New Honda city now spotted in China

Autocarindia were right after all.The new honda city is for all to see and guess what it is a stunner.I have no doubts it will sell well.What I also feel is this new car will make it to more markets across the world,one of which should definitely be the US.

The launch well seems like I am wrong by a month.It would be on the roads definitely now in a month or two.Even if you are thiniking of the Honda civic I suggest hang on till the new city hits the roads.

From the malaysian Honda jazz launch the i-dsi engines seem to have been dumped by toyota.Be prepared for the onslaught of the i-vtec's.One thing is for sure expect a steep hike in prices in the new nexy generation honda city.

[source:Paultan.org]

Toyota to launch facelifted innova soon

The entire toyota IMV platform[fortuner,hilux and innova] is all set to undergo a facelift.Actually the fortuner and hilux facelift is now no longer a secret and toyota itself has revealed plans for the facelift on its website if not actually displayed the actual vehicle.


However what interests me most is the impeding facelift for the innova as this is the only vehicle which is available here in India.The IMV platform means that toyota would be forced to give us the new facelifted model as soon as it is available elsewhere.

Thanks to paultan we have spy pictures of the facelifted innova.The changes don't seem very drastic from the pictures however can fully comment once I come across the vehicle myself.Toyota have changed the front grill and also the headlamps and the taillamps.Hopefully for the Indian market we get the same lamps nlike the predecessor in which the taillamps differed slightly.

The toyota NVX we were all talkng about may be this facelifted innova afer all.Expect this new innova before the end of the year[2008].

With the Mahindra ingenio and the Tata Xover just round the coner this facelift is just at the right time.

[Source:Paultan.org]

Ps:The first picture compares the old and the new innova.

Chrysler M&M Dispute

Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) and Chrysler are embroiled in a dispute over the front grill design and shape of the Scorpio. Chrysler alleges that M&M copied the design from its automobile marquee Jeep. There is speculation that Chrysler could initiate legal action against M&M. This could delay the US launch of the Scorpio.

Copying is not the first thing you will see in the automotive industry. If for every design copied a company would sue the other, then Hyundai would have been bankrupt by now for copying designs of various cars.

Some one in M&M says that Chrysler told them the Scorpio grill and the Jeep Wrangler grill look similar. So, can you do something about it? Yeah sure, why not change the grille of the Jeep?

Source

Honda Civic Sport Launched

Honda, which entered the Indian car market in 1997, has crossed the three lakh customers milestone in the country and thus launched the Limited Edition Civic Sport at Rs 12.36 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) to mark the occasion.

Honda had entered into a joint venture with Siel Limited, a Siddharth Shriram Group company, in 1995 to form Honda Siel Cars India Ltd (HSCI) and launched its first car in 1997.

The new sports Civic will be powered by the same 1.8 litre petrol engine as in the existing model but would have additional features such as front and rear spoilers, white alloy wheels with sports badging.

Till date HSCI has made an investment of Rs 1,620 crore with a further investment of Rs 1,000 crore being pumped in for setting up its second plant in Rajasthan, from where it will roll-out its compact car. The company has a current production capacity of manufacturing 100,000 cars.

Source - Motorbeam

Skoda retune fabia for Indian road conditions

Apparently skoda guys did not do their homework in India when they launched the Fabia.Sales have certainly not met expectations even if Skoda disagree.Now it seems they had not even tested their petrol engines properly before launching them,however to be fair to them even toyota had to retune their engines for their innova.


All petrol fabia's are being recalled[though skoda calls this differently] and say you can come to the dealership at your own convinience.They shall retune the softwares to optimise the engines for fuel efficiency.Makes you wonder what the guys at Bosch and Skoda were doing for more than two years since the cars was announced to be launched in the Indian market.

With the fabia[and the whole skoda brand] I think diesel shall remain king and petrol shall always remain the lesser sibling.

Toyota planning to launch Prius in India

After a lot of yes and no Toyota once again seems to be preparing to launch the prius in India.Ofcourse just like the Honda civic hybrid it would not be a mass market car and would only be intended for the premium segment customers.Both honda and Toyota would not benefit from the lower duties for hybrids as their hybrids would be imported,the Government of India has made it clear if you want incentives to sell a hybrid make it India.

An all new prius is scheduled in 2009 and hopefully we get the same in India too.

Regarding their mass market cars Toyota seems to be too happy with the success of their innova mpv that their tone seems to be a touch too overconfident.Toyota say they have not missed the bus in India and are confident of growth in India.Considering the PR exercise they are currently undergoing with each media report screaming about toyta in India things somehow look different.Anyway lets hope we get some cars from Toyota here in India after all.

Suzuki A-star to replace the Alto

Things have become a lot more clear now.The a-star is going to replace the existing alto which has so far been one of the most successfull models for maruti in India.However its well past its sell by date now and Maruti are doing well to replace the alto with the newer a-star.

The a-star would be powered by a 1000cc petrol engine,which should be one of latest from the suzuki stables as the car would be sold alongside the swift and the sx4 in the global market.Nissan to plan to sell the same car with its badge in some markets.

The car meets most european emission norms.Hopefully maruti price this new car as well as they have done with their existing cars for if they do so we certainly have a winner.

The a-star will debut at the Paris motor show in october. The A-star concept was one of the best looking cars at the auto show in 2008 sadly the production version is nowhere near that,what where the designers even thinking.

[source:times of india]