Yearly Archives: 2012

Anybody who knows anything about diesel engines and fuel will know that diesel engines are engines of choice in Europe and India.  Most countries of the world prefer petrol engines and Honda despite being forced to develop a 2.2 litre diesel engine a few years ago for its European Accord and the CR-V had said that it will stop pursuing diesel engines and concentrate on petrol-electric hybrids for the future.  But the prohibitive cost of those engines and with no significant development in battery technology that is cheap, Honda has been forced to look at a lower capacity diesel engine.

This engine is part of the Earth Dreams technology that Honda has decided to adopt and is according to Honda the lightest engine in its class while it develops class leading 118 PS of power and very low C02 content in the atmosphere.  This engine is expected to debut in Europe in the Civic at the end of this calender year.  In Europe diesel is the preferred fuel because of its high calorific value that makes it very fuel efficient but in India diesel is subsidized and therefore is cheap.  But Indian diesel is not very well refined and Honda has therefore been saying that it is with holding its diesel engine debut in India.  It remains to be seen if this will be the position that Honda will continue to maintain.

 It only seems like yesterday that the Outlander was revised in India with face of the Mitsubishi Evolution X that Mitsubishi touted as the look of a fighter plane.  The sales of the Outlander in both its incarnations in India have been  lukewarm but globally a new Outlander is ready to make its appearance in some markets with a revised front styling that is more in tune with the traditional Mitsubishi SUV face.  But what makes the new Outlander more interesting is that it will be sold in some markets as a plug in hybrid.  It is now well documented that Mitsubishi has said that the focus of the company will be on hybrid and electric powered vehicles and one point out ruled out any further Evolutions of the Lancer.  After a lot of protests from Evo fans Mitsubishi said that it will continue with the Evo but as a hybrid.

The latest Outlander falls in line with that philosophy.  Now what is interesting is that this philosophy of Mitsubishi may not fit in with India where hybrids and electric cars are eschewed due to their high price at the time of purchase.  Globally Mitsubishi is still very much in the woods and not fully on the road to recovery.  While its strategy could work in developed markets it is unlikely to work in markets such as India, where power cuts are common as is high electric tariff thereby negating the need for a hybrid.  Even if Mitsubishi brings in a diesel only model it will not be in this calender year.

 What you see is the Lodgy MPV from Dacia, the Romanian subsidiary of Renault which makes the inexpensive range of cars such as the Logan nee Mahindra Verito in India.  The Logan platform also spawned the Duster SUV that will be launched later this year in India as a Renault branded product.  The same platform is the basis for the Lodgy which is an MPV which can seat a family of seven in comfort along with their luggage.  That means that it is like a lodge and therefore this peculiar nomenclature of Lodgy.  The Lodgy looks like a good fit for Indian families who like to travel in big numbers and if introduced in India could be a viable alternative to the Innova from Toyota, the Maruti Ertiga and the Mahindra Xylo.  Renault has said nothing about the Lodgy’s plans for India, but not bringing it here could be a missed opportunity.

The Chief of Daimler AG, Dieter Zetsche unveiled the third generation A Class hatchback at the Geneva Motor Show.  The new A Class is a paradigm shift in Mercedes’ thinking with it now having adopted the MFA or Modular Front wheel drive Architecture but in actual terms it is perhaps the most conventional of all the three generations of the A Class.  The original A Class had tall structure with a mono volume silhouette since its engines were unconventionally located under the floor.  The car thus constructed failed the famous elk test and that led to Mercedes exploring more electronics such as the electronic stability programme.  Now the third generation has adopted the front wheel drive architecture and looks like a conventional hatch though the design cues are quite fussy.  It will come with a choice of 6 speed manual transmission or 7 speed dual clutch transmission and with engines that could be sourced from Renault as well.  This is Mercedes Benz’s attempt to stem the fall that has seen BMW overtaking it in sales terms in most markets around the world.

Nissan is extending its model range in Europe with a car that is likely to be one segment above the present Micra.  This car has been showcased at the Geneva Motor Show as the Invitation Concept.  It seems to be a combination of a biggish hatch and SUV like space and styling.  Nissan claims that this will go on sale in Europe in 2013 but there is no clarity if it will be sold with the same moniker or if it will see a change of nomenclature.  What seems pretty certain is that this car is not destined for India.  The Micra itself is not pulling in the volumes and its sibling the Renault Pulse also has not set the sales charts on fire.  The Renault-Nissan alliance is looking at going down a segment and not up for India.

One of the exciting new displays at the Geneva show was the B-Max compact MPV from Ford.  Just as the EcoSport is a B platform SUV so is the B-Max is a B platform MPV which is likely to share some underpinnings with the SUV.  Alan Mullaly, the man behind the One Ford strategy speaking at the Geneva Motor Show has said that the B-Max while not yet confirmed for India is not necessarily ruled out either.  He believes that it can be one of the eight model onslaught that Ford has planned for India.

Chevrolet’s Beat (or Spark for the rest of the World) has its own interpretation of a T-Top.  A T-Top is technically different from the Targa Top which was first pioneered by Porsche.  In a Targa Top there is no metal connection between the windscreen in the front and the one in the rear while in a T-Top that exists.  Chevrolet have shown the Spark nee Beat at Geneva with its own version of the T-Top and it does look funky.  Don’t expect it in India though.  The hot Sun will ensure that you will be roasted alive if you have this top.

Please dear reader you explain this to us.  The world is supposed to be moving to smaller cars due to sky rocketing fuel prices and then you see Porsche launches its Cayanne which becomes a huge success and then it prepares to launch a smaller version called the Cajun first and the Macan now, even as Maserati prepares to launch its own SUV called the Kubang initially and now supposedly Cinqueporte.  Bentley which is a part of the VW Empire along with Porsche is now supposedly going the SUV way with what seems to be a hideous interpretation of how an SUV should look within the Bentley template.  To be called the EXP 9F this particular Bentley draws its name from a 1919 model is likely to share the platform of the next gen Audi Q7 which is also a part of the VW Empire.  This is one of the news to emerge from the Geneva Motor Show.how.

On the sidelines of the Geneva Motor Show there has been talk of the Renault-Nissan alliance launching a Tata Nano rival.  The alliance partners are using the language that Tata did before conceptualizing the Nano.  The target is the two wheeler user who needs to upgrade to an affordable car, but it seems as if the Bajaj RE60 will not be the base for this car.  It may come another platform from the Renault-Nissan alliance itself and speculation is that the Datsun badge maybe used for this car.  That is the speculative part that you and I will know for sure when there is an official announcement about it.