Mahindra Stallio to be relaunched a Pantero

Mahindra entered commuter motorcycle segment with Stallio but due to various reasons could not sell in good numbers and Mahindra had to forcefully withdraw the bike from the market. News is that Mahindra will relaunch the Stallio commuter bike with a new name Panthero. Well Mahindra has stuck to naming its products with the letter ending with ‘O’.

The Pantero will look similar to the Stallio, but we guess Mahindra have worked on all aspects of the bike to make it sure Pantero is not a half baked product. The original Stallio was powered by a 4 stroke 106.7 cc single cylinder air cooled engine with power output of 7.3 Bhp at 7500 rpm and torque of 0.8 Kgm at 5500 rpm. The engine was mated to a 4 speed gearbox. The Pantero is expected to be launch in January next year.

The Pantero was spied by Autocarindia readers while testing near Pune. Here are the spy pictures.

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Tata Motors shows Ace refresh at 1 million milestone celebration

Tata Motors claims that it has crossed 1 million sales of Ace pick up truck. The number includes all the Aces sold in India and world over. During the occasion Tata also showed the refresh model of Ace pickup and rumours are that production of Ace refresh has already started at Uttarakhand plant and launch will be very soon.

Tata Motors has showed the Ace refresh at the Delhi Auto Expo 2012. Tatas have improved the Ace pickup after taking customer feedbacks from its 1 million Ace customers. The Ace refresh features a new grill, petal shaped headlights, body coloured bumpers, fabric seats and wider ORVM.

The Ace refresh will be launched in HT, EX and CNG variants. It will be powered by the same 700cc IDI engine which pumps out 16 Hp of power and 38 Nm of torque. Tata is also readying a DICOR variant of the same engine will could be launched with the Ace refresh.

Tata Ace Milestones

Year	Milestones
2005	Tata Ace, India's first mini-truck, launched Production started in Pune
2006	Launch of Tata Ace HT Tata Ace in Sri Lanka Tata Ace received the BBC-Top Gear' Design of the Year 2006 award
2007	Roll out of 100,000th Tata Ace Tata Ace in Nepal Launch of Tata Magic, for passenger transportation
2008	Dedicated plant at Pantnagar (Uttarakhand) commenced production. Launch of Tata Ace CNG
2009	Introduction of the Tata Super Ace and Tata Ace EX
2010	Tata Ace became India's first 1-lakh-per-year brand in goods CVs Tata Ace family sales crossed 5,00,000 mark
2011	Launch of Tata Magic IRIS, mini-passenger carrier and Tata Ace Zip, a 600 kg micro truck.

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Honda Brio Amaze teaser video

In our previous post we had mentioned that the Brio sedan will be called Amaze. In fact the Brio sedan will be named as Brio Amaze in Thailand and we guess the same nomenclature will follow in India as well. The Honda Thailand website has posted a teaser video of the Brio Amaze and we thought we will bring it for you. The Brio Amaze will have a new distinctive grill and from the rear (we feel) it looks very similar to the Honda City. What do you say? Have a look at the video

Honda Amaze Interior Pictures

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9LR5WYKHmXw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

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Fiat announces next generation Grande Punto by 2014

Italian auto maker Fiat has announced that it will bring in the next generation Grande Punto in another two years. Which means the all new Fiat Grande Punto will make its debut in 2014 and hopefully come to India in the same year.

Grande Punto though being a good car has not able to turn Fiat’s fortune in India. The lack of after sales service and marketing by Fiat has costed the beautiful and well built car suffer in competition with half baked Japanese, American and Indian cars.

The next generation Grande Punto will have a much more dynamic design and come with latest technologies from Fiat. The more advance Multi-jet engine is also expected to come through the new Grande Punto. With a good design, more interior space and higher ground clearance, the next generation Grande Punto has something promising for the future in India, and of course Fiat has to work really hard on the marketing and after sales service. Fiat recently split from Tata to open their own chain of dealership franchise in the name of Fiat Cafe. 

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Its official, Honda Brio sedan to be named AMAZE

Yesterday we bought you the news that Brio sedan could be named as ‘AMAZE’. Now the Honda Thailand website has confirmed that the name of the Honda’s new sedan will be ‘AMAZE’ indeed. The good news is Honda Amaze will be launched in Thailand on 23^rd November and will make it to India by March next year.

Honda Amaze will be launched only in petrol model in Thailand where as in India we will get both petrol and diesel models. Honda has announced that it will keep pricing of ‘AMAZE’ competitive by increasing the local sourcing and production.

Honda Amaze Interior Pictures

As the Honda Amaze is built on Brio platform, it offers smaller exterior dimensions with higher interior space. Honda has stuck to its philosophy of Man Maximum Machine Minimum which is evident from the design. The ‘AMAZE’ diesel will be indeed an amazing car when launched in India and we at AutomobilePlanet.com are furious to see one. 

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Honda Brio sedan could be named ‘AMAZE’

Honda AMAZE, is indeed an amazing name to one of the going to be amazing cars in India. This is because Honda will bring in its first diesel in India through Amaze/Brio sedan. Off late lot of interesting news of the Brio sedan is coming up and the name ‘AMAZE’ is the latest one.

GTO of team-bhp has mentioned that a friend of his has dropped some information about the Honda Brio sedan. According to him the Brio sedan will have a 5 alphabet letter which could be ‘AMAZE’. He has also mentioned that the new diesel engine will be a light aluminium one with 24 Kmpl of fuel efficiency.

AutocarIndia has posted a nice rendering of the Brio sedan but the teaser picture on the Honda Thailand has a different thing to say. The changes in the rear door and C pillar are evident and the new Brio sedan will not just be a Brio with the boot. The Brio sedan/AMAZE was thought to be powered by a 3 cylinder 1.2L diesel engine developed by eliminating one cylinder from Honda’s recently revealed 1.6L i-Dtech eninge. But sources say the Brio sedan/AMAZE will have a 1.5L 4 cylinder diesel which again has been downsized from the 1.6 L iDtec to get benefits of tax sops in India.

Honda Amaze Interior Pictures

More details about 1.5L 4 cylinder i-Dtec engine

The engine is believed to have two different power outputs, so that Honda could use the same engine in its range of cars. The lower power one which could deliver 75 Ps power could be used for Brio and Brio sedan/AMAZE while the higher is likely to use a Variable Geometry Turbo (VGT) to deliver 100 Ps power, could do the job for the City and Brio based MPV.

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Suzuki to exit US market, files for bankruptcy

The Suzuki brand may be big in India but on the other side of the world it is facing big problems. Suzuki operates in the name of American Suzuki Motor Corporation in USA which has filed for bankruptcy. The ASMC is facing low volume sales from past 2-3 years and its latest models SX4, Kizashi and Grand Vitara has not managed to pull the company from losses.

Suzuki mentioned that it was difficult to make decision to stop selling its car in US but it was inevitable under current situations. However Suzuki will continue to sell motorcycles, all terrain vehicles and marine outboard in the US market. The bankruptcy doesn’t involve the parent Suzuki Motor Corporation of Japan. ASMC debt ranges from $100 to $500 million.

A Suzuki statement -

“These challenges include low sales volumes, a limited number of models in its line-up, unfavourable foreign exchange rates, the high costs associated with growing and maintaining an automotive distribution system in the continental U.S. and the disproportionally high and increasing costs associated with stringent state and federal regulatory requirements unique to the U.S. market.”

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