Mahindra starts trial production of mini Xylo

     Mahindra has started trial production of shorter version of its Xylo MPV. The mini Xylo will be manufactured at the company’s Chakan plant is expected to be launched in couple of months.


     Many spy pictures of the mini Xylo has been published in the blog world. From the spy pictures it is evident that the rear portion of the Xylo has been chopped off and hence will come under 4 meters length. Information about the powertrain is sparse by a small 1.5L CRDe engine is expected to be under mini Xylo’s hood. Expected the mini Xylo to be priced around Rs. 5 lakh.

India bound Mercedes Benz A Class pictures revealed on net

     Mercedes Benz announced its small cars A Class and B Class entry into India couple of weeks ago. Now we have got the pictures of the car probably leaked from the European Patent Office.


     Mercedes which is facing heat from its competitors – Audi and BMW in the luxury car segment. In order to maintain the profit margin the company has decided to tap the untapped small luxury car segment and hence decided to launch it small cars A Class and B Class in India. To make things worse for Mercedes, players such as Volvo and Jaguar are slowly chipping in with their next generation cars in India.


     The A Class will be Font Wheel Drive vehicle unlike other Mercedes cars which are all Rear Wheel Drive. Under the hood of the A Class will be a 2.0 turbocharged four cylinder petrol engine with 210 Bhp of power. Expect the A Class to be priced at Rs. 15 lakh.

Honda Brio caught testing in India

     Honda's much anticipated small car Brio has been caught testing in New Delhi. Mr. Siddarth Vinayak Patankar, the show presenter of NDTVs Car & Bike show could manage to get the spy picture of the car, tough the image is very much blurred.


     Honda had postponed the launch of Brio in India due to the mighty disaster in Japan. The Brio which was earlier slated for June launch was postponed to October this year. Now with the small car seen on the Indian roads we can expect Brio to be here much soon than expected.

     Honda is holding high hopes on the Brio and why should it not? The Brio has been designed from the scratch like the Etios for the developing markets such as India and Thailand. The Brio promises to deliver unmatched performance and fuel efficiency, with Honda claiming Brio to run 20 km with a liter of petrol. With the raising fuel cost and interest rates, Honda wants to be in Indian market sooner.


     The Brio will be powered by a 1.2L iVTEC petrol motor, same one powering the Jazz, though a smaller engine is likely to be available. Safety features such as airbags and ABS are expected to be present in the Brio, first of its kind in a small car in India. Expected to be priced under Rs. 6 lakh, Honda has to bring in a diesel Brio to really compete in the B segment.

Is this the 2012 Honda CR-V?

     It was reported that Honda will delay its next generation CR-V project due to Japan disaster. But what we see from the picture is a test mule of the new CR-V with covered front end and D pillar.


     If the vehicle in the picture is indeed the new CR-V, then expect the new CR-V to have a 3rd row of seats. The rear end of the vehicle seems to be bulging to accommodate a third row. The tail lights seem to be of like the Volvo XC90 extending from the roof on the D pillar.


     Since there is news about the next generation Volvo XC90 in development, the test mule vehicle could also be the new XC90. Well let’s wait for more clear pictures to emerge.

Source: Autoblog, Image: Robert Whitley/Brenda Priddy & Company

Toyota overtakes BMW as the World’s Most Valuable Automobile Brand in 2011

     According to BrandZ top 100 annual study, Toyota has regained the tag World’s Most Valuable Automobile Brand, which it lost to BMW because of the recalls. Toyota saw 11% increase in its brand value which is now rated as $24.2 billion.


     Toyota was named most valuable brand for 4 consecutive times from 2006-09. In 2010 Toyota lost the first place to BMW because of recall issues. BMW ranked second this year followed by Mercedes Benz, Honda and Porsche. The other companies in the Top 10 Automotive list are Nissan, VW, Ford, Audi and Lexus.

Petrol price hiked by Rs. 5 per liter, diesel price to follow soon

     The Union Government of India has hiked the price of petrol by Rs. 5 just within 24 hours of the election results. We had mentioned earlier about the fuel price hike recommended by RBI to Govt. on India to maintain the fiscal deficit. Oil companies were facing huge losses due to raising international crude price.


     This is the 7th time in 11 months petrol prices have gone up. If you are thinking this is not enough, there is still more hard news to come. The diesel and cooking gas prices are also going to be up by Rs. 4 per liter and Rs. 25-50 per cylinder respectively.


Here are the new petrol prices in different cities of India


Bangalore – Rs. 71.10/liter
New Delhi – Rs.63.37/liter
Mumbai – Rs. 68.33/liter
Kolkata – Rs. 67.71/liter
Chennai – Rs. 67.22/liter

Honda City diesel? Wait till 2013

     With the rising fuel prices, people are switching to diesel cars, thanks to the latest diesel engine technology which has improved the performance and fuel efficiency of diesel cars.

     Honda City had been the market leader in the C Segment cars in India because of its sheer performance and better fuel efficiency than its competitors. Well we have to say that it no longer stays at the top because of the Vento diesel.

     Volkswagen had targeted the Honda City before launching and it is succeeded to some extent in tress passing the Honda City category. Volkswagen’s Vento diesel has indeed caused damage to the Honda City party.

      Honda seems to be the worried automobile manufacturer. First it was the Tsunami and Earthquake in Japan which has caused damage to Honda and secondly the raising fuel costs. Since Honda has no potential diesel engine for its medium segment cars, it is finding difficult to sustain the markets especially in India.

      Honda had announced that it is developing a small diesel engine for it s cars. But that will not happen before 2013. We feel Honda has speed up its diesel engine development to sustain in this cut throat competitive market.