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Showing posts from May, 2012

Fiat to venture in SUV territory, plans new models for India

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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.

BMW India could launch the 520i petrol F10 5 Series sedan as its new entry level model

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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

The launch of the 2012 Mahindra Reva NXR could be aligned to the new National Electric Mobility policy

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 2012 Mahind