If the people at Indian Autos Blog are to be believed the answer will be yes. IAB has posted pictures from a Brazilian website and claim that this could be a car that fits in between the i10 and the i20. Interestingly enough they are claiming that this is a stretched HA platform (not the PA platform on which the i10 is based) to be called the HB platform. The existence of the HA platform is officially known and it is on this that the sub Santro car with an engine displacing 800cc will be based. This car is supposed to take the fight to the best selling Alto. IAB says this platform will be stretched for the i15. We wonder if the smaller car will then be called i5? BMW has stepped into ruin the i party of Hyundai’s with its electric vehicle range supposedly being under the i range.
Yearly Archives: 2011
What the headline says is now very old hat. It has been reported that Mercedes Benz is bringing in both the A and B class cars to India. Now what is interesting is the claim by BS Motoring that they may be assembled locally. Our friendly Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had decided in the budget originally that CBUs and the CKDs would attract the same import duty structure but ultimately came down halfway to say that they would attract 32% instead of the proposed 60%. That has still rankled the auto makers, especially Germans because this would push their prices up. We are still not sure what the players have to gain by going the CKD route when the incentive is so marginal. But SIAM is known to be negotiating about this on behalf of the manufacturers with the Govt of India and if those negotiations are successful then Mercedes may assemble the cars in India. Otherwise, we are not sure.
The Honda Brio has not even debuted in the Indian market and only just has in the Thai market and is facing problems relating to availability of parts due to Japan being hit by the horrible tsunami, but this has not stopped media speculation about the launch of a sedan based on the Brio hatchback. Some of the more enterprising enthusiasts have even photoshopped the existing Brio hatch and have claimed that late 2013 is the launch time and that this is being made to take on the Etios. We are not sure if Honda has any such plans because so far Honda has been saying that it wants to stay away from large volumes and small profits strategies. It has been promoting itself as an aspirational brand in India though this is not the case in Europe and the USA. How much truth there is in these rumours only Honda knows and we are sure they are not going to say anything just yet.
Ever since the split between Hero and Honda became official there have been all kinds of reports about the way Hero would furrow while Honda’s route is pretty clear. It was first said that Hero would start creating a new R&D set up and then some reports about Hero moving into manufacture of diesel motorcycles surfaced along with speculation that Hero could look at other manufacturers for joint ventures while its R&D team was building and gaining strength. Somewhere in all this din, Honda is quoted as having said that it would not be too averse to the idea of giving new technology to Hero in the future at a cost, of course. This was followed with reports that Hero would get the 110cc engine that Honda uses in its very successful CB Twister and that Honda was also giving new engine tech for scooters to Hero. None of this has had any definite confirmation from either of the two. Yet again the web is alive with rumours this time originating from Hero about how it has the rights to all the existing platforms and how it can choose to modify them if it chooses and that it is also open to using new tech from Honda. One website has quoted the Chief Finance Officer of all people about this technology transfer thing. The said officer has claimed that Hero could change all, including the CBZ, while other reports have always said that CBZ and CD are property of Honda. Right now things are confusing, at least for us, and we hope things will be clearer soon.
Bajaj Auto has increased month on month sales for the month of April by 16.71%. Exports have grown significantly and have increased by 39.08%. It is well know that Bajaj has always been the largest exporter among all the two wheeler makers of this country. April also saw a substantial increase in the sale of Bajaj three wheelers as well. Bajaj has been aggressively trying to garner a larger market share ever since the news of the Hero-Honda split started doing the rounds. It is obvious that Bajaj sees a chance to become the number one two wheeler manufacturer in India. Unfortunately for Bajaj, Honda without Hero also has the same dream and Honda have a way of converting dreams into reality. No wonder they talk about the power of dreams.
The Formula1 rumour mill is working full time. The latest gossip is about Ferrari’s and Rosberg’s mutual interest in each other. The claim is that communication between the two has been established and that Ferrari could look at Rosberg, who is stuck in an under performing team, as a replacement for Felipe Massa should Massa come a cropper again this season. We believe that this is just gossip aimed at keeping interest in F1 alive when there is a lull in racing.
Team Principal of Marussia Virgin Racing, John Booth has said that major improvements in aerodynamics will be introduced in time for the Turkish GP this weekend and hopes that these will help the team turn a corner. However he claims that it will take more than one GP weekend for the upgrades to show their full potential.
Even as Newscorp is fuelling news that it is interested in taking over F1 from CVC Capital Partners, the latter has denied that it has any intention of selling its rights. It clearly says that at the moment Formula1 is not up for sale. But it does not discount the possibility of Newscorp and Exor consortium getting some shares at some point in the future. The business side of Formula1 was murky long before the sport itself became murky thanks to the likes of Flavio Briatore, Mike Coughlan, Nigel Stepney, Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet Jr. As the old saying goes, somethings never change.
Craig Pollock, the former manager of Jacque Villeneuve who was known be very ambitious is back in F1 or so it seems. Pollock was the man behind the creation of British American Racing team after buying out Tyrell F1 team and bringing big tobacco money from British American Tobacco. BAT pulled out with tightening of anti tobacco laws and the team became Honda’s factory effort before moving on to Ross Brawn and now becoming Mercedes F1 team. Pollock had been out of the F1 scene for a while now, but has returned with the ambitious PURE which stands for Propulsion Universelle et Recuperation d’Energie, to make 1.6 litre turbo charged four cylinder engines to be supplied to teams that want them at a relatively low cost. In his usual style of functioning Pollock has put together a consortium involving many specialists in various areas including Mecachrome who made engines for Renault. One of the reasons for the collapse of BAR was too many elements tugging in different directions. Pollock has dived into troubled waters with a lot of weight. There is an ongoing dispute about the engine formula from 2013 with some teams opposing the four cylinder turbo charger formula. Pollock’s ventures are known to break under their own weight so this could be the same.
New reports emanating in the aftermath of Patrick Head’s vehement denial of retirement plans and his quip that Adam Parr was not authorized to make those comments is the claim that Sam Michael and Jon Tomlinson were the scape goats of a larger problem that exists within the Williams F1 team. Team personnel have expressed solidarity with the two employees who have resigned and also have expressed surprise over the appointment of Mike Coughlan the disgraced former McLaren employee as Chief Engineer of the team. This once hallowed team has really fallen on hard times in all conceivable matters and it will be a great shame if the team gets quagmired in these politics.