A few days ago Audi had released the official sketches of the Audi Q3 and now the net is abuzz with official pictures. The Q3 seems like a miniaturized Q7 and it remains to be seen if the car will look as formidable as its elder siblings the Q7 and Q5. Will the Q3 come to India and if so when is not clear. Audi has complained about the Indian Government’s decision to hike duties on CKDs by 32% after it had originally announced that the duties would go up by 60%.
Yearly Archives: 2011
Motorbeam.com has reported that Bajaj President, Eric Vas has said that the next Kawasaki Ninja(after the Ninja 250 R) to land in India is not very far off. He has not confirmed the exact model to come but speculation seems to be that it will be the 650 R which is sold in Europe as the EF 650. It has also claimed that Bajaj is waiting for some clarity about the duties on CKD products before announcing further plans. Motorbeam is carrying an interview with Eric Vas conducted by xbhp.com and it seems other high end Kawasakis are due at competitive prices. In the interview Mr. Vas does not seem too concerned at the price at which the Honda CBR 250 R has been launched. You can go to xbhp.com or motorbeam.com to check out the interview.
India is to host its first ever F1 Grand Prix this year in October. Mr. Sameer Gaur the Chief Executive of the Indian GP has claimed that everything is as per schedule and that most of the construction work will be completed before rains hit towards June. But Mr. Gaur has also said that even poor weather will not stop things from happening on time and that the embarrassment that the inaugural Korean GP faced last year will not occur in India. It is believed that in addition to F1 India could also see the addition of MotoGP as early as 2012.
The F1 spec track that is coming up at Austin Texas has been named The Circuit of the Americas in the usual boisterous American fashion. Not only has the circuit clinch a formidable F1 deal even before a spade had been put to the ground, it has also gone on to convince Dorna the promoters of MotoGP and has gone on to sign a contract for ten years starting 2013. Talk about American marketing muscle.
The Chinese F1 GP in Shangai is looming large. This weekend will see the holding of the third F1 race of the season which has seen Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing run away with the lead in the drivers and constructors championships. Fernando Alonso believes that Vettel and RBR are right now in a different league but Jenson Button believes that McLaren can catch up with them. Meanwhile Sir Jackie Stewart famously called a “certified half wit” by Max Mosley has jumped to the defence of the beleaguered Lewis Hamilton. Stewart has said that Hamilton is a true racer and when racers go for an all out win they can make mistakes. Let us see if Hamilton preserves or destroys the fragile Pirellis this weekend.
When Ratan Tata told the world about his one lakh rupee car, the world really was skeptical. He did deliver an inexpensive car after a lot of trials and tribulations. However, it is nowhere near the original price of one lakh. After the Nano finally birthed Indian consumers looked to Bajaj for providing the two wheeled equivalent of the Nano. Bajaj has never committed to anything like that but a picture of a Bajaj bike named Boxer has been doing the rounds of the net with speculation that it will be the two wheeled Nano. The usually garrulous Rajiv Bajaj has remained silent on the subject. Last year Pawan Kant Munjal of Hero Honda expressed intent of producing an ultra cheap two wheeler, the equivalent of the Nano. The rumour mill has kick started again with the news that Hero without Honda has found freedom and are in the process of an accelerated development of an inexpensive motorcycle that will fall below that Rs. 40,000/- mark. Below Rs. 30,000/- could be considered inexpensive but not Rs. 40 K. Xenitis had launched a 100cc motorcycle called the Rock at less than Rs. 20,000/- but it actually sank like a rock in the ocean called the Indian two wheeler market. Talking about Bajaj and Hero wonder what happened to their tie ups with Orbital Tech and Briggs and Stratton for engine technology. There was a lot of talk about that at one time.
Hero is not the only one to find freedom after splitting with Honda. Honda too feels free and has announced that in order to get a sizeable pie of the Indian two wheeler market (read that as the desire to be the undisputed Number One) Honda is increasing the number of its dealers. It is being said that this year alone Honda will add two hundred new dealers and from the next year on for the next ten years will add a hundred new dealers every year. The intention is clear for everyone to see. Honda has always been as good with planning and marketing as it has been with product manufacturing. The Big H is prowling, competition should be wary.
Williams F1 team has gone to become zero from hero over the last few years. The late 1980s and the whole of 1990s saw Williams as the front running team, something that every other team wanted to be. With design genius Adrian Newey on board it produced world championship winning cars even in the hands of not so great drivers such as Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve (arguably the most over hyped driver in F1). With the poaching of Adrian Newey by the wily Ron Dennis at McLaren, things began to change for Williams F1. The final straw that broke them completely was when they lost engine partner BMW. The team went onto become a pure privateer team and the economic downturn globally did not help them at all. Every year the expectations from Williams are very high and this year was no different. But the first two races have shown the car to be no good. Technical director Sam Michael has vowed to fix the problems with the car and give its drivers the ageing Rubens Barichello and pay driver Pastor Maldonado a chance to race at the front.
Mark Webber who has found tremendous disfavor with Helmut Marko at Red Bull Racing has a contract that ends at the end of this year. Given the fact that Helmut Marko wields great power in driver management at RBR and also that Mark Webber has so far been outshone by the young gun Sebastian Vettel for whom Marko has oodles of affection, it is unlikely that Webber will find his contract being extended. Helmut Marko is an Austro-German patriot and is eyeing an all German line up for next year. He has Nico Rosberg firmly in his sights. Though Rosberg is contracted to Mercedes GP, there will be the usual exit clause which says a person can leave if the team is not performing to a certain level. Mercedes GP has been languishing midfield since the last season and if things don’t change radically soon, Rosberg could be in another all German team.
Luca Di Montezemolo, the flamboyant Chief of Ferrari and the last of the loud mouths in Formula One along with Bernie Ecclestone (the third Max Mosley has been pushed into retirement by a sting operation purportedly by McLaren since he did not get along with them) has as usual claimed that Ferrari will win the World Championship. This is his usual routine and he has heaped dollops of praise on Fernando Alonso for his tremendous competitiveness (he must be referring to Alonso driving into Hamilton’s back). One wishes that Luca would allow his cars to do the talking.