC engine are not revealed.  The liquid CBR 250R will come with 6-speed gearbox. At the front and the rear, CBR250R gets disc brakes (single disc only). Yet Honda has equipped CBR250R with advanced safety features like CBS – Combined Brake System (CBS, a front- and rear-wheel interlocking braking system) and an Anti-lock Brake System (ABS). CBR 250R weighs 161kg, 2035mm longer, 720mm wider and 1125mm taller.  Going by the Honda’s pricing, we can expect the CBR 250R to be priced over Rs2.2 lakhs (for the non ABS version) and around Rs3 lakhs for ABS version.

Pictures of Honda CBR 250R

View 20+ pictures of Honda CBR250R here