Lamborghini SUV from Audi confirmed

Lamborghini is close to revealing a dramatically styled and luxuriously equipped SUV concept that previews its long-touted third model line, a senior source at parent company Audi has confirmed.

The SUV concept is set to get its first public airing at the Beijing motor show in late April. The production version will go on to join the successor to today’s Gallardo and the recently introduced Aventador in what will be at least a three-strong Lamborghini line-up in 2016.

“I can’t comment in detail, but the speculation in the press is largely correct,” the source said about reports outlining Lamborghini’s plans to gauge public response to an LM002 successor with an SUV concept.

Conceived as an upmarket rival for the likes of the Maserati Kubang and soon-to-be-confirmed Bentley SUV, the new Lamborghini is set to sell in small numbers — likely to be fewer than 1500 units a year. Prime markets for the performance-orientated four-wheel drive will be the US, the Middle East and China.

The 5000mm-long four-seater is likely to have a retuned version of the Gallardo’s 5.2-litre V10 petrol engine. A hybrid version is also envisaged. It is said to combine the standard V10 with an electric motor and a lithium ion battery pack.

Known by the internal codename LB736, the SUV is expected to share its underpinnings with the next-generation Audi Q7, which is also set to provide the basis for the new Bentley off-roader. This so-called MLB structure is already undergoing intensive development at Audi and will be subjected to a dramatic weight reduction programme. As a result, Lamborghini’s new SUV will come in at under 2000kg.

An unprecedented fourth model is still under consideration — a low-slung four-door saloon, previewed by the well received Estoque concept first seen at the 2008 Paris show. Our source said it “shouldn’t be ruled out as a further addition to the line-up, should studies reveal there is a market for such a car”.

From : Autocar

Autocar Asian Car of the Year Awards

Autocar India will take part in the Asia's first and only multi-market award recognising the best production car in all of Asia. The event is organised by the Haymarket Group, publishers of Autocar India and all the other Autocar local-market licensees across the region. The winner will be chosen by a panel of 18 auto experts from each edition of Autocar published in Asian countries – including Autocar India’s editor Hormazd Sorabjee and deputy editor Shapur Kotwal.

The contenders for the first ever award are the Audi A6, Volkswagen Jetta, Volkswagen Passat, Kia Sportage, Ford Fiesta saloon and the Volvo S60. The winner will be announced in late March 2012 and the trophy for the Autocar Asian Car of the Year 2012 will be presented to the awardee at the Beijing Motor Show in late April 2012.

To find out more check out the official website of the awards http://aacoty.autocarindia.com/

Knock, knock! Robbers are there

Car drivers in various cities in India are facing robbers doing their job in a very particular style.  Called thak thak (knock knock) gang, these robbers identify the car where some expensive item like purse, bag, laptop or anything is placed on one of the seats or on the dashboard.  Then, one person knocks on the driver's window when car is stationary e.g. at some traffic signal drawing his attention to the currency notes lying on the road.  While driver's mind is diverted to those notes, the second person opens the other door of the car and takes out the bag/purse lying in the car and runs away.

In some cases, first robber knocked on the window and asked the driver to come out saying that driver had just scratched his bike/car or hurt him.  The driver, puzzled as there was no accident, came out to argue with the robber and in the process lost his bag or other item.

Police has advised people to keep their doors locked and to keep their bags etc. inside the space provided in the dashboard.  Drivers are also advised not to open doors for strangers. 

Ertiga coming in March

Suzuki is likely to launch its MPV Ertiga in March. It was showcased recently at New Delhi Auto Expo 2012.  It will compete with very popular Innova from Toyota besides Xylo from Mahindra and Aria from Tata.  Ertiga will be launched in both petrol and diesel variants and is expected to be priced starting from Rs. 6 lakh.  While petrol variant will be having 1.4 lt. engine, the diesel variant will use much famous 1.3 lt. multijet.

Till now, Suzuki has failed to create any space for itself in the higher segment of cars in India.  Its top three vehicles, price wise, have been most undesired cars.  These are Grand Vitara, Kizashi and SX4.  On the other hand, its lower segment cars have been the rulers of the market in spite of presence of huge competition.  Swift and Dzire in their diesel versions are in much demand and very long waiting time is faced by prospective customer for these two vehicles in spite of economic slowdown. 

This year, company launched facelifted A-Star in January and new DZire in February.  Now, with launch of Ertiga, it is all set to enter the MPV segment which is likely to be very competitive very soon with some more launches from other companies also in the near future.

GT 86 will be on sale this summer

Toyota will start the sale of sports car GT 86 from this June in Europe.  In UK, it will be priced at 24995 pounds.  This model was unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show and is a collaborative product of Toyota and Subaru.

Its dimensions of 4,240mm long, 1,285mm high and 2,570mm wide make it the most compact four-seater sports cars on the market. A near perfect balance has been achieved with a weight distribution ratio of 53:47 (front-to-rear) and the flat-four engine format and low driver position of just 475mm has also enabled the GT 86 a very low center of gravity.

Power is drawn from Subaru's new horizontally opposed 2.0-liter flat-four boxer engine that has been enhanced with torque-enhancing D-4S injection technology. Maximum power output is rated at 200 PS (147 kW / 197 hp) at 7,000 rpm and maximum torque of 205 Nm (151 lb-ft) is achieved at 6,600 rpm.

Ducks of January 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.       Brio (Honda)

2.       Jazz (Honda)

3.       Camry (Toyota)

4.       Landcruiser (Toyota)

5.       Prius (Toyota)

6.       Beetle (VW)

7.       Sonata (Hyundai)

Top Five Manufacturers in India

Following is the list of top five car manufacturers in India on the basis of monthly sales figures for January 2012 (figures rounded off to nearest 100)-

1.  Suzuki       101000
2.  Tata            34700
3.  Hyundai      34000
4.  Mahindra    19300
5.  Toyota        17400

Among these, Mahindra is a manufacturer producing only diesel vehicles.  Suzuki has maintained its undisputable lead with 42 per cent share in the passenger car market.  In the bottom three, there are Renault (139 units), Mitsubishi (266 units) and Honda (1784 units).

MQB - the future platform of Volkswagen

Volkswagen, one of the biggest automobile manufacturers, unveiled a new platform named MQB which is likely to be adopted in all the models produced by the company. Future versions of most of its current models including Volkswagen Golf, Volkswagen Polo, Volkswagen Vento, Volkswagen Jetta, Volkswagen Passat etc., will be built on the same.

The MQB stands for Modular Transverse Matrix and is extremely important for the brand. In fact it is so important that VW calls it “the backbone of light and safe cars”. Developing a platform isn’t an achievement but creating a flexible platform is. MQB platform is so flexible that it can be stretched or shortened to fit any of the existing model i.e it can be shortened to fit a hatchback like Golf and can be elongated to fit a sedan like Passat.

 

Another big advantage of the platform is that it has a uniform position for all types of motors and transmissions. Be it a diesel engine, electric motor, plug in hybrid configuration or gas engines, all can be fit uniformly making it even more acceptable. Eventually this uniformity in motor and transmission positioning brings unmatched efficiency as well.

The estimated number of cars to come with this new platform is 3.5 million including small cars and mid sized sedans and to make the project a success VW will spend billions of dollars. Upgrading its plants to MQB platform will incur a lot of cost but at the same time it will lower the cost of production by 20 % and decrease the assembly times by an impressive 30 %.

Also now the company will be able to manufacture Volkswagen, Skoda, Seat and Audi models, all on the same line thus gaining enormous economies of scale. In the coming years as many as 40 models will use this platform and will help the brand gain more and more profits.

Honda down 71 per cent in the first month of 2012

As expected, first month of this year has been very dismal for Honda India due to production constraints.  Honda managed to sell just 1784 units of its various models during this month against 6358 units for January 2011, indicating a drop of 71 per cent.  The present sale consists of 1503 units of City, 176 units of Civic, 98 units of Accord and 7 units of CRV.  The two much sought after hatchbacks from Honda i.e. Jazz and Brio had no deliveries in January 2012.  These two are having a waiting period of up to 8 months for the prospective customers.  This situation is likely to be improved by March this year.

 Jnaneswar Sen, Sr. Vice President Honda India said-

“Our production for the month of January was curtailed due to the recent impact of the Thailand floods. Further to our efforts, we have managed to source the crucial components from alternative locations and have already resumed the production of New City. The production of Brio and Jazz will start from February and we are confident we will achieve peak production output by March 2012.”

Highest ever monthly sales for Tata

Tata Motors has got off to a good start in 2012. Its passenger vehicle sales for the month stood at 34,669 units, a growth of 15 percent over 30,212 units sold in January last year. It’s the highest ever monthly sales figure for the company’s passenger car business unit.

Sales of the Nano were 7,723 units, up 15 percent, compared to 6,703 units sold in January, 2011. The Indigo range clocked up 9,272 units, a jump of 10 percent over January 2011. The company’s UV/SUV range sold 6,140 units, a healthy growth of 38 percent, over 4,462 units, sold in January, last year.

Tata Motors’ total sales (including exports) of commercial and passenger vehicles in January 2012 were 87,465 vehicles, higher by 16 percent over January 2011. The company’s domestic sales of Tata commercial and passenger vehicles for January 2012 were 80,382 units, higher by 14 percent over 70,475 units sold in January 2011.

Source: Autocar

Top Ten Bestselling Cars in India

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

1.  Alto             33000

2.  Swift            18800

3.  Wagon R     14900

4.  Indica          11500

5.  I10              10700

6.  Bolero           9300

7.  Indigo            9300

8.  Dzire             8600

9.  Nano            7700

10. Omni           7700

Suzuki got top three positions besides getting eighth and tenth rank.  Tata got fourth, seventh and ninth positions.