Another Tata Nano catches Fire in Vadodara

Less than a month’s time after the Mumbai mishap, another Tata Nano caught fire today in National Highways-8 near Vadodara on its way of delivery to a Tata Motors dealer.  Around eleven Tata Nano cars were being driven to Vadodara when the incident took place on Wednesday.  This is the third such incident happening due to technical snag which is developing the short circuit and resulting the fire.

Tata Motors is yet to officially react to the incident but however sources say the officials still believes that there is no design flaw behind such incidents. The incidents are happening at the wrong time for Tata Motors, when they are all set to rollout the Tata Nanos from the mother plant at Sanand (Most likely from May 1st as we reported) .

What do you think ? Tata Motors should go for a through revisit of the design or technical flaws and make a recall, if necessary considering the safety of passengers more than anything else  ?

Discuss more on this VickyConnect Tata Nano Community

A Sharing resonance from Yamaha

The Japan’s premier auto maker Yamaha’s Indian part is set to affix a market share of 20% in deluxe and premium region. The move comes in the wake of tremendous support extended to its models recent times and the target is set for 2010-11, said the National Business Head for Yamaha. The company enjoys 12% in deluxe segment as of now and the domestic performance in premium region is bringing good moments- YZF-R15, Fazer and FZ16 in deluxe.

The net share in the domestic market is 3.5 % which is set to increase to 10% by next year end. To make a separate identity in 110cc segment, the company is generating a great share in the entry level bikes with an awareness being directed to the customers. The sale in last year was 2.2 lakh units and the growth expected this year is by 40% followed by 30% next year. The major contributor to the growth may be FZ series he added, which saw a sale of 1.1 lakhs in 2009 which is likely to go up to 1.4 lakhs this year end. To enhance the sale across the country, the dealership network will be increased to 450 from the current 427 before this year end. This will enable to reach more customers for offering the products and after sale services, he asserted.

Logan to undergo pro-indigenous

A final word about the reconciliation between Renault and M&M is on the cards. But there is a speculation that the revamping process will involve much indigenous nature for Logan. Despite in the market for the past 5 years, the vehicle is not able attract many customers who felt disappointed with the offering. The consequence was the loss to the tune of Rs500 crore in the last fiscal. According to the Chairman and CEO of Renault-Nissan disclosed that the process of restructuring the car will be done in India to compensate time and cost too. Thus the revamp will not be carried out in the Europe facility, but in Chennai unit.

The long pending reconciliation on the size of the car for availing the relief in excise duty- from the current 22% for larger size cars- may come to an end. To avail this relief, the cars shall be within 4 metres long with the engine capacity of 1.2 lit for petrol and 1.5 lit for diesel. If the restructuring is implemented, then the cost of the car would come down by Rs50000-Rs75000 and increase the sale, feels M&M. The current price of Logan is Rs4.7 lakh- Rs5.75 for petrol version and Rs6.17 lakh – Rs7.64 lakh for diesel version.

Renault sees the cost factor involved in round about way, if the car has to be revamped. The import of minimum 50% parts will incur heavy cost output and hence the localization is preferred. In all the car needs a total restructuring to attract the customers since there is nothing special in this Logan to justify its brand value. Renault and M&M will have a tough time to counter the price factor from other small car makers to boost the sale of new Logan. The new Logan may hit the new customers hailing from smaller cities and M&M has to ploy a devise to drag the customers for a whole new world. In this regard we have to wait and see whether new Logan would be juxtaposed with Scorpios.

Government

With Euro IV already been implemented in 13 cities, other cities are tend to implement Euro III. However, many automakers sought the extension of time for the implementation. The proposed date of implementing this Euro III is July 1 and by October the nation, barring those 13 cities, will be filled with Euro III norms. Goa was the first to implement from this April 1, and by June 1 Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharastra will go for this Euro III.

The auto makers insisted on implementing this Euro III norm at a single stroke from October 1 2010, but the government official revealed that the viable way of implementation on phases was finalized. The norm comes in the wake of high grade emission of sulphur and benzene polluting the environment. Andhra Pradesh, Jammu&Kashmir, Tamilnadu and Western UP are the areas benchmarked for the launch of Euro IV from Euro III. Much to the despair for the oil companies, the switch over from BS III in Karnataka will be advanced from the scheduled July 1. Supply of BS III norm fuel from the eastern UP, Bihar and Jharkhand will commence from July 1 and the higher grade petrol by October 1. The Petroleum Ministry has issued relevant information in this regard to the Ministry of Road transport, shipping and highway.

The implementation of BSIV in major cities- Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkatta, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Kanpur, Surat, Agra, Lucknow and Solapur has commenced from April 1. Except Goa other cities in the country are filled with Euro II grade fuel. In the meantime, the apex body of domestic vehicle manufacturers, SIAM, has extended its willingness to switch over to changed fuel norms. But they seek uninterrupted supply of the fuel and they feel that the norm will induce their effort for exporting their vehicles to Europe.

Hyundai i20 is back with Era & Sportz variants

Hyundai Motors known for its varied Wagon’s crafts their models that certainly fulfill the desires of its customers. As it is the known fact, today it relaunched the spectacular Hyundai i20 with two new sexy variants. The main aspect of these variants is Fuel consumption and exotic styling with global safety standards.

The two new i20 variants Era and Sportz are designed uniquely and they boast exciting styling features. The new i20 is outfitted with additional sixth gear that assures fuel efficient driving. The six-speed manual transmission gear in diesel variant will diminish Noise, vibration, and Harshness (NVH) and also it enables low rpm operation that lessens the adverse effect on engine.

The new variants of the all new i20 will go up for sale immediately and the prices (ex-showroom, Delhi) for the Era variant starts at Rs 451,816 while as the Sportz, positioned between the Magna and the Asta will be priced at Rs 531,817.

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Tata

The 7-seater Aria from Tata is getting ready for the launch, anytime in the Q1 of this fiscal 2010-11. The car may be earmarked for export since it is a cross of premium SUV and MUV. It will be built with a 2.2 lit direct injection common rail diesel engine at Rs12 lakhs-Rs14.5 lakhs. The model may enter into the US, the UK and Europe to compete Toyota Fortuner, Ford Endeavour and Chevrolet Captiva. The car may be in three variants with 4-wheel / 2 wheel drive option. Aria will be a mingle of comfort and functionality, all-terrain and premium features of an SUV.