Indian Car News

German luxury car maker Audi launched its compact luxury SUV-Audi Q3 in India, priced between Rs 26.21 lakh and Rs 31.49 lakh (ex-showroom). The car would be sold through company's 19 dealerships across the country, Audi said in a statement. "The launch of the Audi Q3 is in line with our top-down strategy for India. At present, only 500 Audi Q3s will be available for initial booking," Audi India Head Michael Perschke said. "We are confident that Audi Q3 will repeat the success of Audi Q5 and Audi Q7 and further consolidate our leadership position in the luxury SUV segment," he added. Equipped with a 2.0 TDI quattro engine, the Audi Q3 is priced at Rs 26.21 lakh onwards (ex-showroom Maharashtra) for the base grade and Rs 31.49 lakh onwards (Ex-showroom Maharashtra) for the high grade. Audi India grew by 37 per cent during January to May of 2012, delivering 3,281 vehicles as compared to 2,394 vehicles delivered during the same period last year. It recorded sale...

After its successive break up with Tata Motors, Fiat India plans to launch its cars in newer segments to gather more of the Indian market share. It will also focus on its B and C segments where the Grande Punto and Linea are popular. Fiat keeps in mind the demand for bigger cars in India and plans to go into the sports utility vehicles (SUVs) arena. The Fiat 500 L (compact 5- / 7-seater SUV) and Fiat Qubo (5-seater multi-purpose vehicle or MPV) could very well make it into the Indian market. Enrico Atanasio, head-commercial Fiat India, believes that an Indian-specific Fiat product is quite possible as it brings with it more choice to customers in a competitive market. The Italian auto major is also optimistic about boosting market share to 1-1.5 percent within 36 months from the present 0.7 percent.

The F10 BMW 5 Series Sedan is a good seller for the German luxury car brand in the Indian car market, helping it to bag the top position in the Indian car market, edging out Mercedes Benz and Audi. To further cements its position, BMW India, it appears could launch a new entry level variant of the BMW 5 Series in the form of the 520i. The sedan will feature a smaller 2 liter petrol engine in an inline four cylinder layout. This engine is expected to produce a peak power output of 184 Bhp and a peak torque output of 270 Nm. Crucially, the peak torque of the smaller engine remains similar to that of the bigger 3 liter, six cylinder engine, at 270 Nm. So, performance for most part of the rev range(read low end and mid range) chould be identical. Power though, on the bigger engine is higher by about 20 Bhp, as the peak output is rated at 204 Bhp. The new engine is expected to retain the 8 speed automatic gearbox, which is both highly responsive and fuel efficient. The arrival of the new...

Earlier this year, the Indian government withdrew the policy which subsidized electric vehicles, even as it puts the finishing touches on the new policy to be introduced later this year. The older policy, which allowed the Reva to be cheaper by almost INR 93,000 due to the subsidy  that the government doled out to encourage all electric vehicles, has now been scrapped. Due to this, the Reva Electric car has gotten expensive by over a lakh, resulting in sales falling by almost 50%, which is a massive drop. Mahindra Reva hopes that the new policy will be favorable enough so that the upcoming Reva NXR has a fighting chance at the hustings. By favorable, the Indian automaker expects that the government will continue to dole out the subsidy that allows electric vehicles to be competitively priced. This will be quite crucial to the success of the Mahindra Reva NXR, which is a  vastly improved vehicle compared to the previous generation Reva, which could seat only two adults. The 20...

Nissan is planning to add three new small cars to its product portfolio in next 3 years to tap into the demand for small cars in the India. In a report says, Nissan to develop three small cars, code named K2, I2 and K11. The K2 will be launched in December 2012 and will take on the Maruti Wagon R and A-Star and will be priced at around Rs. 3.5 lakh. Nissan will use the same 1.2 litre petrol motor in K2 that already powers the Nissan Micra and the company is also considering a 1.0 litre petrol engine for better fuel efficiency. The K2 is expected to be manufactured with two wheelbases, the shorter version for India and the longer version for export markets. Nissan is also planning to launch an K-based MPV for the Indonesian market. As per sources in Nissan, the company can save upto Rs. 50,000 by using the K11 platform which will be critical in meeting the stiff target price. Nissan’s upcoming I2 is expected to lock horns with Maruti Suzuki Alto, which is now the World’s No.1 small car....

A price war is in the offing in the entry-level sedan segment with Maruti Suzuki looking to downsize the Dzire to under four metre to fit the car in the small car definition and avail lower excise benefits, a move that will give it elbow room to be more price-competitive . The Dzire, leader in the entry sedan segment , is a hot seller for Maruti and accounts for about 8,000-9 ,000 units monthly. However , the entry of Toyota Etios at a highly competitive price (Delhi ex-showroom price just under Rs 5 lakh for the basic model) has prompted Maruti to go for this rejig. While company officials refused to comment , it is believed that the Maruti’s R&D team is working on reducing the length of the car to under four metre. In its present avatar, the Dzire has a length of 4.16 metre that puts it in the category of a big car, thus attracting excise duty of 22%. The length reduction will cut excise by more than half to 10%. The Delhi ex-showroom price of the car is between Rs 4.88 lakh and ...

Luxury carmaker Mercedes Benz is planning to launch its small car, the A Class, in India in a couple of years. Peter Trettin, president and CEO of Daimler, Central and Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia, said the company would position the A Class as its entry- level car in the country. “This will be lower priced in line with competition,” Mr Trettin said. However, auto experts feel that even the entry level Mercedes will be priced in the range of Rs 16-20 lakh. Mercedes Benz officials have been talking about introducing this car in India for over a decade, but they kept delaying the launch. Experts say this may be due to doubts over whether a high-priced entry-level car would find enough takers here. BMW too has deferred introducing the MINI in India. However, Mr Trettin sounds positive. “In the region I look after, India is a growth market and demand is growing because the economy is growing,” he said. Mercedes Benz India managing director and CEO, Wilfried Aulbur, said sales have picke...