Honda has finally bitten the bullet and brought to India its first 1.5L diesel engine. At the Honda Amaze press conference event in Chennai, Mr. Jnaneswar Sen, Sr. VP – Marketing & Sales, Honda Cars India spoke to the media where he stressed that Honda makes some phenomenal petrol engines and is firm on their stand that their petrol engines are God’s gift to mankind (our words, not theirs).
We won’t argue. While the 1.5L i-DTEC diesel engine makes sense for the masses, with phenomenal fuel efficiency and driveability, anybody who has had the privilege of driving a VTEC ( not so much the i-VTEC) car from Honda will tell you there’s nothing like a VTEC engine roaring through the revs and nudging its way to the redline propelling a car that weighs almost a ton to oblivion.
It makes absolute sense for Honda to expand its range of diesel vehicles, plonk this diesel mill in the next generation City and Jazz, keep the masses happy, the cars moving out of the showroom, so that a financially healthy Honda Cars India can continue making fantastic petrol cars.
What wouldn’t we give for another Honda that evokes as much emotion as the original City VTEC that scorched Indian roads more than a decade ago.
Riot Engine was at the Chennai launch event of the Honda Amaze. While we’re yet to drive the Amaze, we were able to bring you this quick walkaround.
The response to the sub compact sedan from Honda is simply staggering. This correspondent has not been able to complete a conversations with friends, family and random strangers without the Amaze cropping up somewhere.
Honda is wary though. While the company has no qualms about stressing how technologically sound their diesel technology is, when asked about numbers expected to sell, one company spokesperson said ‘The initial interest is encouraging, but we are aware the interest will level out at some point’.
Way back in 2007, Ford became the first manufacturer to implement the high-solids, solvent-borne 3-Wet paint technology at its manufacturing facility in Ohio. At the Ohio Assembly plant, 200 Ford Econoline vehicles were painted using this technology and the durability of the paint was monitored by the plant personnel over a period on one month and a distance of 400,000 miles. These Econolines accomplished the mileage as they were put to work as U-Haul trucks and after noting that they still looked fresh from the factory, Ford proceeded to implement the 3-Wet paint technology at its other manufacturing facilities, bringing the total number to twelve. Ford is now adding four more plants, two in the United States, one in China and one in Spain to the list. In a nutshell, the 3-Wet process has helped Ford reduce CO2 emissions by 15-25 percent and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions by 10 percent.
3-Wet paint technology?
Baffling isn’t it? All those words that individually are familiar to primary school kids but put together leaves you flummoxed! Starting with the basics, the paint is a high solid, solvent borne formulation. High solid paints have higher content of materials the solidify after spraying, like resins and pigments and much less of the stuff that evaporates after spraying. This leads to the low content of volatile organic compounds (VOC). Less volume of the paint is required to achieve the required thickness of the coat, meaning less spraying operations and thus reduced process time. Some reports also claim that the flow and setting properties of high solids help the metal particles in the paint to align with one other leading to a brighter shine of the paint.
Intensive surface preparation as required by the method
The 3-wet paint process goes another step forward. Using conventional methods of automotive painting, the three coats, primer coat, base coat and clear coat need to be sprayed after the prior coating has been ‘cured’ in a dedicate oven. The 3 wet paint process eliminates the need for stand-alone primer application and a dedicated oven. Automated robots apply all three coats one on top of another before oven curing. These eliminations reduce the paint booth size, saves electricity from the blowers that circulate massive volumes of air through paint booths, and reduces its use of natural gas needed to heat the air and ovens. This is how, Ford’s global 3-Wet paint process has reduced CO2 emissions by 15-25 percent and VOC emissions by 10 percent compared to either conventional high-solids solvent-borne or waterborne systems.
Application of the 3 coats -primer, base and clear- by automated robots
3-wet paint process at Ford India’s Chennai-Maraimalainagar plant
Ford India stakes claim to having been the first Ford plant in the world to have adopted the 3-wet paint process after the pilot launch in Ohio. Ford is also the only manufacturer in India to use the Three-Wet High-Solids paint technology. The Chennai Ford plant also employs heat recovery by utilizing exhaust heat air to heat fresh air through a Heat exchanger in Topcoat oven and E coat ovens. Instead of diesel, Propane gas is used as a fuel in the ovens.
Ford India also proudly states that the VOC emission has reduced by 23%, the best in the Ford Asia Pacific region. Dock-to-Dock time has reduced by nearly 40% while CO2 emissions have reduced by 21%. Nearly 27.6 million kWh/annum energy is saved in the paint shop. Ford India points out that this energy is enough to power almost 12,000 households in Chennai for a year, or to light up all the street lights of Chennai every night for almost 4 months.
For a city that has faced severe water shortages over the last few years, Ford India does the city a favour with reduced water consumption, a reduction of 15000 KL/ annum.
Final inspection
15-25% lesser CO2 emissions
10% lesser Volatile Organic Compound emissions
25% faster process time
The 12 Ford Plants with 3-Wet Paint Technology
The new locations where Ford will be installing the 3-Wet process in 2013 are:
Flat Rock Assembly Plant, Flat Rock, Michigan
Kansas City Assembly Plant, Claycomo, Missouri
Jiangling Motors Co. Ltd., Jiangzi/Nanchang, China
Valencia Assembly Plant, Valencia, Spain
Locations that currently have 3-Wet capability are
Asia Pacific:
Chennai Assembly, Tamil Nadu, India;
CAF 2, Chongqing, China;
Ford Thailand Manufacturing, Rayong, Thailand;
Europe:
Craiova Assembly Plant, Craiova, Romania
Remember we mentioned that not all media outlets were in agreement as to whether the Verito Vibe is a hatchback or a notchback? These completely un-camouflaged images of the new Mahindra Verito Vibe settles the debate in its infancy. The Verito Vibe is definitely a hatchback.
The Verito Vibe might have a slightly jarring side profile, but the sharp rake of the C-pillar and the pronounced lip on the tail gate should help it stand out in the crowd.
While we previously noticed the interiors were getting a lot more ‘black’, the exteriors seem to have undergone similar changes. The chrome surround on the Verito’s grille is now replaced with a matt black finish. The headlamps seem to have a black outline too. While Autocar mentions that the front bumper is different we are unable to spot any difference apart from the missing fog lamps. Do let us know in the comments if you managed to spot how the Verito Vibe’s front bumper is different from that of the Verito sedan.
We wonder if the Verito can displace the Indica as one of the more affordable yet astoundingly spacious hatchbacks in the country. The Renault K9K 1.5L diesel engine only sweetes the deal!
Mercedes-Benz India along with Mercedes-Benz Financial has introduced “STAR Agility”, a unique finance scheme where the customer is given a ‘Guaranteed Future Value’ for his/her car at the end of the loan period. This move is similar to maverick Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s offer of a similar guarantee for customers of the Tesla Model S.
According to Tesla Motors ‘After 36 months, you have the right, but not the obligation to sell your Model S to Tesla for the same residual value percentage as the iconic Mercedes S Class, one of the finest premium sedans in the world, made by Daimler (also a Tesla partner and investor)’.
Mr. Sidhartha Nair, Managing Director, Daimler Financial Services India Private Limited, commented “We are pleased to introduce “STAR Agility” an innovative financing solution for potential, Mercedes-Benz customers which offer ‘Guaranteed Future Value’ for their car. This shall enable us to strengthen our commitment to offer innovative financial solutions for Mercedes- Benz customers in the Indian market.”
STAR Agility product is available for B-Class, C-Class, E-Class, S-Class, ML -Class and GL- Class car models. It also offers flexibility to select the annual mileage limit depending upon the usage.Mercedes Benz says the EMI can be customised as per requirement. The customer can choose to retain, return or trade-in the car at the end of loan tenure.
Here’s hoping Mercedes Benz India doesn’t pull a Tesla.
This is the season of discounts, or freebies. Renault now offers its much loved Scala with a host of accessories. The Scala Travelogue Edition is available only in the RxZ variant and comes at an approximate premium of Rs. 10000 over the normal RxZ variant.
The Travelogue Edition gets an Integrated Multimedia NAV system, rear sunshade, illuminated scuff plate, blinkers on ORVM and an exhaust chrome tip, that Renault calls muffler cutter.
The touch enabled NAV and multimedia system offers Bluetooth connectivity, a feature sorely missed in the top end RxZ variant. The system is also reverse camera compatible, but not offered with this variant.
“Renault’s success in the Indian market has been primarily due to our ability to offer products that meet the evolving needs and aspirations of our customers, enabling the company to see a steady growth despite an increasingly challenging market,” said Sumit Sawhney, Executive Director, Marketing & Sales, Renault India Pvt. Ltd. “The Scala Travelogue Edition is another milestone in this tradition and offers the next level in comfort, driving dynamics, fuel efficiency and innovation for better and more connected summer drives, while continuing to offer the exceptional quality and elegance of the Renault Scala.”
The Renault Scala Travelogue Edition is available only until the 31st May.
A commercial? Or as some reports suggest, a product placement in Salman’s next movie. Regardless, the inline twin cylinder Suzuki Inazuma 250 has been spotted in India, which in all probability means the motorcycle is coming to India after all. Sigh.
The power and torque figures have not been specified on any official Suzuki Motorcycles website, but European auto journos who have ridden the motorcycle claim the power figures to be around 24 bhp and torque of 16 pound-foot which is around 23Nm.
Suzuki please stop wasting time and money that would be better used on a motorcycle people would actually buy in India.
The Suzuki Inazuma and it’s bulletproof reliability makes it an able workhorse of an urban commuter, which might work in the European and Chinese markets. Here in India, where we consider a 200cc+ machine as a lifestyle product, specs on paper speak as much as styling. Taking these factors into account, the Inazuma should be probably DOA.
The Inazuma’s transmission is a six speed box and fuel efficiency is a claimed 85 MPG or 36 KPL. We wonder if the Inazuma might actually do way better if they slapped on a ‘Hero Honda Karizma+’ sticker on it and put it on the shelf. Think about it, unstressed powerplant, decent fuel efficiency, slightly larger displacement, slightly improved power and torque figures and as we mentioned earlier, bulletproof Japanese reliability. Seems to be the perfect evolution of the last generation favourite, the HH Karizma.
The Verito Vibe has been spotted with slightly tweaked interiors. IAB points out the black accents around the aircon vents which are different from the aluminium finish on the Verito, as well as a similar black shade on the central console as opposed to the aluminium finish on the Verito. The seats also seem to be dual tone.
The sub 4m Verito is being called a hatchback by some, and notchback by others. A detailed spec sheet should clarify the positioning of the Vibe.
Pravin Shah, Chief Executive, Automotive Division, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, said “Customer centric innovation has always been at the heart of any product development at the Mahindra Group. The Verito Vibe marks our entry in the high volume sub 4 metre segment. While developing this product we have paid particular attention to making this car look different and we are sure that it will appeal to customers with its young and sporty looks and that too without compromising the benefits which our existing Verito has to offer.”
Toyota Kirloskar Motors will issue a recall for Corollas manufactured in India between January and June 2003 to rectify an issue with the airbags. The defect may result in unexpected deployment of the airbag and/or activation of seatbelt restraints.
The Hindu reports that the cause is related to improperly manufactured inflator propellant wafers. “Improperly manufactured propellant wafers could cause the inflator to rupture and the front passenger airbag to deploy abnormally in a crash,” a TKM spokesperson said to The Hindu.
Takata corp which supplied these airbags to Toyota also supplies to Honda, Nissan and other companies like Ford,GM and Daimler AG. Honda and Nissan have confirmed that none of their vehicles sold in India are affected by these issues.
Royal Enfield has unveiled the Forest Green Bullet 500 in what you could call the softest launch in Indian automotive history! There was a countdown that had ended by the time we got to seeing it. Then there was the Bullet 500 in the new Forest Green shade looking worthy of all the adjectives used to describe a Bullet.
The Bullet 500 loses the fuel injection and gets a carburettor. The engine makes 26.5 PS @ 5,1000 rpm and 40.9 Nm @ 3,800 rpm. Royal Enfield also boasts of a new contoured seat profile, new rear grab rail with a cushion and the characteristic ‘tiger eyes’. The Royal Enfield badge now wears a dual gold-silver tone.
The Bullet 500 will wear MRFs on its 19 inch front and 18 inch rear rims. Launch dates and prices are as yet unannounced.
