Revival of Ambassador by 2011

A cat has nine lives and so is Ambassador from Hindustan Motors. The once famous car of the Indian roads, which has been in frequent exile from the market, is getting a new lease of life. Hindustan Motors said it is contemplating on the revival of the car during 2011 by refining it with new dimensions in terms of engine and accessories. The car has its lineage from Morris Oxford series III (Landmaster) and series III (Ambassador). The company is making this series to boost its net sales in addition to the existing model of Ambassador. The chairman of HM said that the new version is to have a retro design and the engineering back up of sporty cutting edge technology.

The car will pose a comfortable nature and will reflect the real value for money with the exteriors to be designed from the experts from Europe. It may resemble the existing version but the changes will definitely attract the customers, he added. The new car will be fit with BS IV compliant engine and will be kept ready for BS V 1.5 lit and 2 lit diesel and petrol. The car will yield good fuel efficiency and each aspects of a good car will be available matching the best cars in the market. This new Ambassador will add a new dimension to quality and reliability on the Indian roads.

The car will be ready for trial drive in January 2011 so as to be on road during July 2011 the commercial production may commence.

Tavera BS IV from GM next year

The new SUV Tavera from GM on BS IV will roll down next year it is confirmed. General Motors India’s MD said the process for this launch has been finalized with International Cars and Motors Ltd. The new version will have the BS IV powertrain with an upgrading facility to BS V and the vehicle will be on road probably during next year. He further said the entire product range
from GM will be fit with BS IV before 2011. The product range in GM in India includes sedan Optra, premium sedan Cruze [images], SUV Captiva, midsize sedan Aveo, SUV Tavera, hatchbacks Aveo U-VA, Spark [images], Beat [images]. All these are produced from the company’s plants in Halol and Talegaon. The Talegaon facility is to deliver engines from November 2010 at an initial capacity of 1.4 lak units on a single shift production. This is the first plant to be able to deliver both petrol and diesel engines for small cars of GM.

The net investment of GM in India is Rs5000 crore. Recently the company has accrued Rs1000 crore from the consortium of Indian banks under financial assistance of $250million. The assistance was sought for launching 5 vehicles under the Chinese SAIC platform. There will be 3 LCVs and two cars for launch in India during 2011 he further added that there will be 90% domestic components for these vehicles.

The BS IV Tavera, with a slight price rise, is to have a 2-lit CRDi engine he said. The target for this year from GM is 1lakh meeting the 113% growth from the last year- sale of 69579 units. This comes in the wake of already selling 68000 units in the first 6 months of this year indicating an increase of 80%. The sale in last month was 7124 units which marked a rise of 45% against the last year’s same month.

Assembling of Land Rover in India next year

The assembling process of Land Rover by Tata Motors is the latest news in the auto industry. Tata gets hold of two third share in the segment of buses and trucks in India. The platform from Tata Motors delivers utility vehicles Tata Magic, Winger and Safari and cars like Nano [images], Indica [images] and sedan Indigo [images], Manza The process, according to sources, is to start next year and the company has already initiated the negotiations with the Chinese counterpart in this regard. Tata Motors had bought the luxury models Land Rover and Jaguar from Ford Motor some two years ago. This comes in the wake of its Chairman’s assurance that there will be more launches in Jaguar portfolio- a station wagon, a roadster and an entry-level car. The company has got some good cheers about its sale and profit of 19.89 billion rupees for Q1 of 2010-11. This was made possible with the overall demand for cars, trucks and buses having increased substantially. During the last month the demand in domestic car market saw a deep hike- 38%- against last year owing to the launch of new models and the revived economy.

Volkswagen Vento Prices and Launch Date!!!

You read it first at vicky.in!!!!

  • Volkswagen Vento will be launched on September 6th, 2010!

  • Volkswagen Vento 1.6 L Petrol TrendLine Manual Transmission – Rs.6,99,000 (ex-showroom Delhi)
  • Volkswagen Vento 1.6 L Petrol HighLine Manual Tranmission – Rs. 8,23,500 (ex-showroom Delhi)
  • Volkswagen Vento 1.6 L Petrol HighLine Automatic Transmission – Rs. 9,21,500 (ex-showroom Delhi)
  • Volkswagen Vento 1.6 L Diesel TrendLine Manual Transmission – Rs. 7,99,000 (ex-showroom Delhi)
  • Volkswagen Vento 1.6 L Diesel HighLine Manual Transmission – Rs. 9,23,500 (ex-showroom Delhi)

The petrol variant is equipped with a 1.6 litre engine with an output of 105 PS @ 5250 rpm and a Torque of 153NM @ 3800 rpm. The diesel variant is also equipped with the 1.6 litre engine with an output of 105 PS @ 4400 rpm and a Torque of 250 NM @ 1500-2500 rpm. There is NO automatic transmission variant for Diesel. Manual transmission has 5 speed gear box and automatic transmission has 6 speed gear box.

Hero Honda to launch newfangled Hunk soon!

The mighty muscular Hunk, Hero Honda’s 150 cc motorcyle is revamped now! Yes, Hero Honda will soon launch the new Hunk.

The 2010 Hunk sports same engine but has newer features such as

  • Rear Disc Brake
  • Digital and Analog Speedometer with clear fonts
  • New visor
  • New front fender
  • Tubeless tyres
  • LED tail lamps
  • Attractive graphics on the tank
  • Bull Logo on tank shrouds
  • Maintenance-free battery

With a host of features, Hero Honda will obviously hike the price of Hunk. Yamaha FZ radically redefined the 150 cc segments and the old horses, CBZ Xtreme, Pulsar 150 and Honda Unicorn aren’t much on the radar of youths who wants to buy a 150 cc bike. Honda answered this issue with the Dazzler. And now, its Hero Honda Hunk which enters the premier 150cc segment.

The new Hunk was caught on a TVC vide0 by TBCI Channel. Hero Honda’s new Hunk looks to be a perfect competitor to Honda’s CB Unicorn Dazzler. The details of the launch date and price will be revealed in a short time. Stay tuned to vicky.in as we will let you know them as soon as possible!

Honda launches Jazz X variant

Honda has launched a new variant of Jazz hatchback called Jazz ‘X’. Jazz X sports plenty of new features but mechnaically it remains the same. The new features in Jazz X are USB port, fog lamps, gun metal alloy wheels, parcel tray, mud flaps and height adjustable driver seat. In addition Honda has also introduced a new colours with the launch of Jazz X. The new colour red will be available for the all the variants of Jazz. Honda Jazz X is priced around Rs7,45,000 (ex-showroom Delhi) approximately Rs25,000 pricier than Jazz select variant

Yamaha

The Japanese auto giant Yamaha’s Indian wing has stopped the production of G5 and Alba(both 106cc) and Gladiator (124cc) [images]. Further, there won’t be any upgrading of these models for meeting the BS III norms. The company’s National Sales Head revealed that the existing stocks will continue till they exhaust. These three models have become extinct and will soon be replaced with new models in the same segment, said the company. They are 153cc SZ(Rs49000) [images], SZ-X [images] (Rs52000) in place of Alba and G5 and 125cc YBR (Rs47000) in place of Gladiator. Also in the new range is YBR110 for Alba and G5. He clarified that the introduction of two models in the 150 cc section will add to the existing four models but the cost will be the dividing factor to hit the new consumers.

These two bikes come with a 4-stroke air cooled engine for extra power under low to middle range. With alloy wheels and electric starter, these bikes portray sporty look and cost lesser than the existing ones in the segment. Yamaha targeted these bikes on the youth under 24 years for availing fuel efficiency and sporty outlook. Tough competition is expected in this segment, he remarked. Yamaha’s current product range includes YZF-R15 [images], FZ-16 [images], Fazer [images], and FZ-S [images] under 150cc segment with 10% market share. These bikes are directed towards those in the age group of 18-24 years. He further said the launch of new products might yield a growth upto 30% in coming period.

The YBR 125, with 123cc engine and a 4-speed gear box, is meant for rural segment and semi-urban area. The company expects an increase of 3000 monthly units of this bike alone whereby the current share of 2% will get a boost. The deliveries of the bookings of these models will be in September, he quoted. Yamaha India’s net production capacity is 6 lakh annual units from which 60-70% go for marketing easily he said.

Maruti

India’s largest and top most car maker Maruti Suzuki is shelling out Rs1000 crore for erecting a test track in Haryana. This will initiate the launch of 100% indigenous car for domestic market, by 2012 and innovative global car before 2014. The track will include R&D wing for making these cars. The company’s Marketing Executive Officer disclosed that the track is said to have been made with the design and the actual work may start sometime later this year. The project, in the 600 acre land in Haryana(allotted by the state government) may be completed in a period of 18-24 months.

The team of this R&D comprises a battalion of 1000 engineers, who have been toiling their effort since the launch of Swift since 2005. They are exposed to the technological expertise from the company’s apex wing in Japan. The team will get an additional 100 engineers to extend help and cooperation for the project track. The project’s early initiatives included the launches of WagonR [images] and the recent Alto K10, he mentioned. Soon, there will be new launches on CNG version for 5 models along with the ensuing Khizashi.

The company foresees an imminent growth in the coming quarter by increasing the sale volume by 10-14%. This, the company said, will be achieved by enhancing the production and manufacturing efficiencies. Everything will come to a smooth pedaling once the Manesar facility gets additional production capacity, probably next year. Maruti’s sale task in 2009 was more than one million including the export figure of 1.4 lakhs. The company projects similar volume for this quarter despite the fall in the export to Europe. The compensation in the export is viable by way of more export to South Africa market, to which the new Alto K10 [images] is targeted, he said.

Hyundai

Having settled with the market growth, Hyundai’s India strategy seems to bolster its morale by adding new products in near future. The company’s 3millionth car was recently released, a mark of its entry into the Indian operations some 12 years ago. The CEO and MD of the company said that Hyundai believed in the philosophy of new design allied with cutting-edge technology. The products, thus, will invite fierce competition from other products, he remarked. The company’s Director for Sales and Marketing stressed that the new products will earmark the growth range of Hyundai in coming years. However, no concrete details about the product range were disclosed except the superior technology aspect.

The 3millionth mark was highlighted with the launch of a promotional program containing three features- Maintenance Program for zero expenditure on maintenance for three years / 50000kms whichever earlier. Motor Assurance Program enables net insurance coverage along with a coverage for a group of five co passengers eligible for Rs2 lakh each. The Warranty Program facilitates for extending the warranty to the third year/ 60000km . In addition the program extends free roadside assistance eligible for two years. Hyundai said the scheme will be eligible for the buyer/owners of Santro and i10 during the period August 5-25 2010.

There is an exchange scheme under which the owners of Hyundai cars can avail Rs15000 and other car owners Rs12000 when they purchase a Santro or i10.

Hyundai on the verge of increasing the production

The country’s second largest car maker Hyundai said it is on the verge of increasing its products for Indian market. The demand as on now may need the increase by 70000 units, said the CEO and MD of the company. The current production capacity of Hyundai is 6 lakh annual units from its two plants in affected the expected target. The scrappage scheme
Chennai. In order to increase the production the company is likely to shell out a minor investment, he added. By increasing the production, the company is on the stepping up of export potential too, by 8%, despite fluctuating demand overseas. In 2009, Hyundai exported 2.71 units covering 110 countries like Europe, Latin America and Africa.

The proposed export target may take the toll to more than 2.5 lakh units(this year’s export target). But the company’s major focus is domestic market, he remarked. The reduction in demand from Europe, due to the withdrawal of scrappage scheme,
was promoted to induce the purchase of new cars for old ones on the offer of incentives.

Hyundai’s sale during July 2010 was 50411 units against 45539 units in the same month last year. From these the domestic share was 28811units and the export deal was 22,346 units marking a fall by 3.3%. The SUV, Sante-Fe is expected to be rolled down in December 2010. Since its entry into India some 14 years ago, Hyundai has introduced its major brands which included compact hatchbacks Santro [images], i10 [images] and i20 [images], and the sedans Accent [images], Sonata and Verna [images].