Chevrolet Cruze Launched In India
Chevrolet India has shaked the D-Segment with the launch of its flagship sedan - The Cruze. It is expected that Cruze is going to beat the likes Skoda Laura, Volkswagen Jetta, Toyota Corolla Altis, Hyundai Sonata Transform & Honda Accord. Chevrolet has chosed the best time for the launch of Cruze which is around Diwali and wants to cash in this festive season.
For time being Chevrolet India has launched Cruze with diesel engine and manual transmission only, which is a 1991cc 4 Cylinder VCDi diesel engine. This engine generates maximum power of 148 Bhp at 4000 rpm and maximum torque of 327 Nm @ 2600 rpm.
Chevrolet Cruze is available in 2 variants:
- Chevrolet Cruze LT
- Chevrolet Cruze LTZ.
Chevrolet Cruze LTZ comes with some extra features like 5 spoke 17" alloy wheels, electric sunroof, chrome garnish, In-dash 6 CD changer, rear parking assist, rain sensing wipers, power foldable and heated outside rear view mirrors, leather upholstery and cruise control.
Chevrolet India has launched Cruze in six shades in India.
- Atlantis Blue
- Light Gold
- Velvet Red
- Olympic White
- Mystic Lake
- Caviar Black
Honda Motorcycle predicts 50% sales dip
India's leading gear-less scooter maker Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) is struggling with labour problem at its Manesar plant in Haryana and the firm predicts that this will cause the production to slide roughly by 50% this month.
HMSI had been producing over a lakh motorcycles and scooters earlier but now it feel that it will barely reach the 50,000 unit mark in October and the downward descend may continue in the coming months if a solution is not found for the labour issue. Honda's other Indian arm - Hero Honda has been dominating the market and registered over four lakh unit of two-wheeler sales in September and hopes to maintain the positive growth.
The over-all two-wheeler sales in India is robust due to the festive season and attractive loan offers and is expected to cross the 9 lakh unit mark in the month of September 2009. However, HMSI due to its labour issue is losing out on this opportunity.
The Manesar region is facing severe labour problems at other plants located in the area. Thankfully , the Honda plant has not witnessed any violent protests but the pace of production has been reduced as the workers seek higher wages. This will further increase the waiting period for the firm's flagship scooter - Activa.
[Via: BIKE]
Jaguar Land Rover Secures Loan From SBI
Tata owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has managed to secure a 175 million pound ($277.7 million) loan from the State Bank of India. JLR recently agreed a new $90 million committed export financing facility with ABC International Bank. Both are part of 500 million pounds of new facilities the company has completed this year as part of a plan to enhance its funding.
JLR's sales have fallen about 52 % in the previous quarter compared to 2008 leading to a pretax loss of 62 million pounds. JLR announced last month it was planning to merge two of its three auto plants in England by 2014 as part of a business plan to tackle the impact of the economic downturn.
[Via: motorbeam]
Honda Jazz To Be Produced In UK
Honda has shifted the European production of the Jazz from Japan to UK as it rolled out the first British built Honda Jazz off the production line in Swindon. Every year Honda sells more than 70000 units of Jazz in Europe. Few months back, production of the Civic and CR-V has to be temporarily shut at the Swindon plant to cut costs. Honda UK plans to build 20000 units of the Jazz by the end of March 2010, with 75% cars to be sold in the UK.
"We see this third model as a wonderful opportunity in the current climate and we're extremely proud to be building the Jazz here in Swindon. The car is incredibly popular with customers, and it has won countless awards for quality and reliability. Shifting production to the UK is a real vote of confidence in all our Associates here in Swindon, and recognition of the high standards which we have been able to achieve at the plan," David Hodgetts, Director Honda UK Manufacturing said.
[Via: motorbeam]
Tyre Prices Shooting Up In India
There has been an increase in the prices of the car tyes. And the 7 per cent increase for the tyre price is because of the high demand and low supply. The car owners actually need not spend an extra 5 to 7 per cent. But it is the carmaker who needs to shell out an additional cost of Rs.800 for a new tyre for every new car they sell.
A deficiency of tyres in the market has become the reason for decrease of inventories at tyre makers to just 5-7 days from 20-25 days. And this is seriously affecting car manufacturers such as Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motor India, Tata Motors, General Motors India and Ford India. There isn't any clear information on how much are the carmakers affected by this situation.
"There is a demand-supply mismatch. While production has increased in the past few weeks, the supply of tyres has not kept pace, resulting into shortages. We have asked tyre companies to augment supplies but that has not happened yet," a senior executive at Tata Motors said.
Auto makers assume that tyre companies are charging arbitrary prices. But the tyre makers are of the opinion that they are trying to meet the demand despite production constraints.
"Tyres are a capital-intensive industry and there has been no major capacity addition in a year due to slowdown in the market and economic recession. While sales have jumped in recent months, production has not increased to that level, leading to shortages," said a senior executive of a tyre company on condition of anonymity. It is expected that the price will be dropped once the festival season is over and the demand for cars come down.
Tata Manza Photos Revealed Before Official Launch
Tata Manza Photos Revealed Before Official Launch
Kawasaki Ninja 250R Launched – Whopping Price Tag Of 2.69 Lakhs
Bajaj India has launched the much awaited Kawasaki Ninja 250R in Indian market and deliveries are going to start immediately. Bajaj has launched the European Spec Kawasaki Ninja 250R in Indian market. It is powered by a 249cc liquid cooled, parallel twin, DOHC petrol engine which develops maximum power of 32 Bhp at 11000 rpm with maximum torque of 22 Nm at 8200 rpm.
But it is not going to compete with R15 and Karizma ZMR because of its high price tag which is a mind boggling 2.69 lakhs (Ex-Showroom India) which is quite high in comparison to specultions made which were between 1.85 lakhs and 2.10 lakhs. Bajaj is going to import the Ninja250R in CKD form and it will be sold in the Bajaj probiking showrooms.
Ex-Showroom Price Of Ninja 250R In Other Cities:
New Delhi - 2,69,970.00
Chennai - 2,69,580.00
BMW To Launch Z4 On 12th October
12th October is turning out to be a hot date to launch cars with 3 cars scheduled to break cover including the Chevrolet Cruze, the new Maruti SX4 and also the BMW Z4 Roadster.
BMW India will unveil its rear wheel drive sports car in Mumbai which is expected to cost around Rs. 60 lakhs and would be imported as a CBU from Germany. BMW India is hopeful of selling 40 units of the Z4 in the first year.
[Via: motorbeam]
Premier All Set To Launch Small SUV – Rio
Rio a.k.a RX6400 is a small city SUV which has been developed on basis of advanced technology from domestic and international autos. And its strong power comes from Mitsubishi engined 1500cc engine.
The Doshis of Premier Auto have been waiting to be back with a bang. The company has tied up with a Chinese auto company Zoyte International. 
The CKD version of the car will be assembled at premier's Chinchwad facility in Pune, where it currently manufactures Sigma van and Road-star pick-up. Rio will be less than four metres in length and will have a less than 1.5-litre diesel engine, it may thus get the tax benefit of a small car.
It is expected that the Premier Rio is likely to be priced around Rs 5 lakh. Premier Auto hopes to sell 1,000 units of the product initially. The existing 30 dealerships of Premier will sell the product and the company is opening up another 20 by the year end. The investment in this project is just a couple of crores as of now as the company would be using its existing assembly line in Pune.