India bound Hyundai HA spied in South Korea

     Hyundai has been testing its small car HA in India for quiet some time. This time we have found the spy pictures of HA small car in South Korea. By far these are the high resolution clear pictures of the Hyundai HA we have seen.
Since the small car has been spied in South Korea which is home to Hyundai, we guess Hyundai has plans to launch this car not only in India but in International markets as well.


     From the pictures it is evident that the design is a mixture of i10 and Santro. The head lamps look similar to the Fluidic design family, going up till the A pillar. In the rear the tails lamps has been positioned longitudinally like the Tata Indica which is the first in a Hyundai car.


     The HA small car is expected to be launched in India by 1st half of 2012. It will take on market leader Maruti Suzuki Alto with its aggressive price of Rs. 2.5 lakh.


     Last month during the launch of the Fluidic Verna in Andhra Pradesh, Mr. YK Koo, Senor Director (Sales and Marketing) HMIL said “We are planning to launch it in the first half of next year. The car will be manufactured in Indian plant. HMI is very strong in compact car segment. With this launch, we hope to dominate the rural market also. That is our strategy. If we have a small car it is easy to penetrate into the rural market,”

Source:  Noticias Automotivas

Cars to have fuel efficiency tag in India

     Cars in India will bear a fuel efficiency tag on them in India. Buyers can compare models based on Govt. certified fuel efficiency labels before buying a car.


     As we see in the Maruti Suzuki ad, Indian customer is more concerned about the fuel efficiency of a vehicle (Kitna deti hi). The Bureau of Energy Efficiency has almost finalized the fuel efficiency labeling rules.


     The cars in India will bear the fuel efficiency labels from March 2012. No car without the label will be on the road after March 2012.


     The fuel efficiency labels will make the manufacture to meet the norms and bring in new technology for a greener vehicle. According to the Bureau of Energy Efficiency the Govt. expects industry wide fuel efficiency to improve by 20-25%.

Car Warranty Myths Busted!

     Car warranty can be one of the most beautiful things in the world - there’s nothing like seeing an expensive repair bill and knowing you won’t have to pay a dime of it. That’s why it can be a good idea to renew your warranty when it runs out – or even to purchase an extended warranty from an independent provider. The good thing with a brand new car is that a manyfacturer’s cover is included – it can last for anywhere between one and seven years and can be tied to mileage or unlimited. Few people know that some original manufacturer’s warranties don’t cover all parts of your new car.

     Unfortunately there are three very common myths surrounding car warranties that have spread like wildfire of late, meaning that a lot of people fail to understand the importance of car warranties.

Myth 1: New cars don’t break down as often – we all like to think that we’re at the stage now where technology can be trusted to 99 – if not 100 – per cent. Unfortunately, new cars break down nearly as often as they did 10 years ago.

Myth 2: Your existing warranty covers everything – most people only have their manufacturer’s warranty, thinking that it covers anything that may go wrong. Unfortunately such is not the case, so it’s worthwhile looking in to the limitations of your warranty and extending it with an external company.

Myth 3: Car warranties are pricey – only true if you don’t know where to look! Don’t just go for the deal offered by your dealer; search around online for the best offer, and don’t forget to haggle before you sign up! Prices of online providers on a similar level of cover can fluctuate tremendously meaning that you can save hundreds each year if only you take time to compare the quotes.

Strike at Manesar Maruti plant ends, resumes work tomorrow

     The ongoing strike at the Maruti Suzuki plant in Manesar has come to an end. The workers went on strike on 4th of July till today, for a total of 13 days amounting to loss of over Rs. 700 crores to the company.


     The 11 employees who were suspended has been reinitiated and work will resume normally from tomorrow. However no decision on a separate union has been taken.


     Maruti manufactures its diesel cars - Swift, Ritz and SX4 at its manufacturing plant. Due to the strike the company lost manufacturing of around 1200 cars in 13 days. Maruti indends to expand its Manesar plant to 5 lakh unit capacity.

Triumph to enter Indian two wheeler market

     British Iconic motorcylce brand ‘Triumph’ has decided to launch its series of motorcycles in Indian market. Triumph has high performance motorcylces which are Tiger, Spirt, Bonneville, Rocket III, Daytona sports bike and Speed Triple Street model. These models are likely to come to India.


     The Tiger and Spirt motorcylces have 3 cylinder 1050cc, the Bonneville has 2 cylinder 865cc, Rocket III has 2294 cc and the sports and street bikes have 675cc engines. These bike will come to Inida via CBU route.

Updated Toyota Corolla Altis launched in India

     Toyota has launched the updated Corolla Altis sedan in India. Till yesterday we were seeing the spy pictures of the car. The updated Corolla Altis features redesigned headlamps, grill and bumper in the front and redesigned tail lamps in the rear. The interiors now feature darker mock wood trim.


     The petrol engine of the old Corolla Altis has been tweaked to deliver 138 Bhp, 7Bhp more. The 5 speed manual transmission is replaced by a new 6 speed done and the top end variant will get a new 7 speed CVT unit. The diesel variant will feature the same 6 speed manual transmission.


     The prices of the new Corolla Altis has gone up by Rs. 15,000-24,000 for petrol model and Rs. 15,000-30,000 for the diesel one. The Corolla Altis petrol price starts from Rs. 10.53 lakh going up to Rs. 14.77 lakh while the diesel Altis prices ranges from Rs. 11.46 lakh to Rs. 14.55 lakh (All prices ex-showroom, New Delhi).

Prices (ex-showroom, New Delhi)


Toyota Corolla Altis Petrol


J- 10.53 lakh
G- 12.39 lakh
GL- 13.86 lakh
VL- 14.77 lakh


Toyota Corolla Altis Diesel


J- 11.46 lakh
G- 13.41 lakh
GL- 14.55 lakh

New BMW M5 Revealed

     The BMW ‘M’ Series is one of the most renowned and sought-after sports sub-brands in the automotive industry, having produced numerous blistering fast examples baring the desirable ‘M’ badge, these industry leaders combine super car performance with family car practicality. Indeed the numerous iterations of the M3 and M5 have proved a worthy challenge in the past to manufacturers like Ferrari and Porsche producing cars costing double the amount of BMWs modestly priced but monumentally quick offerings.

     This heritage has been passed down to the latest version of one of the quickest saloon cars in the world, the new M5 F10. Official pictures released in early April whet petrol head’s appetites and revealed that styling cues from previous M cars were present in this latest example. The new M5 features gaping front intakes to cool the engine, aggressive, swooping curves in the bonnet to aid aerodynamic performance  and the famous quad-exhaust system featured on all M cars.

     Performance wise the new M5 doesn’t disappoint, 0-60 time of 4.4 seconds and the V8 Twin-turbo power plant delivers a devastating 560bhp and 680Nm of torque. This demonstrates that although the new M5 is more refined and luxurious than previous models, with its long list of high tech option extras, its focus remains on performance, and it’s still a drivers car through and through.

     Despite the M5 maintaining impressive performance figures, those clever German engineers have lived up their reputation for being ruthlessly efficient and actually lowered fuel consumption, so the rumours go. In a time when every penny counts, the aforementioned supercar giants will be looking over their shoulders at what is a less expensive, more spacious rival. The M5 once gain looks to set the standards at the top of the performance saloon market.

     This is a guest post by Mr. Joe. Joe is an automotive blogger who owns a cheap BMW 5 Series but would love to trade it in for an M5!