Mercedes Benz slips to third place in Indian luxury car market

     Once the market leader Mercedes Benz has now slipped to the third place in Indian luxury car market. Not to forget, Mercedes Benz was the first luxury car company to venture into India when the market here was just in an infancy. With some innovative marketing plans and rock solid product, Mercedes managed to sell good number of cars and dominated the segment for a long time.

     With India's economy booming and more people started going form luxury cars, the other two German luxury car makers BMW and Audi sensed the booming market and entered in India, though slowly. With slew of new launches the late entrants managed to car a niche for themselves and got recognized as a premium car brands in the minds of Indians.

     Mercedes poor performance in recent times is lack of new models. The C,E and S class are the same models sold from past 15 years, though the design and styling have been changed. To be frank, we feel Mercedes cars looked better 10 years back as compared to the present ones. Mercedes SUVs M and G Class could not make an impact on India's because of there sheer price and being not so practical. Other the other hand BMW and Audi launched their new models both in sedan as well as SUV segments. The latest launches from BMW and Audi which are mini SUV have made Indians to stretch a bit to go for a premium luxury brand. With next generation of cars in the pipeline, namely the all new A and B class, Mercedes is seriously thinking of bounce back.

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Garware Motors to launch Hyosung 250cc bikes in India

     Kolkata based Garware Motors will launch 250cc bikes from Hyosung stable in India in 3 to 4 months. The Hyosung range consists of three motorcycles, which include GT650R, GT650N and ST7 Royale, all of which will be available in India soon. These motorcycles will be marketed across India through the company's 16 dealership spread over the country. A new manufacturing unit is also planned at Wai in Mahrashtra with capacity of 2000 motorcycles per year. Garware Motors has entered inot the joint venture with South Korea's S & T Motors which manufactures Hyosung marque motorcycles. The company aims at tie-II cities of India with its first offering GT250R.

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Maruti Suzuki launches Ertiga LUV in India

     Maruti Suzuki today launched its first MPV in India named ‘Ertiga’. The company calls it LUV which means Life Utility Vehicel. The Ertiga MPV is priced between Rs. 5.89 lakh and Rs. 8.45 lakh ex-showroom New Delhi. Maruti Suzuki had displayed Ertiga at the Auto Expo 2012 held at New Delhi this year.


     The Ertiga comes with two engine options – 1.4L petrol and 1.3L diesel. Each petrol and diesel versions have 3 variants which makes Ertiga to be available in 6 different variants in total.

     Maruti Suzuki has brought a new 1.4L petrol engine into the Indian market. The engine belongs to the same K series petrol engines from Suzuki but with a bigger capacity of 1400cc. The engine produces 93 bhp of power and 130 Nm of torque. The 1.3L diesel is the same DDiS engine which powers the SX4. It produces 87 bhp of power and 200 Nm of torque.


Here are the (ex-showroom) prices of Ertiga variants in New Delhi -


Maruti Ertiga Lxi (Petrol) – Rs. 5.89 Lakh
Maruti Ertiga Vxi (Petrol) – Rs. 6.60 Lakh
Maruti Ertiga Zxi (Petrol) – Rs. 7.30 Lakh
Maruti Ertiga Ldi (Diesel) – Rs. 7.30 Lakh
Maruti Ertiga Vdi (Diesel) – Rs. 7.90 Lakh
Maruti Ertiga Zdi (Diesel) – Rs. 8.45 Lakh

Maruti Suzuki Ertiga brochure

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Next Generation Toyota Innova launch by 2014

     According to sources Toyota is planning to launch a latest version Innova in India by the year 2014. Toyota in its vehicle policy has a product life cycle concept which ranges between 8 to 10 years. Since Innova is 7 years old after its launch in 2005, it is nearing the end of its product life cycle and hence need a replacement to stay competitive in the market. 

This is just an illustrated picture and not the original Innova 2014 

     In an emerging market like India, new launches are happening in a short span of time and a product life cycle of 8 to 10 years will be too long. Toyota will keep this aspect in the mind and reduce its product life cycle to launch latest models to stay in the competition. Like the old Swift which was a good looking vehicle underwent phasing out and gave way for the latest model which looks even better. No wonder the Swift is currently ruling the Indian car market.

     Toyota is expected to increase the length of the next generation Innova to create more space for the third row passengers. The interior trim, quality and design will improve to offer more space for the occupants. A new powerful engine is also expected for the new model. However there is no news of a Hybrid option, but Toyota will sure keep an option of Hybrid for its new Innova in future.

Picture source: Wheelosphere

Next Generation Innova 2014: What to expect?

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VW UP! wins World Car of the Year 2012

     Volkswagen’s latest small car ‘UP!’ has been named as the World Car of the Year 2012 at the ongoing New York Auto Expo. The UP was chosen amongst 34 models which included BMW 3 Series and Porsche 911.

Oliver Stefani – designer of VW UP! holds the World Car of the Year 

     The jury for the award comprises of 64 journalists from 25 countries which ensures unbiased judgment depending on a particular market. The UP! managed to impress the jury with its responsive steering, sophisticated suspension set up, efficient engines, quality of materials and overall finish.


The other winners at the occasion include –


World Car Design of the Year – Range Rover Evoque
World Performance Car of the Year – Porsche 911
World Green Car of the Year – Mercedes-Benz S 250 CDI Blue efficiency


     The VW UP! joins the league of World Car of the Year winners - Nissan Leaf (2011), Volkswagen Polo (2010), Volkswagen Golf (2009) and Mazda 2 (2008).

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Maruti to launch a new sedan between Dzire and SX4

     It will not be unfair if we say Maruti Suzuki is one of the first companies to react to the Indian market demands. After the launch of the new Swift Dizre, a potential gap got created below the SX4. The new Swift Dizre is priced between Rs. 4.88 lakh and Rs. 7.5 lakh where as the price of SX4 starts from Rs. 7.7 lakh and goes upto Rs. 9.4 lakh. So an all new sedan segment is created in the price range of Rs. 6.5 lakh to Rs. 8.5 lakh which Maruti do not want to let go.


     Maruti recently rebadged the old Dizre as Dizre Tour which is mainly targeted for the taxi segment. Otherwise the old Dizre would have been a perfect vehicle in Rs. 6.5 lakh to Rs. 8.5 lakh segment. Having said this we have to understand that Maruti Suzuki would have already thought of launching a new sedan below SX4 before the renaming of the old Dzire.

     Since almost all of the Maruti’s latest vehicles are value for money and have had phenomenal success in the recent past, we can expect to have a wonderful vehicle in the form of a new sedan. Since the Eritga will be launched very soon, we can also expect the new sedan to be based on the Ertiga platform which is not a bad idea!


     Maruti is facing a stiff challenge in sedan segment after the launch of new cars like Toyota Etios, Volkswagen Vento and Hyundai Fluidic Verna. Even the diesel SX4 failed to boost the sales in the C segment. The only drawback of Maruti is not having a powerful diesel engine. Suzuki is in talks with Fiat for a bigger 1.6L Mulitjet which might find its place in future SX4s. The new sedan which we mentioned earlier might be powered by the 1.3L DDiS turbo presently powering the SX4.

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India car market sales data for March 2012

Chevrolet
Spark – 1877
Beat – 5621
Aveo-UVA – 41
Aveo – 63
Optra – 123
Cruze – 722
Tavera – 2073
Captiva - 44


Fiat
Punto – 954
Linea – 461


Ford
Figo – 7073
Fiesta Classic – 1564
Fiesta – 373
Endeavour – 16


HM-Mitsubishi
Ambassador – 200
Lancer & Cedia – 42
Pajero – 27
Outlander – 11
Montero – 11
EVO-X – 0


Honda
Brio – 6355
Jazz – 535
City – 3920
Civic – 104
Accord – 101
CR-V – 1


Hyundai
Eon – 12500
Santro – 5359
I10 – 10157
I20 – 6235
Accent – 525
Verna – 4132
Sonata – 92
Santa Fe – 122


Mahindra
Verito – 1763
Bolero – 10078
Xylo – 2805
Scorpio – 4394
XUV500 – 3196


Maruti Suzuki
800 – 2286
Omni – 7218
Alto - 35245
Eeco – 5218
Estilo – 1001
Wagon R – 14589
A-Star – 706
Ritz – 6391
Swift – 20521
Dzire – 16451
SX4 – 1520
Gypsy – 409
Kizashi – 48
Grand Vitara – 4


Nissan
Micra – 1674
Sunny – 4151
X-Trail – 18
Teana – 31
370Z – 1


Renault
Fluence – 227
Koleos – 32


Skoda Auto
Fabia – 770
Rapid – 2882
Laura – 597
Yeti – 224
Superb – 349


Tata Motors
Nano – 10475
Indica +Vista – 11420
Indigo+Manza – 8295
Sumo – 3631
Safari – 1802
Aria – 383
Venture – 978


Toyota
Liva – 4034
Etios – 5104
Innova – 6765
Corolla – 917
Fortuner – 1379
Camry – 0
Prius – 0
Prado – 13
Landcruiser – 8


Volkswagen
Polo – 3840
Vento – 3908
Jetta – 336
Passat – 142
Beetle – 0

Source: team-bhp

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