Tata Motors Blaze De Rajasthan 2012 starts on 9th June 2012

     Tata Motors motorsports division ‘Tata Motors Full Throttle’ has launched an off-road rally competition for all rally enthusiast called ‘TATA MOTORS BLAZE DE RAJASTHAN’ happening on 9th and 10th of June 2012. The rally starts and ends in Jaipur covering adventurous terrain stretch of 300 Km. 

     The rally has three categories – 2WD, 4WD and Women’s team. The competition is open to all the rally enthusiasts and any make of the vehicle. The rally stretch encompass in-city drives, hilly tarmac sections, sandy trails, specially made tracks to test the navigation skills of the participants. Thar Motorsports is the program partner for planning and execution of this event and Tata Motors will take care of all logistical, medical and service support. 

Mr. Jatin Lakra, Head Marketing-Sumo and Grande, Tata Motors said,”After a series of successes in rallies, Tata Motors Full Throttle brings the joy of competitive rallying to all motorsports enthusiast across the country. Rajasthan is a popular destination for off-roading and a natural choice for us to hold our first one-day off-roading rally. The state has some of the most extensive networks of roads that connect even small towns and villages and are fairly isolated with little traffic load, ideal for such sporting events.”

     Tata Motors Full Throttle recently launched two off-roading events for the owners of Tata Motors SUVs called Tata Motors Full Throttle Experience and Tata Motors Full Throttle Trails. The Full Thorttle Experience will be flagged off from New Delhi on June 22 and goes on for number of days. The Full Throttle Trails are half day offroading events with total of 21 trails. 

To take part in these adventurous rallying activities email to Tata Motors at -

blazederajasthan@tatamotorsfullthrottle.com 
or
experiences@tatamotorsfullthrottle.com

You can visit http://www.tatamotorsfullthrottle.com for more details.

Husqvarna Motorcycles to come to India

     Husqvarna Motorcycles, the name seems to be very new in India. But Husqvarna Motorcyles has a very strong history dating back to 1903. Husqvarna was established in 1903 in Sweden and made bicycles before starting making motorcycles. In 1987 Husqvarna became a part of MV Agusta and currently is owned by BMW Motorrad. Husqvarna is headquartered at Varese, Italy.

     Husqvarna makes a range of motorcycles for Off-road, Supermotor and Street use. The company aims to bring Husqvarna Nuda 900R as its first offering for India. The other bikes from Husqvarna are less than 800cc and need homologation before bringing it to India. The Nuda 900R is powered by a 900cc engine sourced from the BMWF800R parallel twin motor. The capacity of the engine has been increased to 900cc and Husqvarna has tuned the engine to their requirements. The engine produces 105 Ps of power and 100 Nm of torque and weighs 175 Kgm. The Husqvarna Nuda 900R is expected to be priced at Rs. 14 lakh in India.

Honda aims big for India, hopes to sell 1 million cars by 2015-16

     Honda has never been so serious in Indian markets. The tragedies in Japan and Thailand prompted the Japanese motorcycle to car manufacturer ‘Honda Motor Corporation’ to focus more on the developing markets to break even volumes and thus profits.

     Honda first entered India in 1998 with a sole mode ‘City’ sedan. The City since then almost ruled the segment in spite of being priced high, just because of the sheer pleasure it give to its customers. In fact the ‘City’ lost its dominance recently to the new entrants Volkswagen Vento and Hyundai Verna. It was not due to the better quality and value for money of the new enterants, but just for the lack of a diesel option.

     Honda has developed a 1.6 L diesel (i-DTEC) which will power the ‘City’ sedan and hopefully the Civic as well. Though the engine and its technology is the first from Honda in the segment, the strong heritage of quality products of Honda assures us to have a wonderful diesel engine which could surpass its competitors in most of the parameters. A smaller 1.2 L diesel is also under development to propel Jazz and Brio to be launched early next year. The diesel Brio has already been spied testing in Noida, which means the Brio diesel will come sooner than expected.

     With range of diesel vehicles in the Honda’s portfolio, the company aims to sell over 1 million units in India by the next 4 to 5 years. To attain this Honda has to sell over a lakh of vehicles per year which is possible only when it prices its vehicles cheaper than its competitors. Also Honda has to bring more range of cars in different segments to get the volumes going. The launch of Brio petrol with a price tag of Rs. 3.95 lakh (ex-showroom, New Delhi) and re pricing of Jazz petrol is a classical example which has made Honda to rethink about its strategies in India.

     We at AutomobilePlanet.com have faith that Honda has all the capabilities to be another Suzuki Motor Company in India. With Honda’s brilliant technology, futuristic design, strong quality maintenance, environmental awareness and the zeel to make a better automobile, we Indians will have a wonderful time motoring in the coming days. We would also like to see Honda Freed, Honda Concept S and Honda Odyssey plying on our roads. 

Renault Duster to be priced at Rs. 6 - 7 lakh?

     We found an interesting article posted at Indianautosblog which mentioned the Duster to be priced at Rs. 6 lakh for the petrol version and a lakh more for the diesel one. It is indeed very surprising to hear about Renault vehicle price so competitively. Assuming Renault prices Duster at Rs. 6 lakh for petrol and Rs. 7 lakh for diesel, of course it would be ex-showroom New Delhi, which means Duster petrol will cost around Rs. 7.5 to 8.5 lakh on road  Bangalore. It is a very competitive price and seems that Renault will hit the nail at the right place.

     Renault with its three launches till now – Fluence, Koleos & Pulse has not been able to sell good volumes to get desired market share. The fourth launch which will be the Duster is a trump card for Renault, which Renault do not want to lose out. With clever packaging and such competitive price Renault could finally get a food hold on Indian market.

     The Duster will be powered by the same 1.5L petrol and diesel engines which powers the Nissan Micra and Sunny. A more powerful diesel option with a turbo having 110 Bhp will also find its place under the Duster’s hood. The great ground clearance, solid build and practicality will place the Duster at the top in the minds of customers looking to buy Ertiga or any other SUV. Any comments?

Skoda Superb facelift spied

     Skoda had launched the new Superb three years back and now has plans to give it a facelift. The facelifted Skoda Superb was spied with some camouflage, but in spite of it lot of details are visible.

      In the front there is the new headlamps look good with angular design, the front grill seems to be big and bolder than the current one. The front bumper has been redesign to suit the changes. The most striking feature is in the rear which gets sharp tail lamps which resembles with current generation Volkswagen and Audi.

     Apart from the front and rear changes there is absolutely no change in the overall design of the car. There will be no change in the chassis, suspension and engine department. 

Hyundai’s unique Petrol Price Lock Assurance

     With the petrol prices rising, Hyundai Motor India has structured a new Petrol Price Lock Assurance to protect its customers from the steep petrol price hike. Under this scheme, petrol car buyers will be offered huge discounts on Eon, Santro, i10, i20, Accent and Verna. The Petrol Price Lock Assurance will be valid on bookings made before May 31st 2012. The scheme comes in addition to the 5 Star Assurance Scheme which covered Santro and i10 Models.


     Speaking about the offer, Mr. Arvid Saxena of Hyundai Motor India Ltd. said that the petrol price hike is a huge burden on its customers and the company has taken initiative to protect the customer from this steep petrol price hike.

Chevrolet Cruze facelift unveiled at Busan Motor Show

     General Motors has unveiled the Chevrolet Cruze facelift at the 2012 Busan Motor Show. The Cruze facelift gets upgrades on the front grill and fog light section. The important addition is in the inside. The new Cruze gets MyLink in-car infotainment system with a 7 inch touch screen playing almost all sorts of media from a USB pen drive.

     It is not clear weather General Motors will bring the facelifted Cruze to India. But a new version of Cruze, with a new diesel engine will be launched in June. The Cruze will be powered by a 2.0 Liter Z Series diesel which produces 163 Bhp power and 360 Nm of torque. The new engine will reduce the turbo lag improves the drivability. The NVH levels will also be improved as well.


     The upgraded Cruze will be priced Rs. 40,000/- more than the current model when launched in India next month.