Victory Bikes Coming to India in 2012
Harley Davidson Bikes got some competition coming! Another U.S. Motorbike producer Victory Motorcycles which makers cruisers is set to explore India in next year. Scheduled to showcase their bikes in the New Delhi Auto Expo in coming year, the company bikes, owned via Polaris Industries, will 1st bring its motors to India in form of CBU. According to the Company, Victory bikes have already completed an assessment of the India & will bring in motorcycle variants that best suit Indian terms & conditions. A victory motorbike has operations in U.K, New Zealand, Spain, Germany, France & Scandinavia. Polaris Industries, Victory is parent company, builds ATVs & snowmobiles. Victory manufactures what we usually call cruiser bikes.
Victory will officially proclaim its Indian market entrance around the 2nd half of 2012 & will plan to setup assembly plants depending on market response forVictory's motorbikes. Assembling the motorcycles in India will lower costs through as much as 30%. Harley Davidson Bikes has managed to low down its highend bike 833 Sportster’s cost to Rs. 5.5 lakhs from Rs. 7.5 lakhs when Harley Davidson Bikes used to be completely imported.
Aprilia Unleashes RSV4 Factory
Aprilia has unveiled the RSV4 Factory at the Mumbai worldwide Motor Show. It is the flagship from the Aprilia stable and is built on the same philosophy that drives the Aprilia Race Division. The engine of the Aprilia RSV4 Factory is the most powerful that Ccompany has ever built. Its great compact 180 HP, 999.6 cc, 65° V-four cylinder engine is designed for most power and uses ride-by-wire multimap technology that opens up new frontiers in engine management, with infinite chance for future development. The engine also sports a sophisticated electronic injection organization with 2 injectors and changeable height ducts for superior performance. Piaggio India is proud to unveil the superbike Aprilia RSV4 Factory in India. This bike is a living example of the hi-tech advantage that Piaggio offers to clients across the globe. We are in the process of bringing our global line-up of very much successful superbikes to India. We believe that today’s young and mobile Indian has a strong appetite for strong bikes, and we see vast potential for Aprilia in India. This bike has put globe racing tracks ablaze with it sheer power and knowledge and it will hit Indian roads soon,” Ravi Chopra, Chairman and MD, Piaggio India said.
General Motors to Drop Daewoo Tag
Aprilia Planning to launch RSV4 Factory in India
Aprilia will present the RSV4 Factory on the 20th of January, 2011. Powered by a 65-degree 999.6 cc, V-4 engine, the company’s first production four-cylinder engine produces maximum power of 177 hp at 12,500 rpm with maximum torque of115 Nm at 10,000 Rpm. The Aprilia RSV4 Factory weighs in at 179kgs thanks to carbon fiber and features twin 320 mm diameter suspended discs with Brembo monobloc radial 4-piston calipers at the front and 220 milimetre diameter disc with Brembo 2-piston calipers at the rear. The first Aprilla outlet will be at Pune and the motorbike RSV4 Factory is expected to cost around Rs. 18 lakhs.
Indian Car Market grew by 32.69 percent in 2010
The year 2010 finished on a high for the Automobile Industry in India and the fact that there were more than 50 launches throughout the year in different segments shows the kind of interest automobile manufacturers are taking into bringing their goods in the market. Society of Indian Automobiles (SIAM), in its annual report mentioned that the Indian auto market grew by 32.69 % in 2010. Taking this a stage further India created as many as 17,076,659 vehicles which includes traveler vehicles, commercial vehicles, three wheelers and two wheelers this year. Domestic sales registered a growth of 30.92 % with 14,824,072 vehicles being sold in India. The Passenger cars sold in the nation itself amounted to 1,870,483 thereby registering a increase of 31.03%. The Ford Figo itself amounted for 60,000 of the sales in India and looking at the humoungous figure here, makes us understand the amount of car lovers this nation has. The MPV section too attained its portion of attention as it saw a expansion of 51.90% when it came to household sales. There has been a substantial growth in the auto sector in India and the statistics offer enough and more facts as to why even worldwide companies are trying to set up base in India. The coming year will certainly be an important one as it will acquire a lot of efforts to surpass this towering figure.
Petrol Price Increased
In what will severely influence the common folks’ life, the Indian government has yet again hiked up the price of the golden stuff. Petrol prices, starting from midnight yesterday will be INR 2.50 to INR 2.50 dearer across India. And this the second similar hike in under a month on the back of universal increase in crude prices, which has now touched $92 per barrel. Popular Fuel efficient cars are Toyota Prius, Honda Civic Hybrid, Volkswagen Jetta, Nissan Altima Hybrid etc.The previous petrol price hike of INR 2.94-2.96 was on December 16th, 2010. This is what deregulation can do to fuel prices in the nation and suddenly diesel powered vehicles make much more sense given the populist pressures the government will facae even to think of any deregulation of diesel prices. Also, the impending follow on public matter of the state owned oil companies could be another reason for this hike as this hike could help shore up the books of the public sector oil companies, for better approval at the stock markets.
Hamara Pulsar, Hamara Discover
The brand that gave India the slogan 'Hamara Bajaj', a catchphrase identical with a whole generation, will cease to exist come April this year. Bajaj Auto Managing director Rajiv Bajaj recently stated his aim to remove the Bajaj brand and, in its place, establish its top-selling Pulsar and Discover as split brands in their their own light. This is not an unusual move for brands in European and foreign countries but will certainly be a first for Indian automotive manufacturers who rely on family names for their product range (read TVS, Mahindra and Tata).
“He has already started the process so today on a Pulsar, the Bajaj name is seen only on the engine. The same is the case with Discover. Our three-wheeler has Bajaj in small font while the initial ‘RE’ is in much larger font. One day, We will fall the Bajaj name from there also completely”, Rajiv Bajaj disclosed in a recent interview. He said consumers know that the product is made from Bajaj, just like Audi product is coming from Volkswagen. But there is no Volkswagen on the Audi scheme. This creates a opinion that there is something more in the product”, he added. The project is spearheaded by Fitch, the worldwide design organization that have collaborated with brands as diverse as Aditya Birla Group, Boeing, Reliance ADAG, Tata and Microsoft in the past.
GM plans to launch 6 new cars by 2012
GMs India announced on Monday that it will roll-out six new car models in India over the period of next 2 years. In addition to this, the company will launch as many as 14 new variants of its open car models in the country. "In the next 24 months, we will launch six brand new models of passenger cars and 14 new versions". General Motors India President and Managing Director Karl Slym said on Wednesday in Ahmedabad. He was speaking on the sidelines of the 5th worldwide meeting of Vibrant Gujarat. It will insert over $100 million at its Halol plant in Gujarat, in a offer to boost its annual production capacity to 1,05,000 units from existing 85,000 units. Currently, the company manufactures a variety of its collection cars at this unit with entry level sedan Chevrolet Aveo, premium sedan Chevrolet Cruze mid-size sedan Chevrolet Optra Magnum and multi utility vehicle (MUV) Chevrolet Tavera. As well as, the company has planned to roll-out three light commercial vehicles (LCVs) in the Indian market from Chinese partner SAIC’s portfolio by the end of year 2012. Initially, the first LCV will be launched in the country at the end of current year, followed by other two in next year.
The charges for cars and bikes in India will be increase by 10 percent
As per the most recent decisions of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of the country, motor insurance costs are to be increased in the coming months after approval. The charges for cars and bikes in India will be increase by 10 percent while that for trucks will increase around 80 percent of the present insurance amount. For a sub 1000 cc vehicle, it will increase from Rs 670 to Rs 740, for cars of up to 1500 cc, an increase of around Rs 80 is decided, while that for trucks weighing up to 7500 Kg, the premium will rise from Rs 5,580 to Rs 10,040. The amendments with insurance prices are to be done considering the fact that the third party motor insurance faced a shortage that could touch Rs 2000 crores. The superbikes like Yamaha VMAX, Suzuki GSXR 1000, Suzuki Hayabusa will attract more insurance amount than commuter bikes like Hero Honda Splendor, Bajaj Discover, TVS Star.
The idea have been proposed by IRDA for third party motor insurance-the cover which compensates crash victims and is to be made compulsory for all vehicle owners. January 17Th is decided to be the final deadline for getting comments from all stake holders and the changes will then be confirmed. After the completion of all kind of formalities, the new insurance costs will be disclosed officially by IRDA. Also it is known that IRDA suggested the country's government to reintroduce the concept of limited liability which was discontinued in the year 1988.
Case filed against Saurav Ganguly and Vibgyors officials
A case against the Bengal based Vibgyour two-wheeler manufacturer's vice president Mrugen Banerjee and the brand ambassador Saurav Ganguly is filed recently by Ramji Makwana, an owner of Vibgyor's motorbike according to a leading English daily. The case is filed with Thorala Police Station in Rajkot for cheating the customers with false allege of mileage. As per statements of Ramji Makwana, it is known that a vehicle trade cum exhibition was organised by Vibgyor in the month of April last year where it claimed a mileage of 117 km per litre with its new motorbike, but the actual mileage generated by the bike measures to be 60 km per litre only.
The company entered Indian Bike market few months back with some of its motor bike models like that of Vibgyor Sharp, Vibgyor Hunter and Vibgyor Gallop which is known to be the most famed of all. The recent case filed against the company definitely will prove to be a cause for the company's embarrassments and defamation among the customers thus badly affecting sales of the company. Hope the company will soon be able to overcome this embarrassment and will ensure to provide the customers with quality and efficient models inculcating its motor bikes with superior features and powerful engine capacity.