Citroen DS3 Special Edition by Orla Kiely
Citroen and globally recognized designer, Orla Kiely, have exposed details of an exciting collaboration for an exclusive line of DS3 models – the DS3 by Orla Kiely Collection. Limited to just 500 cars, the Citroen DS3 by Orla Kiely Collection integrates the designer’s iconic style into the astonishing and prized features of Citroen’s distinctive DS3. Externally, the collection showcases 4 body colours, four different roof designs - featuring Orla’s signature stem or acorn patterns, coloured door mirrors, stem print rear window graphics; and black or white 17 inch alloy wheels. An Orla Kiely stem graphic also features on the rear tailgate, with a further signature positioned in the center of the rear spoiler. Inside, owners will joy in the fashionable leather seats with their Orla Kiely embossed multi-coloured headrests, stem or acorn print carpet mats and colour contrasting dashboard and door handle inserts in cream or brown colour. The DS3 by Orla Kiely Collection is based on the DStyle HDi 90 manual, a generously specific model including Bluetooth and USB connectivity, which is motorized by a fuel and CO2 efficient powerplant.
Fiat to roll-out new avatar of Palio hatchback in India
We have received a formal answer from Fiat India on the editorial 'Fiat to roll-out new avatar of Palio hatchback in India?' published on Jan 13. The corporation has clarified that the Palio will not be renamed. The party also confirmed that it is working on a small car plan for India, which is expected to be introduced to the market by 2012.
Skoda launches Fabia Monte Carlo
Fabia Monte Carlo is launched to celebrate 100 years of the famous Monte Carlo Rally and 110 years of Škoda’s participation in motorsport. From the outside, the Fabia Monte Carlo boasts a dynamic look, underlined by the introduction of piano-black corpse trim, which extend over the wheel arches and down the extensive length of the car, a black roof, black door mirror covers, a black radiator grille top, smoked headlamps and black 17” lightweight Trinity alloy wheels. Inside the Skoda Fabia Monte, customers can choose between all black or, red and black sports seating which boast extra side support. Both forms come with black roof lining, a perforated leather steering wheel with red stitching, leather handbrake and gearstick gaiter with red stitching.
To complete the enhanced sporty appeal silvery kick plates and steel pedals are fitted as standard. The new Fabia Monte Carlo is set to make its first public look at Rallye Monte Carlo (19-22 January), where Skoda’s current all-conquering IRC championship winning rally autocar, the Fabia S2000, finished fourth (in class) on its first outing at this legendary rally in 2009. In 2010, Skoda sports finished second, third and fifth (in class) with Hanninen, Vouilloz and Kopecky, respectively. Available as hatchback only, the car’s trim is based on the present Fabia SE version, and the new Monte Carlo will be available with a wide range of engines. All of the Fabia Monte Carlo models will be fixed with a 5-speed manual transmission and will be available to order from 24 January 2011.
Maruti hike price of its cars next week
Maruti Suzuki which is the largest auto maker in the country, said on Thursday that it will hike the price of its cars in India from next week. The corporation has blamed higher input costs for this price hike. It is to be mentioned here that Maruti has already increased the price of its collection cars twice in the current financial year. The domestic car giant is struggling with shrinking margins due to a continuous rise in key row materials such as natural rubber, steel and aluminum. What has made the situation even more hard for the company is forcing in the value of the yen against the U.S. dollar, making imported parts costlier for the auto maker.
According to newest statement given to the reporters, Maruti's managing officer for sales and marketing, Mayank Pareek said, "We will have to increase it (car prices) now." He however has not revealed the dimension of this prospective price hike. The company will increase the monthly production of its highest selling small car Alto to 40,000 vehicles from 32,000 vehicles, currently. "We have asked vendors to ramp up supplies for the Alto as we envisage a major jump in volumes," another Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. official said.
Hyundai HA mini car uses 814cc engine
As we all know, Hyundai’s Korean engineers are working closely with their Indian counterpart on the HA small car, predictable to debut at or before the Auto Expo next year. Hyundai could look at producing up to 70,000 HA’s in the first year and LPG fuel option might be on the menu previous than expected. Hyundai’s HA will share components with the Santro and should be smaller than the car it is based on. Styling should be along the lines of the new i10 and the upcoming Verna RB.
Autocar India reports a 814cc three-cylinder engine will power the HA. This is a scaled down Epsilon engine that the Santro uses. It will generate 48bhp and transport high fuel economy. The HA will give the company extensive volumes as it is going to fight in the Alto segment. Certain higher variants of the Tata Nano are also among its competitors. Hyundai could look at positioning the base variant at 2 lakh rupees.
All-new Ford Focus comes to UK
All-new Ford Focus comes to UK sellers within six weeks with two bodytype, a 5-door hatchback and 5-door estate. “We are very frantic about introducing the new Ford Focus to the European market given the solid heritage this model has here,” said Stephen T. Odell, Chairman and Cheif executive, Ford of Europe. “With its dynamic combination of outlook, superb driver plea, matchless levels of technology and impressive petroleum economy, we believe that the new car will not only relish our existing clients but also expand the appeal of the Focus brand to a whole new generation of Ford customers.” Developed in Europe, for sale in over 120 markets international with 80% parts commonality, the next-generation Focus is the hero model created from Ford Motor Company’s new global C segment platform.
This platform will underpin at least 10 vehicles around the world and account for two million vehicles of annual production by 2012. At 1,484mm high (on 17-inch wheels), 4,358mm extended and 1,823mm broad (without mirrors), the new 5-Door model is 16mm lower, 21mm longer and 16mm narrower than the recent Focus. The new Focus has a modern, cockpit-style interior incorporating Ford’s newest generation Human Machine Interface (HMI) scheme with double five-way toggle switches on the steering wheel controlling the two main vehicle displays located in the tool cluster and high in the centre of the instrument panel. An advanced Torque Vectoring Control system fixed as typical enhances cornering stability and agility and Ford engineers have also retuned and enhanced the modern suspension concepts, developing optimised new designs for the ‘Control Blade’ multilink rear suspension and the semi-isolated front subframe.
The chassis model incorporates a completely new Electric Power Assist Steering system. In addition to the highly efficient petrol and diesel powertrain offering, the new Focus range integrates other features from the Ford ECOnetic Technologies programme to help minimise fuel consumption and carbondioxide emissions. The Focus is the first Ford style to standardise Auto-Start-Stop technology across a significant part of the range. All vehicles with the 1600cc Ford EcoBoost petrol engine and the 1.6-litre TDCi diesel engine are ready with Auto-Start-Stop, with CO2 emissions starting at just 109g/km on the diesel model.
Maruti to produce 1.2million cars this year
Demand for Maruti cars is increasing day by day and Maruti Suzuki India is planning to manufacture 12 Lakh cars this year. Maruti Suzuki's Managing Executive I V Rao said - “We are looking at manufacture 12 Lakh vehicles in this financial year, as compared to 10 Lakh units produced last financial year, From the last 5 months we are now manufacturing one lakh vehicles per month". We are going to increase manufacturing capacity when the second plant at Manesar commences next fiscal, he said.
Maruti is also setting up test track and plans to hire 1000 plus engineers to produce its future vehicles completely in India.
Tata Nano to come with CVT in November 2011
Tata’s vision was to make the Nano the most reasonable car which is simple to drive and own. The vision is still unfinished as Tata is not offering Automatic Transmission on the Nano that promises to make the ‘first time’ driver’s life a lot easier. All that may be about to modify as Autocar India is reporting that the Nano team is working on a CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) variant of the Nano that will provide the best drivability for the ordinary man. Tata Nano Red Tata Motors is discussing the idea with a Canada-based company to make the gearless dream a reality. Benoit-Jean Bernard, director, Quebec office, counsulate general of Canada in Mumbai - Tata has already invested huge amount in Canada’s Quebec province and is in the process of signing a deal for dispatch of parts for gearless Nano with C-tech, a Montreal-based auto component maker.
According to information, the two companies have been working together on this project for two years now. Essentially a Nano CVT gearbox is an automatic gearbox with endless gear ratios. It uses a set of wheels or cones and a belt to create these endless gear ratios. As a result, the engine can run competently at appropriate rpms for a wide number of car speed. This provides better mileage and a comfort driving experience than a traditional automatic. CVT is not new to India, Honda used to provide it on their big City. But Tata will expose the massive potential for CVT gearboxes in India if it introduces it in the Nano. The month predicted for launch of CVT Nano is November 2011.
Nissan Plans To Launch Two New Small Cars For India
India’s compact automobile market is already packed with lots of cars competing for survival. Maruti Suzuki is dominating this section for decades now. But, many auto companies sees more development potential in this segment, that is why they are preparing to launch more small cars in this segment in upcoming years. The Nissan Motor India is also one of them. The company which has tasted success in India with Nissan Micra is scheduling 2 new small cars to its product portfolio to tap into the demand for small cars in India the next 3 years, according to Auto car India.
The first model (code: K2) will be built on a two-generation old Micra platform (code: K11) but will obtain a new ‘top-hat’ or all new corpse and interiors. The K2 which is due for open in December 2012 is aimed at the Wagon R and A-star and will be priced competitively at around Rs 3.5 lakh. Engine options are likely to be the same 1.2 ltr 3 cylinder petrol motor that powers the Micra although a highly fuel-efficient 1-ltr engine is also being considered. The second model, Nissan I2 is probable to lock horns with Maruti Suzuki Alto, which is now the World’s No.1 small car. I2 is developed by Defiance Testing & Engineering, a company basically in the U.S. and acquired by Ashok Leyland (AL) in 2007. It has to be noted that Ashok Leyland & Nissan have forged a joint project to build up small car and now we know that it is I2. The K2 will come with 2 wheelbases; the longer account will be for export markets. Nissan is also considering an MPV version of the K2 to cater to the Indonesian market where this corpse style is very popular.
2011 Chevrolet Aveo/Sonic Sedan and Hatchback
The Chevrolet Aveo, pretty long in the fang now desperately needs a facelift. The Aveo U-VA too is another large and practical hatchback that simply is struggling to find any takers in the Indian car market. Both these models lie at the very bottom of their respective segments, GM India has thus been unable to make any inroads in the B+ Hatchback and the C Segment car markets. In what could really change the fortunes of General Motors India, it’s parent, General Motors, today, at the 2011 Detroit Auto demonstrate unveiled both the sedan and the hatchback version of the 2012 Chevrolet Sonic, which is set to replace the Aveo. On first glance, both the 2012 Chevrolet Sonic car and the Hatchback versions show a major stylistic upgrade. Gone are the plain jane vanilla looks to be changed by the butch edgy styling, which for some time now, has been GM’s latest styling philosophy.
Add to this, some fancy class leading interiors with some fine designed contemporary instrumentation, you have a contemporary sedan that is miles in front of the older Aveo. The Hatchback is to similar to vein looks butch and just like the sedan is a major departure from the now very dated U-VA. Though GM India is playing it’s cards near to the chest, we’re pretty sure about the Aveo/Sonic Sedan making it to Indian shores shortly if they have any hope of selling something at least. Coming to the all essential factor, the stuff beneath the hood. The 2012 Sonic is set to feature the highly acclaimed 1.4 Liter EcoTec turbo petrol that while being frugal, also manages to produce a class leading 138 Bhp of shove and 200 Nm of twist.
This brilliant engine and the superlative power-economy figures might not be what we Indians will get in the Indian 2012 Sonic/Aveo, but going by GM USA’s plan of pitching the Sonic Sedan straight at the 2011 Ford Fiesta Sedan by claiming more power and more economy as selling points, we’re still confident that the 1.4 Liter Ecotec Turbo Petrol, albeit in detuned guise, for will make it to Indian shores. We expect that the Indian version of the 2012 Aveo/Sonic Sedan gets a good common rail diesel motor in addition to petrol engine options. Apparently, the 2012 Sonic Hatchback’s Indian variant may feature both a petrol and diesel engine option. Now, if only the folks at GM India could carry in these wonderful looking cars to India quickly and at a price that is very reasonable at about INR 5-6 Lakhs and INR 8-10 Lakhs respectively.