Nano

It was last year that Tata Motors proposed to shoft its Nano production to Sanand facility. Now the moment has ticked off with the trial production to be followed by the commercial production from April, said its MD for India Operations. This is expected to smoothen the delivery for the waiting aspirants as already 30% of the 1 lakh bookings have been cleared. Given the production increase with the Sanand unit (with the capacity for 2.5 lakh units), the waiting list might be over by this year end he said.

Volkswagen

The German car company Volkswagen has made it clear that its ensuing Polo will offer everything in customary aspects including accessories, safety, sporty and entertaining features. These , along with factory-fittings, will be carried out at the dealers’ premises at the time of bookings, said its Chief GM. The car, which will come in March 2010, is to be fitted with 1.3lit engine and the marketing strategy will surround the entire network of dealers and all media. VW’s latest sensation Beetle has received bookings of 250 within a month and more prospects are expected to pour in.

Chevrolet Cruze Automatic

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We expected the Chevrolet to shocase the Cruze Automatic (AT) at the auto expo but it was not shown. Yet, Cruze Automatic has already reached some of the GM india showrooms. There is nothing to differentiate except for the AT badging at the back and the transmission. The Cruze automatic comes with all the features of the top end LTZ variant plus automatic transmission. Cruze could be a class leader in terms of transmission as it is equipped with a 6-speed transmission The transmission is six speed tiptronic unit. A tiptronic transmission can operate in the same manner as a conventional type of automatic transmission, but also offers the driver an additional method of manually overriding the automatic shift changes. GM claims the Cruze AT will return an incredible fuel efficiency of 14kmpl. Chevrolet Cruze Automatic is priced Rs14,51,200 (Delhi).

However there is no information on Chevrolet cruze petrol

Nano for him and Nano for her special edition

Tata launched two special editions of Nano called “Nano for him” and “Nano for her”. The special edition Nano’s will be based on top end LX variant and comes with few more features too.

Nano for him is available in an exclusive wild lime colour shade. It also gets leather seats and door pads. Nano for her comes with decorated interiors – cocktail red spilled over dashboard, seats and central console. Exteriors too get floral pattern to lure the fair sex. The time of availability of Nano for her and Nano for him are not known. The prices are yet to be revealed

Pictures of Tata Nano Special Edition

M&M

The SUV from M&M will get a new replacement and the company has invested Rs700 crore for this. The new one will fill the flagship status at the global standard and will yield prospective export market. to be made from Chakan plant. The new SUV may surpass Scorpio as it is one of the projects coming under M&M’s $1billion capex plans.

The mini truck Maxximo on the Scorpio platform will also find its entry to vie against Tata Ace. M&M has invested Rs350 crore for the truck project and the target is 10000-20000 units; the truck will be powered by 2-cylinder CRDe engine. The cargo version and pick up version are ready from the company’s platform; the compact pick ups may be installed in the US in Q1 of 2010.

Fiat plans to develop small car for India

Fiat of Italy is to please the Indain car industry with its small car, to be all-Indian- (made in Italy by Indian technos ). Tata Motors will associate with Fiat in this process by offering 80-85% localization. Bravo will not be offered by the company in the near future but the company seeks to double its sale volume (from the current 23000 to 46000 units) in 2919.

Export of Linea, Grande Punto and Palio Stile is in full swing, while the launch of Linea versions, 500 and Punto is also in the offing.

Price rise in BMW models

The models offered by BMW has received the shot at price upto Rs4.30 lakh, which includes 3 sedans of petrol variant (Rs27.3lakh from Rs26.9 lakh); while the top-end got a hike upto Rs60000 and for the diesel variant it will be upto Rs50000. The 6-series brought the highest rise – Rs4.3 lakh (from Rs85.5 lakh to Rs89.8 lakh), while the base version of 7-series got the hike of Rs1.6 lakh (from Rs81.3lakh to Rs82.9 lakh)

HMSI plans to launch two bikes next fiscal

While Hero Honda is turning towards scooter segment, Honda Motorcycle &Scooter India is strengthening its base in bike segments by adding two more launches in the next fiscal. The company looks for reaching 15 lakh mark in 2010-11(8lakh scooters and 7 lakh bikes)by increasing the production and labor force in Manesar plant. The range and price are yet to be revealed.

HMSI fetched a sale of 10.7 lakh units in 2008-09 which may increase to 12.5lakh units this fiscal. Though the company enjoys 50% share in the Indian scooter market there will be no new launches in the near future. To achieve 12.2lakh units in the next fiscal the company it aims to push 2.2lakh units.

Hero Honda to carry the torch- to play the fiddle in scooter

Bajaj’s exit from the scooter segment is a blessing in disguise for Hero Honda. With just one scooter Pleasure, the company is exploring the possibilities to boost the scooter segment with more models. As of now, the demand is high –growing to 15.12% (8.91 lakh units) for gearless scooters and Hero Honda likes to capitalize on this demand. The scooter portfolio will be brightened with new models, as the sales of Pleasure hiked to 39% increase with 1.27 units from April-November 2009 compared to Bajaj’s 154 units of Kristal.

Honda Motorcycles Limited sold 4.5 lakh units in the same period despite backlog of 1lakh units as a result of labour problem during July-October 2009. With conditions coming normal, the company feels the steady flow will materialize in another three months. Hero Honda may have to face competition from its sibling HMSI, M&M and TVS .