Auto Watcher

Maruti's Diesel Plans

2009-04-12T04:21:00.000-07:00

Maruti Suzuki India is the most trusted car brand in India and this is because of some reasons. Firstly Maruti has the "biggest service network", second thing is "cheapest spares" and last one is "best after sales and service". All of the new launches by company are writing their own history, Swift DDiS is a recent example followed by Dezire. Now company nows that its time for some friesh air again and they are doing it in the form of Ritz next month. Maruti is planning to put some more Diesel options in its list as well and they are thinking about the 1.6 ltr diesel borrowed from Fiat which is doing its duty in Europian market for SX4. Maruti can put 1.3 ltr DDiS in Ritz too and that 1.6 ltr diesel in SX4, so that company can compete with the up coming diesel avtars of Hyundai i10 an i20.

Road safety request of the day

2009-04-10T08:49:00.000-07:00

I saw people driving or riding with high beams on all the time at night and makes the person blind who is coming from the opposite direction. May be some time earlier I was also one of them but not now. Its a hazard some times, you all know what I wants to say, PLZ respect others on the road and use high beam when necessary, not all the time. It takes only 2 seconds to touch the switch-gear to make the head light looking downwards, but these 2 seconds can be life saver for you too if some other person will invest those 2 seconds for you.

Mahindra's motorcycle game

2009-04-10T06:07:00.000-07:00

Mahindra ( M&M ) which is a pioneer player in Utility vehicles in India had bought Kinetic Motors in 2008. And now they are going to launch new models in every segments of two wheelers under Kinetic Motors. Mahindra will launch models in 100, 125 and 150cc segment to compete with big players like Hero Honda, Bajaj Auto and HMSI. They have already an automatic 125 cc scooter Flyte present in the Indian market, which is grabbing good numbers around 4000 per month. To develop small and fuel-effecient engines for their up-coming models M&M is using their recently baught Italian facility "Engines Engineering". At this point of time M&M is having 80% and kinetic is having 20% stake of the venture. They have to fight the market leader HH which is having 60% command over motorcycle sales and HMSI which is having 58% hold on the scooter arena.

Porsche Panamera: Engines, Transmission and Acceleration figures

2009-04-09T21:29:00.000-07:00

Porsche will unveil Panamera at upcoming 2009 Shanghai Motor Show and they officially announced the engine options available. Price range for Panamera is 1.4 crore to 2.2 crores and the base version of Panamera i.e Panamera S is equipped with a 4.8-ltr V8 with a power rating of 400 bhp and is a rear wheel drive with 7-speed PDK ( Porsche Double Clutch) transmission. Panamera S will hit the ton in 5.4 seconds and top speed is 283 kmph. Panamera 4S is also having the same details but having a four-wheel drive system with same 7-speed PDK gearbox. Because of the four-wheel drive 0-100 acceleration time improves from 5.4 sec to 5.0 sec. And Panamera Turbo features a 4.8-ltr biturbo V8 with a power output of whooping 500 horses and is also having the same PDK transmission.

Yamaha FZ1: Will it be affordable

2009-04-09T08:39:00.000-07:00

Yamaha is a well known name for its performance machines and Indians have once tasted this performance in the form of RD350. These were the times when Indians first time rode a homologated bike with more that one cylinder and after the death of RD people were again became habitual of riding puny 100cc s . Yamaha was loosing the ground in Indian market as rapidly as the first gear acceleration of RD, but they have managed to change it little bit by their re-entry in the performance department. First they make the hype by the launch of the performane kings R1 and MT01, Yamaha knew that these bikes can't sell in big numbers in India and can't generate revenues for the Tuning-Frok logo, but that was the starting of the game plan. After that Yamaha launched two bikes R15 and FZ 16, which were specially designed for Indian market and were going to sell in mass numbers and they succeed this time.
But now Yamaha is going to keep the game on in multi-cylinder department. This time they are trying to lure Indian power hungry and heavy pocket buyers by low pricing. Yamaha is planning to launch FZ1 which comes in two flavors, one is naked and another is with quarter fairing. Bike supports a 998cc, liquid-cold, in-line four cylinder engine from previous generation R1 and produces a hefty 150 bhp. Yamaha is thinking about the SKD route (i.e Semi Knocked Down units) to keep the price under check, so that Yamaha can price FZ1 below Honda CB1000R.

Porsche Panamera: Big money involved

2009-04-09T03:12:00.000-07:00

As speculations are been made for the Porsche Panamera's Indian Launch in October this Year, one thing about which people has curiosity is pricing. The Base Panamera will cost around 1.4 crores and for turbo Panamera the digits will go near 2 crores. It seems highly priced but who knows what is packed inside for this money.

Toyota Fortuner for India

2009-04-09T02:53:00.000-07:00

Toyota is going to give Indian roads an another soft-roader in the form of Fortuner. This Vehicle is backed up by the Toyota's world re-known reliabilty and coming to India by Septrmber 2009. Price for the fortuner will be around 20 lacs and it will give a stiff competition to the present rivals like Chevrolet Captiva, recently launched Mitshubishi Outlander and the segment leader Honda CR-V. Competition will be more fierce because Fortuner will come with a 3 ltr advanced common rail diesel with 163 horses on tap and a 2.7 ltr VVT-i pertrol may also be on offer . So lets wait and see that big gun running on Indian roads.

Mercedes-Benz: Special edition E-Class arrives in limited numbers

2009-04-09T02:34:00.000-07:00

Mercedes-Benz is operating in India for a long time now and by this time Merc is getting a stiff competition from its Breed-German rivals Audi and BMW. So, its time to do some experiments by the Company and they have done it. Mercedes recently launched their Special-Edition E-Class with more aggressive amd sporty styling. E-Class now inherits the S-Class cues like C-Class did and is very exclusive too. Only 192 units ot this special edition will be produced to maintain the Exclusivity. Wilfried Aulbur, managing director and CEO of Mercedes-Benz India told that this car is more luxurious and powerful and will be a collector's item for sure.

Tata Nano: Insurance and Financing details

2009-04-09T02:13:00.000-07:00

As we all know by time that the booking amouts for nano's Base variant to Top of the line Lx variants ranges from 95k-1.4 lakh. Now another thing to get in to the mind is "insurance amount". You have to pay 3,468/- as an insurance amount for the Base variant and 4.431/- for the Lx. Nano is attracting people to the showrooms with big numbers and it shows by the sale of the "Booking Forms" . In just five days from the availability of the booking forms 51000 form were been sold. By the estimate Tata is going to have a cash back of 31 crores only by the booking forms. Financing is available at 9 percent by Union Bank of India and at 14.25 percent by the Federal bank of India.

Bajaj ULC: Can it become a reality

2009-04-08T08:07:00.000-07:00

Tata Nano is been launched and the delivery will be started in July. But at the time of Tata Nano's hype, we heard some noises from Bajaj's stable that they are going to launch something called ULC or we can say "Ultra Low Cost" vehicle. Now Bajaj is saying that they are still working on this project and their ULC is sheduled for 2011 launch. Amazing thing is this, that car is not only intended to be chaeaper than Nano but will also be more fuel effecient than Nano. According to Bajaj Auto, this car will return a hefty mileage of 30 KMPL, which will be the best ever mileage returned by a petrol car.

Motus American Motorcycles: The youngest motorcycle company emerged

2009-04-08T02:20:00.000-07:00

"Motus American Motorcycles" is the newest name in the performance motorcycling world. This company was working underground for past one year on a project for developing a lightweight next-generation, sports-tourer with their own under development V4 powertrain. Motus is very serious about the project and the project team comprises a bunch of most respected automotive engineers. The engine and chassis are under R&D phase. It feels good to hear about the emergence of brand of a new set of wheels.

Nano appetite: The most fuel effecient petrol car in India

2009-04-07T17:04:00.000-07:00

Recently Ratan Tata launched the Indian people's car with a big hype and everyone was having a different issue. Some says " Is Nano safe ", some says " Is Nano good looking " and some says "Is Nano worth buying". All of these questions have been taken care of by Tata but one question was to be confirmed "Fuel Effeciency". Now this one is also solved by "ARAI" as they said Nano returns a healthy 23.6 kmpl (under standard conditions) and overtakes the previous no-1 fuel effecient car Maruti A-Star which was having a figure of 19.6 kmpl. Its good to hear the positives of the Indian dream car.

Hero Honda Passion Plus Pro: Is it refreshed?

2009-04-07T01:13:00.000-07:00

Hero Honda is the number-1 two wheeler company for successive long eight years and you know why, because they know how to alter an old product without investing so much money in it. And it shows by their new launches more often. As we all know, Hero Honda is famous for their Sticker Upgrades and now they have done a little more with "Passion Plus Pro". Bike supports a black kick starter, some fresh graphics, a self starter and red rear shock absorbers. So guys if it is cool for you, go get your ride because now its having a little more smoother engine too.

TVS says: We are not using any ExhausTEC

2009-04-07T01:02:00.000-07:00

As the speculations were made that TVS is going to have some problems because of the use of the patented ExhausTEC technology invented by Bajaj. But TVS fumes all of that kind of clouds by saying that " TVS is not having any problem regarding this because we are not using any TECH like this". So, be happy Apache RTR fans, because your ride will continue rocking.

Tata Nano is not the cheapest car

2009-04-07T00:51:00.001-07:00

As we all know that Tata Nano is the cheapest car a man can buy in India. But outside India, there is a different story. Chevrolet Italy claimed that their Matiz LPG is cheaper than the Indian Nano's counterpart in Europe i.e "TATA NANO EUROPA". So the cheapest car in India is not the cheapest for the entire world. But this claim by Chevrolet Italy is behind some condition curtains and we will say it a form of getting attention of the world with the help of Nano.

Yamaha FZ-S: Style quotient increased

2009-04-06T09:45:00.000-07:00

Yamaha is riding happy on the back of the mini R1 and FZ16 with a nearly 50% increase in the sales in recent months. Yet they are not ready to keep the game loose and it is obvious with the launch of the FZ-S. Its a stylised variant of recently launched FZ16 with some minor styling elements. This bike supports some graphics, a small wind shield and carbon fiber pattern speedo console. And these changes doesn't comes free, you have to pay 2000/- extra to get the style between your legs. Ex-showroom price now raised to 67000/- which makes the already premium bike a little more premium. Two color options are aviliable, one is combination of Black-Yellow and another one is Silver-Red.

Tata NANO

2009-04-05T09:30:00.000-07:00

Six years ago Ratan Tata told people that he is going to give Indian road-goers a gift in the form of a 1 lakh rupee car. And that dream comes true on march 23, when Tata officially launched the Indian people's car "Tata NANO". We are seeing this as a revolution, which was created by Fiat 500 in Italy and by VW Beetle in Germany. This tiny dream car got a puny 624 cc, parallel twin which outputs a healthy 33 bhp and as it is a real wheel drive car, drivability is quite good. The main concern was the saftey, whcih Tata adderessed very well with passing all crash tests. For the people's peace of mind I will say, this car is as safe and unsafe as any other car on Indian roads.
Delivery will be started from July and as per promise, first 1 lakh costumers will get the car at a 1 lakh ex-showroom price. There are three variants base, Cx and Lx. Lx is top of the line variant and comes loaded with an effective A/C, central locking, body colored bumpers and side mirrors.

TVS troubled again: Now the cause is Apache RTR 160

2009-04-05T09:10:00.000-07:00

TVS is now again in a dispute with Bajaj on a patent issue. First smackdown was on the TVS Flame's twin spark engine and now on the "ExhausTEC" technology, on which Bajaj got a patent in March 2009. Bajaj is saying that they saw the use of their ExhausTEC technology in "TVS Apache RTR", which is not fair by any means according to Bajaj as they got the Patent of this technology. The function of ExhausTEC is to increase the Low and Mid range torque, which was evolved by Bajaj in 2004.

BMW's M mantra: Now in SUVs

2009-04-05T00:17:00.000-07:00

At New York Auto Show BMW unveils the M-form of its two heavy weight SUVs or we can say SAVs, X5 and X6. Both are now equipped with the uprated versions of the 4.4 ltr twin-turbocharged V8, which we saw last year in X6 and new BMW 750 Li. Because of the M decal printed on the back, power increased significantly from 400 hp to 550 hp and torque reaches from 450 to 500 lb-ft. We hope that BMW will be kind and we will be able to see that fire power on Indian roads soon.

Bajaj's game plan: Pulsar 200 upgrades

2009-04-04T12:58:00.000-07:00

Recently Bajaj unveils three new variants of their muscule naked Pulsar 200. The bike will now produce 19 PS of power in comparision of previous 17 PS. Other cosmetics include some Pulsar 220 techs, like one version is having a rear disc and clip-on bars as on 220. On the second variant we will see Pulsar 220 fairing with all, which is on the first variant and third vaiant will have only rear disc brake. Bajaj is taking these measures to support the melting sales of Pulsar range.

BMW overtakes Mercedes in Jan-Feb sales figures

2009-04-04T12:32:00.000-07:00

The tarmac here in India for Mercedes is not going so smooth, as BMW overtakes Mercedes for continuous two months in 2009 by putting some heathly sales figures. In Jan 2009 BMW sold 270 cars, while Merc was far behind with just 79 cars. But in Feb Mercedes closes the gap with a figure of 226 cars in comparision of BMW's 244. After the arrival of Audi, the situation becomes even more difficult for Merc as Audi is one of the fastest growing luxury brands in Indian market today and taking the customers away from Merc with BMW.