The Kawasaki 650R was formally launched today at a mouth watering price point of Rs. 4.57 lakhs ex-Delhi. This usually means that the product will be a bit more expensive in other parts of the country. The addition of various taxes will take the on road price of the vehicle comfortably near the INR 5.5 lakhs in most part of the country.
Pictures courtesy:Autocar India.com
In spite of being reinstated on the F1 calender for this year, there are now murmurs within the F1 circles that it may not be a good idea to go to the troubled principality this year with reports emanating from the kingdom that protesters seeking democracy are still being killed there. Even Bernie Ecclestone has taken a step back and is now suggesting that instead of postponing the Indian GP, it would be better to run it on its allotted dates and schedule Bahrain for December and go there only if it was viable. Meanwhile Max Mosley the former FIA President has said that F1 going to Bahrain this year will be a big mistake. Present President of the FIA, Jean Todt says that the situation will be monitored closely and that no decision is as yet final. He also says that next year there would only be 20 races even though the provisional calender shows 21 races. Todt says he is not sure as to which race will go. If Bahrain is not in a position to host a race at the end of the year one can safely conclude that it will not be in a position to do so next year as well. That means it could get the axe and Istanbul a reprieve, for it is now widely believed that the Turkish GP could lose its place due to lack of attendance. Bernie Ecclestone is a wily old man and has kept the race there is a back up in case any other race like Bahrain or the GP of America do not take place. It helps that he owns the Istanbul circuit.
Remember Gary McCoy? The man who rode a bike and made it slither and slide like a snake would. He even won a 500cc race for the WCM Yamaha team and was with Kawasaki in their first year of MotoGP in the new Millennium and later with the aborted 800cc Ilmor machine. Apparently the good bloke from Australia still has interest in GP racing and has offered his services to both Honda and Tech3 Yamaha if they need a replacement rider for Daniel Pedrosa or Colin Edwards, both recuperating from broken clavicles. Honda has announced that it is not fielding a replacement for Pedrosa and given Colin Edwards’ enthusiasm to jump on to the Tech3 Yamaha last week itself, it is unlikely that McCoy will get that ride either. But if he does, it would be great to see him on a MotoGP bike again, especially if he still has the ability to slide the bike around. In spite of that much of sliding, McCoy was known to look after his tyres very well and therefore a soft compound was okay for him when others needed hard compound tyres.
Ford has revealed the engines for its upcoming Ford Fiesta, slated to be launched by July. One diesel and one petrol engine is being offered both displacing 1.5 litres. There is a difference in power figures however with petrol being able to generate around 108 BHP and the diesel around 90 BHP.
It should be noted that the Fiesta Classic (the older Fiesta) had a 1.6 litre petrol engine which developed around 102 BHP. Now, the reason for the newer smaller engine developing more power is due to dual variable valve timing incorporated into the new engine which means more power and efficiency. ARAI says 17 KMPL for the petrol and 23.5 KMPL for the diesel.
Even though it does look like Ford has got a winner in their hands, provided they price this car right, this announcement has come as a surprise to most of the people who were looking forward to the launch of the new Fiesta. All throughout, it was reported that the engines would be 1.6 litre petrol and diesel which are doing duty in this car elsewhere in the world. The 1.6 petrol with around 122 BHP was supposed to be a driver’s delight and we were looking forward to seeing this car in India, as this would take the game right up to the new Verna which has similar specs for its 1.6 petrol.
With the engine downsizing, Ford has decided to play it safe keeping in mind the spiralling petrol prices and has tried to hit the middle ground between performance and economy.
So as of now, the most powerful petrol sedan below the 10 lakh mark is the all new Hyundai Verna. And it doesn’t have much of a competition to look forward to!
To commemorate the milestone of the Zen Estilo crossing the 2 lakh sale mark, Maruti Suzuki has launched a special limited edition version of the Estilo which is being called the Vogue. Though the Estilo does not feature in the top ten selling cars in India like the Alto, Wagon R and the Swift, it is still a solid seller that averages over 3000 units a month. It is also exported to countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia and is the best selling car in the former country. In India too it sells more than the A Star which the world over is the new Alto.
Initially when the snap shots of the diesel engined Chevrolet Beat began doing the rounds the badge was clearly XSDE which was supposed to be Xtra Smart Diesel Engine and this was supposed to be consistent with the nomenclature of Smartech that the petrol engine uses. But now there is a clear picture posted on Indian Cars Bikes.in which shows the diesel Beat carrying the TCDi badge which stands for Turbo Common Raid Diesel injection. TCDi is the preferred nomenclature of an engine that runs on a fixed geometry turbo charger. VCDi is used in case the turbo charger uses a variable geometry.
Picture Courtesy:indiancarsbikes.in
Various websites have been carrying the news that Hyundai is advancing the launch of its 800cc Alto baiter to the end of this year. The initial buzz around the car suggested that the product would hit the market by the festive season this year itself, before news of its possible launch during the Auto Expo in Jan, 2012 emerged. Now due to the car being increasingly spotted in testing guise around Chennai it is once again being touted that the launch of the car could be advanced to the end of this year itself. This is right now a conversation between various auto websites, one in which Hyundai has thus far not participated.
All the chatter that surrounds the ultra low cost car from Bajaj suggests that it is unlikely to make the grade that Renault-Nissan would want it to. It is for this reason that Rajiv Bajaj has been taking great pains to emphasize that nothing is lost in case Renault-Nissan refuse to pick up the product which is already running way behind schedule. Bajaj has been saying that the platform for the ULC can be used for goods carriers as well and that Bajaj is in an advanced stage of development of the same. Three wheeled platforms such as Ape from Piaggio and the Minidor from Force Motors have started spawning quadricycles such as the Ape Truk and the Force Trump. Bajaj it is rumoured is in effect only developing a quadricycle out of the existing three wheeler platform that it has and that could be the reason why Renault-Nissan would not accept the ULC which is based on the quadricycle. A quadricycle does not meet the requirements that go into the making of a proper car. That is the reason why Tata does not lose any opportunity to emphasize that the Nano is a proper car and not a quadricycle.
Maruti’s Alto’s success must be giving nightmares to the other car manufacturers. To put things in perspective, the Alto sells as much as the combined production of all two wheeler models of Yamaha per month. The other manufacturers therefore are not going to let Maruti keep this whole segment for itself. Hyundai has been testing a sub Santro 800cc car code named HA to take on the Alto. GM also wants a piece of the pie in that segment and so is rumoured to be launching an 800cc version of the Chevrolet Spark. The Spark which is based on the Daewoo Matiz started life as an 800cc car and therefore GM’s job is easier than that of Hyundai. But GM does not have the same brand recall that Hyundai has and therefore its job at best is as difficult as that of Hyundai when it comes to displacing the Alto from its perch or to eat into its sales.
Tata Motors which got into passenger car manufacturing tentatively with the Tata Sierra, the Tata Estate and the Tata Sumo, jumped into the mass market with the launch of the Tata Indica in the year 1999 and followed this with the booted version called the Indigo. The Indigo was one of the cheapest sedans in India that offered the usual Tata USP which is acres of space. Tata kept the consumer interest in the Indigo alive by stretching the car and calling it the XL and then shortening it to less than 4 metres and calling the CS or Compact Sedan. Two years ago the Indigo built on the new Indica Vista platform became the Indigo Manza. Tata has now sold over 4 lakh sedans or Indigos but its Indica range and the Indigo range have been hit in sales terms for the last couple of months, a situation that Tata will want to rectify immediately.