Tata Motors Embarks on A Green Drive

“Environment-friendliness is a growing basic requirement for premium vehicles,” said Tata Motors in a recent presentation to analysts. Premium competitors in the auto industry are realizing this fact and taking responsible initiative towards eco sub-branding. Steady development of economic solutions is also an indicative of this trend. Traditional SUVs are being moved towards crossover, multipurpose and smaller SUVs, and there are similar movements towards small premium cars as well.

Keeping in tandem with the above changing trend, Tata Motors has charted a strategy for a 25 per cent carbon dioxide reduction in its Jaguar and Land Rover models. The company has taken into account volatile fuel pricing, continuing legislation on emission and taxing, while banking on two ongoing research projects — Limo Green and Range-e.

Jaguar has already displayed the Limo Green concept, a hybrid XJ equipped with a 145 kW, 295 full-load motor torque electric motor. This gasoline-electric hybrid claims a fuel economy of 57 miles per gallon (10 km/litre) and less than 120 g/km carbon dioxide emission at its top speed of 112 miles per hour.
Range-e uses a plug-in parallel diesel hybrid system to offer a premium SUV that can run as a pure electric vehicle minimizing emissions.

Mahindra & Proton Contemplates A JV

Indian utility and commercial vehicle major Mahindra n Mahindra and Malaysian car maker Proton are in talks to launch the latter's Lotus range of high-end sports cars in India as also to manufacture a small car for the masses.

Currently Lotus has got T127, Elise, Exige Europa and Evora sports cars. The makers of the sturdy Mahindra cars might get the rights to make certain models under a license or result in a JV to bring the Lotus brands for Indians.

Parallely, Mahindra is also in talks with Proton to bring the small cars of the Malaysian company to India that can be re-engineered for the Indian market. The Proton Savvy, a super mini car with a 1200cc Renault engine claims to give 24km per litre of fuel under test conditions and 16-18 km in normal situations.

Maruti Suzuki Goes Green & A New Swift on The Way!

Maruti Suzuki is on a roll these days. First it launches the new Wagon R with a bang, then it announces the coming up of the brand new Maruti Alto with a 1000cc K Series engines, and now it is back in news again – this time with the plans to launch a new Swift! And yes, the iconic car maker has more to tell – it has joined the green brigade, and is soon going to equip all its top-selling brands like Alto, WagonR and SX4 with a CNG engine.

The coming up of the brand new Maruti Suzuki Swift in the international market, though not confirmed officially, definitely confirms the car's journey to India sooner or later. The new Suzuki Swift will sport a 1.2-litre diesel engine with an added dual variable valve timing, which will produce more power and torque than the current Maruti Swift. As per speculation, power and maximum torque of the new Swift car will be in the range of 94 PS @ 6000 rpm and 118 Nm @ 4800 rpm respectively. This will make it the most powerful 1.2 litre diesel engine car in India, even surpassing the presently ruling Jazz’s 90hp engine.

What more can you expect from the new Swift? - Well, it will be more spacious, more fuel-efficient, and far easier to drive on any terrain. With so many added values coming in one package would you mind coughing out a few thousand bucks extra before signing on the dotted line? Of course not.

And now coming on to the car maker's CNG venture, Maruti Suzuki India has already planned to launch a new series of CNG-fired versions of its cars to retain its 50% share in the Indian automobile market.
These cars, which will come with a new factory-fitted technology unlike its retrofitted predecessors will be priced at a premium of around 15-20%. Justified, isn't it?

Indian Auto Industry Sales Report for April 2010

After a stunning year-end performance in March 2010, Indian auto industry once again recorded an impressive growth in April 2010. Despite the recent price hikes and discontinuation of some car models in 13 big cities across the country due to BS 4 implications, all major car makers managed to increase their sales during this period. Almost all of them posted double digit growth figures that took the total sales of the domestic car market to a new height altogether.

Maruti Suzuki India reported a significant growth of 29.70% in total sales at 93,058 units as compared to 71,748 units sold during the corresponding period last year.

Tata Motors registered a 52.47% increase in total vehicles sales at 57,202 units, as compared to 37,518 units in the same month last year.

April 2010 total sales for Ford India witnessed a three-fold jump at 7,509 units. The company cited the good response to its small car recent launch Figo for this growth performance. It sold 2,034 vehicles during the corresponding period last year.

Hyundai Motor took its total sales figure for April 2010 to 52,020 units from 44,370 units in the same period previous year, which is a growth by 17.24%.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor, the Indian subsidy of Toyota registered a growth of 77.23% at 6,001 units against 3,386 units in the corresponding period previous year.

In the two wheeler segment, market leader Hero Honda put up a plateau performance. It managed to sell only 3,71,652 units as compared to 3,70,575 units in April 2009.

Suzuki Motorcycle India reported a growth of 53.22% in sales in April 2010. It sold 20,771 units compared to 13,556 units in the same period last year.

TVS Motor Company posted a 27.91% rise in sales at 1,44,689 units compared to 1,13,119 units in April last year.

Finally, India Yamaha Motor, regardless of premium pricing of its motorbikes, registered a growth of 42.01% in sales. It sold 24,960 units as compared to 17,576 units in the same month last year.

Audi Launches SUV Q7 4.2l TDi Quattro in India

Audi Q7, the luxury SUV segment leader has just welcomed a special edition in the form of the 4.2 TDi Quattro. The massive diesel engine makes this the fastest and the most powerful SUV in India. Earlier too, the Q7 had set the sales chart on fire with its brilliant launch of previous versions; but this time the impact is expected to be even bigger.

The new Audi Q7 4.2 TDI Quattro comes with a V8 diesel engine that produces 362 horsepower or 340 PS. This gives it the ability to achieve a speed of 0-62 mph in 6.4 seconds with a top speed limit of 146 mph. Impressive ... isn't it? The super SUV transmits its power through the 6-speed tiptronic automatic transmission to a sportily tuned quattro driveline, which splits the propulsive force in the ratio of 40:60 between the front and rear wheels under normal driving conditions.

Now, coming to the best part, the new Audi Q7 4.2 TDI gives a combined fuel economy of 21 mpg. So, all you car enthusiasts, who have a thing for all things BIG and powerful, here comes your SUV of dreams. The limited edition Audi Q7 4.2 TDI will be available at an introductory price of Rs. 58,68,000, while later, it will go up to Rs. 66,12,500 ex-showroom Mumbai, once the limited edition offer period is over.

India: The World's Second-Fastest Growing Light Vehicle Market

India's auto industry is witnessing an unprecedented boom. At a time when the global auto market went into a self-withdrawal mode affected by the fuel price hikes and the sluggishly receding economic downturn, Indian car market showed its grit and managed to stand out. Zooming much ahead of the erstwhile matured car markets of Germany, France, Japan and the US, it went on to emerge as the world’s second-fastest growing light vehicle market, second only to China.

What do you think have played functional in this phenomenal growth performance? --- A perfect gelling of the government’s economic revival package with the country's low car penetration, new model launches, lower interest rates, and a stable economic growth have all combined to keep the demand for cars ticking.

According to a recent data released by the industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the light vehicle market in India grew 27.5% in 2009-10, while the world light vehicle market contracted by a significant 14% (the worst in the last eight years!). The auto market growth in Germany, France, Russia, Japan, UK, and US, however, has been just around 23%, 11%, -50%, -9%, -6% and -21% respectively. China was the only market where the light vehicle sales grew 42%.

In India, sales of light vehicles, including passenger cars, multi-purpose vehicles, light commercial vehicles, and utility vehicles, were primarily driven by a rapid growth in the demand of passenger cars by 25%.

Indian Auto Industry to Set New Sales Records this FY

It's 31st March today, and it's going to be a landmark day for the Indian domestic auto industry. Any guesses, why? - As the current financial year comes to an end today, the sales figure is set to hit an all time high of 12.2 million units in 2009-10 that surpasses its previous sales records of 10.1 million units in 2006-07.

This phenomenal growth is thought to be a resultant of four main things:

• - New launches, mainly in the the compact car category
• - Easily available car loan schemes with low interest rates
• - 4% reduction in excise duty as part of the fiscal stimulus
• - Phenomenon of low base-effect

Surge in auto sales during the mid-year festive season also contributed significantly to this two-digit growth performance. In fact, that was the reason why Society of Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) revised their one-digit fiscal forecast to a two-digit one.

The growth which mainly comes from the passenger car volumes and two wheelers and commercial vehicles, seems to be have given the confidence of SIAM a major boost. The apex industry body representing leading vehicle and vehicular engine manufacturers recently said, the growth momentum is here to stay and will continue further for the next couple of years in the domestic marketplace.

However, experts are of the view that there might be a slump in auto sales as the year proceeds. But for now, it is celebration time for automakers in India.