Thursday 22 March 2012

Win a trip to China Auto Show at Beijing

Ford India is giving a chance to win an all expenses paid trip to China Auto Show 2012 on 23rd and 24th April 2012 at Beijing.  All you have to do is to visit www.urbanexplorers.in and submit names of your favourite shopping centers, eat-outs, get-aways, city sights, entertainment or other special places and explain why they are so special.

After posting their tips, participants can get their friends to vote for their tips. The three tips with the maximum votes will be declared winners. Three lucky winners will be offered an all-expenses-paid trip to Beijing where they can get to be Ford’s roving reporters for the Auto China 2012.

Wednesday 21 March 2012

Win a Xylo

You can win a Xylo, a Multi Utility Vehicle from Mahindra & Mahindra.  All you are required to do is to test drive Xylo and write a slogan in the form at a Mahindra dealership.  Xylo has just been facelifted and uses 2.5 lt. mDI CRDe diesel engine with 95 bhp and 220 nm torque. The contest ends on 30 April 2012.


Suzuki to hike diesel engine production

Suzuki has decided to increase the diesel engine production in India from the current 240,000 engines per year to 300,000 engines per year.  This is in addition to the 100,000 engines per year supplied by Fiat to Suzuki.  The engines made by Suzuki are also based on Fiat's multijet technology for which Suzuki is paying to Fiat. 

The demand for diesel cars in India has increased exponentially in recent years thanks to government's policy of subsidising diesel fuel and rapid increase in petrol prices.  Some of the diesel cars made by Suzuki like Swift and Dzire can be owned only after waiting for a considerable time of 4-5 months.

Suzuki is even considering establishment of one more engine plant in Gurgaon near Delhi for production of diesel engines.  It was waiting for the budget announcements as it was anticipated that government would increase the excise duty on diesel cars to discourage their demand.  However, with no such step taken in the Budget, Suzuki and other diesel car manufacturers are now considering expanding their diesel car production.

Thursday 15 March 2012

Tata Nano now at Big Bazaar

Kishore Biyani's discounted retail format Big Bazaar, which started the concept of 'Sabse Sasta Din' a few years ago, is now selling the sabse sasta car (cheapest car)-the Tata Nano .

In a novel move, Tata Motors has tied up with Future Group to sell the Nano in Big Bazaar outlets.

"There is a lot of commonality between Big Bazaar consumers and prospective Nano buyers. Big Bazaar as a concept appeals to the masses and with over 150 million footfalls every year, we are trying to see how we can sell Nano, which has a similar positioning," said Future group's Customer Strategy president Sandip Tarkas, who heads this initiative at Big Bazaar.

This is the first time a retail chain is selling a car in the country.

Industry officials say Big Bazaar has already sold more than 450 Nanos since the experiment began a month ago. That is more than 5% of Nano sales in February.

"Tata Motors may have now realised that for a product like Nano, conventional distribution system such as car showrooms can only help to an extent," said IDBI Securities research head Sonam Udasi. "Big Bazaar's customers, mostly value conscious people, will directly fit in the profile of Nano buyers."

Market experts say the decision to tieup with the country's largest retailer is a brilliant move that will help Tata Motors push Nano sales.

Tata Motors has been quite aggressive to attract more buyers for the world's cheapest car after sales declined consistently last year, hitting an all-time low of 509 units in November.

Since then, it has been selling Nanos off the shelves from around 874 sales outlets and 1,000 odd kiosks across India, instead of the earlier system of having to book and wait for delivery.

Source: Economic Times

Tuesday 13 March 2012

Honda unveils 1.6 lt diesel engine

Honda has unveiled the 1.6 lt. diesel engine called i-DTEC turbo diesel engine at the Geneva Motor Show.  It will be used in the Civic hatchback to be launched in the end 2012 in Europe.
 

This engine generates 119 BHP of max power at 4000 RPM and 300 Nm of peak torque at 2000 RPM. Talking about the emissions of the engine, it emits 95 g/km of CO2 only. Uniquely the engine is the world’s lightest aluminium open deck 1.6 litre diesel engine, thanks to the new high-strength yet lightweight material used in the manufacturing. Beside the lightweight construction the engine unit also features a compact high efficiency turbocharger which ensures a perfect balance between performance and fuel efficiency.

Wednesday 7 March 2012

SMS facility for vehicle information withdrawn

Just a few days ago, we informed you how you can get details of a vehicle regarding its owner, make, validity of registration etc. by sending an SMS to the number 092-123-57-123.  Now, the National Informatics Centre, which developed the application system for this facility, has become aware of the security implications of the information provided by this facility.  Consequently, it has blocked the access to the common user which will be now available to enforcement agencies only.  However, people who like to know more about a vehicle, if its chasis number is available to them, can visit the site www.vahan.nic.in.

Friday 2 March 2012

Top Ten Bestselling Cars in India

Following is the list of top ten bestsellers for the month of February 2012. Figures rounded off to nearest 100.


1. Alto                32900
2. Swift              20700
3. Dzire              15000
4. Wagon R       12900
5.  Eon               10500
6. Indica            10400
7. I10                 10300
8.  Nano              9200
9. Bolero             8800
10. Indigo            8600

Suzuki got top four positions while Hyundai got fifth and seventh rank. Tata got sixth, eighth and tenth positions.

Ducks of February 2012

Following are the models who have failed to find any customer this month in India and thus their sales figure is a cute ‘0’-

1. Camry (Toyota)

2. Prius (Toyota)

3. Beetle (VW)

4. Sonata (Hyundai)

Thursday 1 March 2012

GM sales down this month by 4 per cent

GM sales have gone donw by 4 per cent this February compared with the same month last year.  It sold 8901 units this month against 9303 units last year during same month.  Model wise break up is given below-

Spark  - 1328
Beat  - 4684
Aveo  - 90
Optra  - 273
Cruze  - 537
Tavera  - 1964
Captiva  - 25

CB 300R patented in India

It seems the 300 - 400 cc segment in India is getting hotter and attractive. Just after news of Kawasaki developing a naked version of Nin...