Force Motors have christened their SUV Force One but have not revealed the actual vehicle yet. Meanwhile the vehicle is still undergoing testing with more of the camouflage knocked off.
Picture Courtesy: indianautosblog
Yearly Archives: 2011
The Safari Merlin Mystery from Tata deepens further. What is being considered to be only a facelift is being tested for ever (a la Yamaha R15) with no signs of the vehicle hitting the showrooms anytime soon. Indian Autos Blog has posted a video of the test mule and you can check out there.
Picture Courtesy: indianautosblog.com
The Toyota Fortuner, built on the same IMV platform as the Innova has been introduced in the Indian car bazaar rather late. Toyota believed that the Innova was the product for India and that it had to sell at least 4,500 units every month, a target that it has reached by and large. In order that the Innova market not be cannibalized, Toyota delayed the entry of the Fortuner which is an SUV unlike the Innova which is an MPV, and launched only in 2009 to find that there was a pent up demand for the product. Toyota has had to stop bookings of the Fortuner twice in order to clear the ever mounting backlog. Thailand and Indonesia which saw the introduction of the Fortuner a few years before India will soon be getting a facelifted version of the Fortuner soon. We are however not very sure of when this version will be introduced in India.
Picture Courtesy indiancarsbikes.in
Triumph Motorcycles of the UK is probably the only iconic British brand to be alive after having been brought back from oblivion by John Bloor. It is said that Norton is also still around but Norton’s presence in the world motorcycle market is almost next to nil. In the past few years Triumph has made a serious comeback with technologically sound products that have been able to compete with the Japanese and the Italians. Till the end of last year, Triumph even raced in the World Supersport championship (for production motorcycles of up to 600cc) with reasonable success. All manufacturers of consequence have been coming to India which along with China is being seen as the future. For sometime now rumours have abounded about Triumph’s entry to India which have now been confirmed by the company’s representative in India.
After years and years of making people movers Toyota gingerly took some baby steps into the mainstream car market with the Toyota Corolla Altis and the Camry. However it now appears that Toyota has come to grips with the aspirations and desires of the Indian car buyer who has a notorious reputation for not parting with money very easily. Toyota first launched the Etios Sedan as the entry into the volumes market and has now topped that by launching the hatchback Etios Liva in the price band of Rs. 3.99 lakhs to Rs. 5.99 lakhs. Right now like the sedan the hatchback Liva will only be available with petrol engines only. However unlike Honda, Toyota makes diesel engines as well and very good ones at that. Towards the end of the year both the Etios and the Liva will find themselves with diesel engine options as well. The giant has flexed its muscle. Time for competition to sweat and time for the consumer to plan ahead since affordable Toyotas are finally here.
Clothed in the much loved Kawa green, standing alongside Bajaj’s flagship models, this Ninja 650R was spotted at Bajaj Probiking in Adyar, Chennai. The bookings have begun and the news is that close to 20 bookings have been made already, a major chunk of the number includes existing Ninja 250 owners planning on an upgrade.
As we mentioned in a previous news article the waiting period is a woeful, typically Bajaj Probiking 90 to 135 days. There have been instances of the guys at the Chennai showroom working miracles to bring down the waiting period for the 250, so here we are giving prospective owners of the 650R some hope.
Garware Motors set up shop in Chennai on the 8th of June, with the Hyosung GT650R and the ST7 in its arsenal. The showroom is located in Adyar, and a service station is coming up soon nearby.
Bookings have begun, the single tone GT650R priced at Rs. 5.2 Lakhs on-road, dual tone GT650R at Rs. 5.36 Lakhs on-road and the ST7 for Rs. 6.2 Lakhs. The shocker though, is that deliveries are being made within a span of twenty days from the date of booking.
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A couple of blocks away is Bajaj Probiking, where the GT650R’s arch nemesis (taking into consideration the only choices an Indian motorcyclist has, of course) the Kawasaki 650R is being sold, with a waiting period of anywhere between 90 to 135 days. If Easwari Motors, the Hyosung dealer in Chennai can continue to pull this off, the Kawasaki might lose its edge in spite of its lower price tag and far more popular brand name.
Mr.Suresh, Sales Manager for Hyosung, Chennai astride the GT650R, Hyosung ST7
Garware Motors, who are the importers and sellers of the Hyosung GT 650 R and the ST7 model motorcycles, have revealed that by the end of 2012 three more products in the engine capacity range of 250cc to 400cc would be introduced in the Indian market. There has been some speculation about Garware actually setting up a joint venture with S&T Group of South Korea who are the owners of the Hyosung brand, for the manufacture of all products in India to overcome the problems posed by high import duties for CKD kits.
The Red Bull Racing cars of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber finished first and third respectively in the European GP of Formula1 at Valencia. Second place went to local favourite Fernando Alonso in a Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton of McLaren Mercedes was fourth while Felipe Massa was fifth in the other Ferrari. Hamilton’s teammate Jenson Button finished 6th while Mercedes GP’s Nico Rosberg finished eighth. His teammate Michael Schumacher finished 17th after an early collision with Vitaly Petrov of Renault.
Ben Spies the 2009 World Superbike Champion (riding a Yamaha) and rookie of the year last year in MotoGP (riding the Monster Yamaha of the Tech3 team) took his first ever MotoGP victory aboard the number 11 works Yamaha sporting the original red and white colours of the marque. At slippery Assen the World’s oldest surviving GP race Spies out gunned Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner who finished the race in second place. ( Stoner’s not winning brought tremendous cheer to fans of MotoGP who love to see him lose. His unpopularity is now soaring with the normally polite and correct Nicky Hayden saying that “he fuels off controversy and accusing others” when Stoner alleged that he was deliberately baulked by Hayden in practice. Hayden refused to apologize to Stoner saying that he did nothing wrong). Behind Stoner, Andrea Dovizioso finished in third place while Valentino Rossi finished in fourth place ahead of his factory Ducati teammate Nicky Hayden who finished fifth. Cal Crutchlow was running a wonderful fifth when his race was cut short by a badly worn out front tyre. Marco Simoncelli took out his staunch critic and defending World Champion Jorge Lorenzo at the third corner of the first lap while trying to overtake him. Lorenzo remounted to finish an impressive sixth while Simoncelli who also remounted took ninth place.