Renault India shows Kwid in its latest ad

        Renault India has rolled out a new ad showing its cars Duster, Lodgy and Fluence endorsed by bollywood heart throb Randeer Kapoor and guess what, you happen to see Kwid driven on the road as well. The Kwid is shown as “coming soon” which means the car will be launched soon in India. Renault global chief Mr. Carlos Goshn has announced Kwid launch in India by September 2015.

        Renault had revealed the Kwid hatchback in May this year. The car was designed in India along with French designers to suit Indian customers and yet being a Renault. It was low cost car project to be an entry level car from Renault, to sell in volumes and perhaps give competition to market leader Maruti Alto. The car will be priced between Rs. 3 and 4 lakh, as said by Mr. Ghosn.

        The SUVish design of Kwid makes it stand different from its competitors. The size of the car is also another feature which pulls it ahead from other cars like Maruti Alto, Hyundai Eon and Datsun Go. Kwid gets basic interiors but functions very well and a touchscreen console is the first in its class. Fit and quality of the product will be of good quality as it is a Renault.

        Powering the car will be 800 cc petrol engine. A 1 L petrol engine is also on the cars in the near future. But for diesel, Mr. Ghosn has said absolute no, citing the cost issues. But for the looks of the car a 2 cylinder scaled down Duster’s 1.5L dCi engine would have been a good option. Perhaps no other manufacturer could have even come close to Renault Kwid diesel.

        Renault will certainly be keen to look for the market response of Kwid in India and we are sure Kwid will get a diesel engine in the future. Are you listening Mr. Ghosn? 

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Maruti Suzuki S Cross launched in India

          Maruti Suzuki today launched S Cross, a premium crossover hatchback in India. The car is priced between Rs. 8.34 lakh and Rs. 13.74 lakh Ex-showroom, New Delhi.

          The S Cross will be sold exclusively through Maruti’s new premium car dealership ‘Nexa’. This makes S Cross the first car to be sold through ‘Nexa’ dealership. More premium cars are expected to be sold through ‘Nexa’ as well in the future.

          The S Cross is available in two powertrain options – 1.3L DDiS200 & 1.6 320 DDiS diesel engines and four trim levels – Sigma, Delta, Zeta and Alpha. The car, as said by Maruti is indeed a crossover with hatchback looks and off road elements like skid plates, body cladding and roof rails.

          The two diesel engines 1.3L and 1.6L pumps out maximum power of 89 Bhp and 118 Bhp respectively. The torque figures for the two engines are are 20.39 and 32.6 Kg. The small engine is mated to a 5 speed gearbox and the bigger one to the 6 speed transmission, both maunal. The engines are claimed to be fuel efficient with mileage of 23.65 kmpl for 1.3L DDiS200 and 22.7 kmpl for 1.6L DDiS320.

          The S Cross gets disc brakes both in the front and rear as well. Safety features like dual air bags and ABS is standard on all trims. Top of the line Alpha trim gets features like fitments like projector headlamps, rear parking sensors, reversing camera, climate control and Maruti’s SmartPlay touchscreen infotainment system.

          Though being a crossover, Maruti S-Cross will compete with Renault Duster, Nissan Terrano, Ford Ecosport & the new Hyundai Creta which belong to SUV category.

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Nissan launches limited edition Terrano Groove

        Nissan today launched a limited edition variant of Terrano SUV name Terraro Groove. Terrano Groove comes with high performance speakers by Rockford Fosgate and a black roof wrap. The added features comes at no extra cost.

        Apart from speakers and black roof, other features which Terrano Groove gets are chrome surrounded fog lamps, tail lamps and tailgate, ambient lighting inside the cabin and LED scuff plates. All these features are worth about Rs. 30,000, which Nissan is giving to youthful and lifestyle conscious customers.

        Terrano Groove will be a limited edition model and only 250 units will be available for sale. Nissan Terrano Groove is priced at Rs. 11.45 lakh (Ex-showroom, Delhi).

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All new second generation Volvo XC90 launched in India

          Volvo Cars India today launched the second generation XC90 SUV in India. The Volvo XC90 will be available in two trims – Momentum & Inscription with prices Rs. 64.9 lakh & Rs. 77.9 lakh respectively (All prices ex-showroom Mumbai without Octori. Bookings for the car have already started with down payment of Rs. 5 lakh and deliveries will be done by September.

          The new Volvo XC90 is built on Volvo’s all new SPA (scalable product architecture) platform. Under the hood is the latest generation 2.0 litre, 4 cylinder D5 diesel engine with power output of 225 Bhp and 48 Kg of torque. A 400 Bhp T8 petrol-electric plug-in hybrid expected next year.

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Bajaj Adventure Sports series Pulsar 150AS & 200AS launched

        Bajaj Auto Ltd. Today launched two new motorcycles Pulsar 150AS and 200AS belonging to Adventure Sports series. With these two new bikes, Bajaj begins a new Adventure Sports series aimed at youth and working youngsters seeking a city sports bike which can also tackle long-distance weekend trips.
  

        The new Pulsar 150AS & 200AS is built on the Pulsar NS type chassis and differ in their non AS counterparts. Pulsar 150AS is powered by a 149.5 cc single cylinder, twin spark, 4 valve, air cooled, DTS-i engine with 16.8 Bhp of power at 9500 rpm and torque of 1.3 Kgm at 9500 rpm. The bigger 200AS gets 199.5 cc, single cylinder, liquid cooled engine with 23.2 Bhp of power at 9500 rpm and 1.86 Kgm of torque at 8000 rpm.

            The striking feature of both AS series bike are the half fairing, muscular tank, extended visor, projector headlight and telescopic front fork and rear monoschock NitroX unit. The bikes get 240 mm of disc brakes in the front and drum at the rear.

            Pulsar 150AS & 200AS is priced at Rs. 79,000 & Rs. 91,500 (Ex-shrwroom, New Delhi) respectively. Both Adventure Series bikes are available in 3 colour options – Black, Red & Blue.

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Price of Kawasaki Z800 in India slashed by Rs 50,000

The Japanese auto-maker Kawasaki has made an interesting move by slashing the price of its popular Z800 by 50,000 Rs. The price slash is surprising as very recently Indian Government decided to remove tax benefits on cars and motorcycles in India from 1^st January 2015 onwards. However, one could avail Kawasaki Z800 with discounted price before 15^th March 2015.  What it means? The 7.85 Lakhs worth Kawasaki Z800 is now available for 7.35 Lakhs (ex-showroom Pune).

The sales of all-time rivals for Kawasaki bikes like Yamaha FZ and Yamaha R1 in India could be affected because of Z800’s sudden price cut, sports bike enthusiasts shall switch their mind towards Kawasaki Z800’s new offering.

The price cut was first happened in Thailand, where the Z800 is actually Manufactured. The price of Kawasaki Z800 could again bounce back to normal or might increase after 15^th March 2015.

Specifications/ Features of  Kawasaki Z800

• Four Cylinder Liquid cooled 4 stroke engine
• Engine displacement of 806cc
• Chain drive with 6 gears
• Dual Petal Disc brake in front
• Tubeless tyres with alloy wheels
• Digital Speedometer, Pilot lamps and LED tail lights
• Inverted fork with rebound damping and spring suspension in the front
• Bottom link uni-trak gas charged shock with piggy suspension in the rear

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2016 BMW 7 Series revealed completely undisguised

        The first pictures of next generation BMW 7 Series 2016 has hit the web. The clear pictures of the new 7 Series reveals almost all the styling details. The new 7 Series is expected to make its international debut in mid 2015.

        The new 7 Series gets a new headlamps design which flows into the big kidney shaped grill, a feature seen in all the present BMWs. The side profile has some resemblance to the current car but it’s the rear which looks different and good in the new BMW 7 series. The chiselled tail lamps between the chrome strip on the boot adds luxury to this elegant car.

        The new BMW 7 Series looks little bigger and will compete with Audi A8, Mercedes S Class, Jaguar XJ and probably with newly launched Mercedes Maybach as well in international markets. 

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Now book a Tata Bolt online for Rs. 11,000

        Tata Motors has opened the online bookings of its upcoming redesigned hatch ‘Bolt’, the second model in Tata’s Horizonnext philosophy. The first model under Horizonnext was ‘Zest’ which was launched in August 2014 and received good appreciation from the customers.. The initial booking amount for Tata Bolt hatch is Rs. 11,000, and you can book the car through following link – Book Tata Bolt.

        Tata Bolt will be available in both petrol and diesel engine options. The petrol model gets power from 1.2L turbocharged Revotron MPFi petrol engine which makes 89 Bhp of power and 14.27 Kgm of torque. The diesel model of course will get 1.3L Multijet engine with 75 Ps of power and 200 Nm of torque.

        Tata Motors has concentrated on quality of Bolt hatchback. Each parts supplied by the component makers were put through strict check before it went into the assembly line. Tata Motors had held a 5 day event for all component suppliers of Zest and Bold and emphasised about the need for quality products in its upcoming cars. 

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Nissan Terrano to get All Wheel Drive variant in 2015

        Nissan will launch an All Wheel Drive variant of Terrano SUV in 2015. Earlier this year Renault Duster AWD was launched which received good appreciation from the customers.

        As the Terrano is just a facelifted Duster, not much testing of an AWD variant is needed. Both Duster and Terrano is powered by Renault’s 1.5L dCi diesel engine producing 110 Bhp of power transferring to all four wheels through 6 speed manual transmission.

        Like the Duster AWD, the Terrano AWD too get features such as Electronic Torque Control, ESP, Anti Skid Resistance, Hill Start and a dial switch used to change between 2WD and 4WD. Terrano AWD too is expected to come in two trims and of course with a price hike compared to 2WD models.

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Honda CB Unicorn 160 launched in India

        Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India Ltd. today launched its new 160 bike Honda CB Unicorn 160 in India. The CB Unicorn comes in two variants which are priced at Rs. 69,350 and Rs. 74,414 respectively.

        The standard CB Unicorn come with a front disc are rear drum brake where as the next model gets a Combi-Brake system. The bike is powered by 163 cc single cylinder petrol engine which does 14.5 Bhp and 1.5 Kgm of torque. The gearbox is 5 speed and top speed and fuel efficiency figures are 106 Km and 62 Kmpl respectively.

        Looks wise the CB Unicorn 160 resembles the CB Trigger with some changes. The headlamps and taillamps have been redesigned which look sharper. There is new fuel tank and saree guard differentiating CB Unicorn from CB Trigger. LED tail light, chrome finished muffler and floating side cowls are added features in CB Unicorn.

        Honda CB Unicom 160 will compete with Suzuki Gixxer, Hero Xtreme Sports and Yamaha FZ Fi in Indian market. 

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Maruti cars to be costlier from 2015

        India’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki has announced that it will hike the prices of its cars from 2015. The price hike will be in the rage of 2-4% and the step is taken to compensate the impact of raising input costs on the company.

"We are planning to increase the prices in the range of two-four percent across our entire range of products from January. It was in October 2013 that we had taken our last price hike," Maruti’s executive director (Marketing and Sales), R S Kalsi told Press Trust of India. He also said that the company is absorbing the high input costs for some time without transferring it to the customers owing to poor market conditions.

        Along with Maruti other manufacturers such as Hyundai, BMW, Mahindra and Tata Motors are also joining the price hike band.

Source: ACI

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Renault developing a new small car concept ‘Value Up’

This is not the actual picture of the Value Up concept.
Shown here just for reference

        French auto maker Renault is developing a small car/hatchback concept called ‘Value Up’. The ‘Value Up’ concept will be lightweight, efficient and will keep the costs lower for the company. It is being worked upon purely for research purpose to help develop future models.

        The ‘Value Up’ concept is built on a new 3.8 m length platform and is likely to underpin some of the future cars from Renault. The concept fits between Renault Twingo and Clio models.

        The concept makes use abundant of bamboo in the cabin to lower the weight. It weighs 830 Kg and is supposed to be powered by a 1.0 three cylinder petrol engine.

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2016 Next Generation Audi Q7 unveiled

        German luxury automobile manufacturer Audi has unveiled the next generation Q7 SUV which will make its world premier at 2015 Detroit Motor Show. The second generation Audi Q7 is less bulky and offers more room for passengers and luggage than the current model. It weighs 393 Kg lighter and is 26% fuel efficient.

        The next generation Audi Q7 2016 is based on Volkswagen’s MLB platform. It gets Audi signature Matrix LED headlights and is expected to carry on with 6 and 8 cylinder engines with some modifications to improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions.

        The new Audi Q7 dimensions are 5.05 x 2099 x1.97 meters (length x width x height). It weighs 1995 Kg and has less centre of mass than the current model.

        Driving the car will be an all-wheel drive system (Quattro) powered by a 3.0L TDI(Diesel) or 3.0L TFSI(Petrol) with 272 hp and 600 Nm and 333 hp and 440 Nm outputs respectively. The new Audi Q7 can do 0 to 100 Kmph in 6.3 seconds with diesel and 6.1 seconds in petrol versions with a top speed achievability of 234 Kmph and 250 Kmph respectively.

        The new Audi Q7 gets new Audi virtual cockpit, new MMI all-in-touch control unit with large touchpad, Audi tablet for the rear seat passengers, the two sound systems with 3D audio, Smartphone integration with Google Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.

Safety systems include rear parking aid, cruise control, adjustable speed limiter, rest recommendation and Audi pre sense city.

Later on by the end of 2015 Audi will introduce Q7 e-tron Quattro powered by a 3.0L TDI diesel coupled with an electric motor paired to an 8 speed triptronic transmission. The Q7 e-tron delivers fuel efficiency of 58.82 Kmpl and CO2 emissions equivalent of under 50g/km.

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Audi launches A3 Cabriolet, priced at Rs. 44.75 lakh

        Audi A3 Cabriolet, which is basically a A3 sedan without a solid roof is launched in India. The A3 Cabriolet is priced at Rs. 44.75 lakh and looks very sporty. It costs more than the A3 sedan as it is imported as fully CBU.

        Audi A3 Cabriolet was first showed at Auto Expo 2014 held in New Delhi. The design of A3 Cabriolet is similar to the A3 sedan and so do the features and equipment list. It retains the bi-xenon headlamps with daytime running LEDs and LED tail lamps of A3 sedan.

        The car has two doors and four seats. The fabric roof can be retracted in 18 seconds and up to 50 Kmph. The diesel engine has been dropped and A3 Cabriolet is available in only petrol option with 1.8L TFSI petrol engine with 177 Bhp of power. The engine is mated to a seven speed S-tronic dual-clutch transmission. 

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Jaguar adds cheaper Executive Edition to XF sedan in India

        Jaguar has launched a new Executive Edition of XF sedan which was earlier offered only in the luxury trim. The Executive Edition is a cheaper version and misses out on some of the features the luxury trim has.

        The Jaguar XF Executive Edition does not get memory function for driver seats and mirrors, sunroof and a TV tuner. The leather seats are replaced with fabric and interior is kept simple. It gets rear parking sensors but no rear view camera.

        There is no change under the hood. The XF Executive Edition is powered by the same 2.2L diesel engine with 140 Kw power coupled to an eight speed automatic gearbox.

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Maruti Suzuki recalls Ciaz for clutch defect

          Maruti Suzuki has recalled the Ciaz sedan for a clutch defect barely two month after its launch in India. 3796 Ciaz sedans have been called to fix the faulty clutch system and if you own a Ciaz, check Maruti Suzuki Service Campaign website and find out whether your car is a part of the recall.

          The recall of Ciaz is only for the manual versions and automatic versions are not affected. Maruti Ciaz was launched in October 2014 and has sold over 10000 units till now. Maruti Suzuki intends to soon export the Ciaz to international markets.

Maruti Suzuki’s Service Campaign of Ciaz recall

New Delhi, December 01, 2014: Maruti Suzuki India Limited will proactively undertake a Service Campaign to inspect a suspected fault and replace the relevant part of clutch operation system of a batch of 3,796 Ciaz (manual transmission) cars. These cars are among those manufactured till 7th November 2014.

The Company has decided to undertake a Service Campaign for these cars, in the interest of customers. Maruti Suzuki dealers have started to communicate with owners of the impacted vehicles.

Service Campaigns are undertaken globally by automobile companies to rectify faults that may potentially cause inconvenience to customers.

The inspection and replacement will be done free of cost to the customer.

Customers of Ciaz (manual transmission) can check the Company’s website www.marutisuzuki.com to ascertain if their Ciaz is among the above mentioned vehicles.

The customer is requested to fill in the chassis number (MA3 followed by 14 digit alpha-numeric number) on the computer screen. The chassis number is embossed on the vehicle ID plate and is also in the vehicle invoice / registration documents.

Customers may also contact the nearest Maruti Suzuki dealer workshop to ascertain if their vehicle is among the above vehicles.

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Datsun’s low cost car redi-Go to be launched in May 2015

        According to reports by Business Week, Datsun will launch its low cost redi-Go in India by second quarter of next year. Datsun has showed the redi-Go concept at the Auto Expo 2014 held in New Delhi.

        The redi-Go concept is based on an all new low cost platform which is likely to be shared by Renault’s soon to be launched small car in India codenamed XBA. The redi-Go project codenamed Datsun I2 is taking its shape at Renault Nissan Techonology Business Center India.

        Datsun redi-Go is also likely to share its powertrain with the Renualt’s small car which will be powered by all new 3 cylinder 800cc petrol engine. The car is reported to be light weight with kerb weight of 760 Kg.

        Datsun will position redi-Go below the Go hatchback. Since the small car market is dominated by Maruti, it will be hard for Datsun to compete having seen very little success with Go hatch.

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Chevrolet to launch a compact sedan in India by 2017

        General Motors plans to enter the lucrative compact sedan segment in India by launching a compact sedan version of its Chevrolet hatchback. The project codenamed MCM will use the Beat’s M300 platform, and the new car will not just be an added boot to the Beat hatchback.

        The compact sedan segment was first started by Tata Motors by launching Indigo CS, soon followed by Maruti with the new Dzire, Hyundai with the Grand i10 compact sedan – Xcent and Honda with Amaze. Ford and Volkswagen also have plans to bring in a compact sedan under 4 meter length mark.

        Tata Motors has recently launched Zest compact sedan with automatic manual transmission and also plans replace the current Indigo eCS with Kite based compact sedan which too is likely to get an automatic transmission. With so much competition and high success rate, the compact sedan segment will see more cars to come in the near future. 

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Refreshed Porsche Cayenne 2015 launched in India

        Porsche India has launched the refreshed Cayenne SUV in India with price starting from Rs. 1.02 crores. The refreshed Cayenne SUV features minor cosmetic and mechanical changes. The new Cayenne is available in four variants – Cayenne Diesel, Cayenne S Diesel, Cayenne S and Cayenne Turbo.

        The exterior changes come in the form of new headlamps and taillamps, inspired from the Macan SUV. The front end gets newly shaped bonnet, bumper and airdam. In the rear there is better integration of number plate enclosure and boot handle added with new exhaust pipers.

        Interiors see changes with 918 inspired steering wheel with paddle sifters. The new Cayenne gets four zone climate control, a panoramic roof and an optional rear seat ventilation system. There is addition of Porsche Active Suspension Management, Porsche Entry and Drive in the new Porsche Cayenne 2015.

        Powering the new Cayenne diesel is the 3.0L V6 diesel with 245 hp of power and 550 nm of torque. Cayenne S diesel gets a 4.2L V8 engine. Cayenne S now uses Macan’s 3.6L twin turbo V6 petrol with 420 hp of power and 550 Nm of torque. Cayenne Turbo continues with its 4.8L bi-turbo V8 petrol engine. 

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Suzuki YRA hatchback revealed, spied without camouflage

        Just couple of days ago we had posted about Suzuki YRA hatchback spied with little camouflage. Now pictures of the car without any camouflage have surfaced on the net, probable taken somewhere in Europe.

        Suzuki YRA hatch looks much bigger than the Swift and though the front end carries the Suzuki design language, the YRA hatch rear is completely new to the company’s design philosophy. The rear looks more European with raked C pillar, seen first on Suzuki hatches.

        Suzuki YRA hatchback will compete with Hyundai Elite i20 and Honda Jazz. We believe Suzuki will waste no time in bringing the car to India as they are known to capture the market sooner than any other car company.  

        Suzuki YRA hatchback will be positioned above Swift and expected to be priced around Rs. 8 lakh. It is expected to come with 1.2 and 1.4L petrol engines and 1.3L DDiS diesel. 

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