Renowned utility vehicle manufacturer, Mahindra has a collaboration with the Navistar International for the manufacture of trucks and buses. Trucks from the joint venture company have been launched a few months ago and have apparently been well received by the market. Mahindra Navistar has now decided to move into the bus space as well, since the bus industry has been growing steadily due to improvements in the road infrastructure over the past decade or so. Volvo has been the game changer in the game changer with its B7R/9400 buses and Mercedes Benz has also recently joined the fray with their ultra modern buses. Tata has launched competition to Volvo and Mercedes Benz buses in the form of the Hispano Divo model range. Mahindra does not want to be left out and has decided to offer bus chassis with cowl so that bus buyers can get a body of their choice built upon the chassis. Mahindra Navistar has not yet decided on selling factory built bus bodies.
Yearly Archives: 2011
Lamborghini’s gorgeous car concept the Sesto Elemento has 50:50 chance of making it into production. Even if it does get into production it will be very low volume like the Reventon was. Sesto Elemento, meaning the sixth element in Italian, is named after carbon (which is the sixth element on the periodic table) because most of the car will use carbon fibre for light weight and strength. This car will become the most expensive in the world if does get into production. There must be some ultra rich who must be hoping with fingers crossed that the car will make it into production.
Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India is soon going to start production at its second plant in Tapurkara in Rajasthan. Honda has a more than 2.5 lakh customers waiting for all its different products. Sometimes the waiting time is stretching to more than 4 months. Honda intends to bring down the waiting period with production beginning at the second plant. Honda is bullish about the prospects of the CBR 250R in India and is confident of selling more than 30,000 units in the first year after the launch.
Hyundai India’s success story is one that many other car makers would give all limbs and more to make it their own. Starting with the Santro, Hyundai over came all hurdles to move to the second position in India in terms of the sales numbers. Hyundai’s small cars such as the i10, i20 and the Santro have done exceedingly well while bigger cars such as the Verna have had lukewarm response while the Sonata Embera has had a cold reception along with the Elantra. The mid sized Accent though is still going great guns nearly a dozen years after its launch. Hyundai wants to change the perception that it is only a small car maker and will soon be launching cars in all segments. The new design language of Hyundai is what it is calling Fluidic Sculpture and this has kicked up Hyundai cars’ design appeal by a huge margin. The new Verna which was launched day before yesterday in the first of the cars having this design language. The Sonata also has this design language and is due for launch in India sometime this year. A sub Santro small car is also expected to be launched later this year. Hyundai is turning the heat on and how!!
Motorbeam.com has reported that the Tata owned Jaguar/Land Rover group of companies will commence of assembly of some its models such as the Freelander2. For this purpose it is setting up an assembly plant in Pune, which is the home of Tata Motors as well. The inauguration of the plant is slated for the 27th of May, 2011.
The Bullet Classic 500 UCE is technologically more advanced compared to other Royal Enfield motorcycles. This unit construction engine features a fuel injection system which has been throwing up the occasional problem due to not have an O2 sensor. To overcome the problem Royal Enfield is re-mapping the fuel injection system but still does not plan to incorporate the O2 sensor. It was this problem that started a rumour that Royal Enfield will go for a carburetted engine, which has since been denied.
Indian Cars Bikes.in has reported that Renault will increase the sourcing of parts for its vehicles from India. Carlos Ghosn the head honcho of Renault and Nissan globally is a fan of India’s frugal engineering which keeps costs down. The parts sourced from India are much cheaper the foreign ones, though quality can be a bit inconsistent. But it is good to see a global major like Renault sourcing parts from India. This is bound to give fillip to the auto ancillary industry.
This is now becoming a daily affair. Along with the Bajaj-KTM motorcycle, the Force SUV is probably the most photographed test mule. Indian Autos Blog has put in newer pictures of the Force SUV. These are from newer angles and the vehicle looks awkward with huge gaps in the wheel arches. But then this is a test mule and the real thing could be different to look at. The SUV is based on the Guangdong Foday Explorer III’s body and will feature interiors from Thailand, suspension tuning by Lotus and engines from Mercedes Benz. The launch though yet unspecified is expected in the very near future.
Ford has released a promo video of the new Fiesta featuring a voice control system. The logic behind voice activated controls is that it adds to safety as well as convenience though Ford seems to be keen on emphasizing the former rather than the latter. Right now this feature is available on the European Fiesta, and you can be quite sure that this is one feature that will not make it on to the Indian Fiesta when it is launched a few weeks from now.
Mahindra’s utility vehicle model Bolero has been the mainstay of the company for many years now. For more than four years in a row, the Bolero has been the highest selling utility vehicle in India. And it doesn’t seem that the sales of the model will slow down any time soon. Motoroids.com has reported that the Bolero has sold in record numbers in the financial year 2010-11. It sold more 70,500 units and registered a growth of more than 18% when compared to the sales in the previous financial year. No less impressive has been the performance of the flagship Scorpio whose sales increased by 19% in the same financial year compared to the previous one. The number of Scorpio’s sold was more than 43,400. There is no doubt that Mahindra is the king of the UV market in India.