Skoda Fabia Scout hatchback launched for a price of Rs 679000 in Indian car market

Source: www.rushlane.com   The new Fabia Scout from Skoda is being offered with new features which are yet to be seen on a vehicle in this segment. It has more than a few leading features of enhanced safety, utmost comfort and high class efficiency that are unmatched in a vehicle in its category. 

 Its spacious interiors and high class of materials used appeals to the urban dweller that has upped his limits of what is looked for in a vehicle today. Performance and dependability are no longer the only attributes of what a buyer looks for in a vehicle.

The modern buyer puts equal stress on quality, luxury and opulence while selecting a vehicle and will not go wrong with the new Skoda Fabia Scout. Here one can see dual airbags, integrated audio player, power windows, remote controlled locking system and tinted glasses projecting the Fabia Scout as a tough and sporty vehicle.

Skoda Fabia Scout will be introduced with a petrol and diesel engine and prices will range from Rs.6.79 lakhs to Rs. 8.10 lakhs – ex showroom New Delhi.

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Car makers wary of diesel decontrol

Source: Hindustan Times The centre’s fresh reiteration to decontrol diesel has put many car makers in a fix as they have gone ahead with increasing diesel vehicle capacities. The lack of clarity in terms of timeframe and extension of decontrol, too bothers them.

“We don’t know when this will be implemented,” R C Bhargava, chairman, Maruti Suzuki told.

“We should be allowed to work in an environment where there is policy certainty. Rules should not be changing everyday.”

Many others, including Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai, are in the process of ramping up their diesel car production following heavy demand. With petrol becoming costlier by R26 than diesel, petrol car sales declined 15% while diesel car sales surged by 35%.

Maruti decided to increase its diesel car production from 240,000 to 400,000 units a year while Hyundai increased the production of diesel variants of i10 and Verna by 50% to 10,500 units per month.

Bhargava, however, welcomed the move to remove fuel subsidy. “Huge shift towards diesel cars will come to an end. There will be a balance between diesel and petrol cars,” he said.

Some industry officials say even if the diesel price is freed up it will not entirely change the dynamics. “Currently it is 70:30 (where diesel and petrol options are available). It is not going to reverse,” said Neeraj Garg, director, passenger car division, Volkswagen. “We have the flexibility to make necessary changes in production.”

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Volkswagen India sales up by 21.6%

Source: Economic Times With its headquarters in Pune, Maharashtra, the Volkswagen Group is represented by three brands in India: Volkswagen, Audi and ŠKODA.

Audi achieved a growth of 40.8% and delivered a total of 2,269 cars this quarter as compared to 1,611 cars during the same period last year. ŠKODA delivered 11,505 cars showing a growth of 40% as compared to the deliveries of 8,217 cars during the January to March period last year. The Volkswagen brand delivered 20,352 cars in the said period with 11.6% growth as compared to 18,244 cars during the same period last year.

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Nissan to pitch Datsun against Nano

Source: Hindustan Times With its tie-up with Bajaj Auto for ultra low-cost car in a state of limbo, Japanese car major Nissan on said it would look at making a $2,500 ( Rs. 1.25 lakh) car under the recently-revived Datsun brand to take on the world's cheapest car, Tata Nano, on its own.

This is the first time the company has indicated that it would be willing to make such a low cost car indigenously.

Renault Nissan have an agreement with two wheeler major Bajaj for a similar car but no decision has been taken on the product the latter had showcased during the Delhi Auto Expo in January.

"There is a big chunk of the market where Nissan does not and cannot have any offering and Datsun would fill that gap," said Carlos Ghosn, chairman and CEO, Renault Nissan. "Yes, that will encompass ultra-low cost or $2,500 or $3,000 ( Rs. 1.25-1.50 lakh) car as well. We want a car that will appeal to a motorcycle owner or a first time buyer (and) is reliable and robust."

Ghosn said the revival of the Datsun nameplate, which was the precursor to Nissan in Japan and was discontinued in 1981, was intended towards making reliable, robust, affordable and modern cars in segments where Nissan does not operate.

"In markets like India, Russia, Brazil and Indonesia, roughly 40-50% of sales are in a segment where Nissan cannot have a product," he said. "It is in those categories that Datsun will have a role to play."

As per a 2009 agreement between Renault Nissan and Bajaj Auto, the Indian automaker was supposed to design, develop and manufacture an ultra low-cost car, which the alliance would sell under its badging. The product was scheduled to hit Indian roads in 2011 but has been delayed.

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Auto Companies offer a galore to push petrol cars

Source: Business Standard For those shying away from driving home their dream vehicles, this may be the right time to go for it. Automobile manufacturers are offering freebies, ranging from gold coins and LED televisions to record discounts, to push petrol vehicle sales. 

While the country’s largest passenger car maker, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL), has lined up discounts of Rs 20,000-25,000, including offers on its best-sellers Alto and WagonR, General Motors and Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) are offering free maintenance and insurance services, respectively. Honda Siel has drawn up attractive financing schemes to drive sales of its small car Brio.

“Discounts on petrol cars are at a record high in the industry this year, due to slow sales of the fuel variant. We are also working on strengthening our product offering with cars such as the Ertiga and on boosting sales in rural markets to drive up petrol car sales,” said Mayank Pareek, managing executive officer (sales and marketing), MSIL.

In case of models which have both petrol and diesel variants, MSIL records 40 per cent sales from petrol variants in rural markets, compared to 15 per cent in urban markets. Pareek said MSIL was seeing good off-take of petrol variants of hatchback Swift and sedan DZire. Promotional schemes are being offered on the Alto, WagonR, A-Star and Estilo. None of these models is available in diesel fuel option.

Petrol prices have risen five times over the last year. The differential between the two fuels stands at Rs 25.51 a litre, up from Rs 10 in April 2010, prompting an increasing number of consumers to opt for diesel cars. Industry estimates suggest diesel vehicle sales grew 35 per cent last financial year to account for more than 47 per cent of the overall passenger vehicle sales. Petrol car sales dropped by 15 per cent.

R C Bhargava, MSIL chairman, had earlier told Business standard, “In the current year, we are trying to bring down this decline to six per cent at Maruti Suzuki, but still, we’ll be selling about 50,000 petrol cars less. We have 40 per cent of our petrol engine capacity lying idle at the Gurgaon unit.”

To beat the slowdown, the country’s second-largest car maker, Hyundai Motor India Ltd, is offering exchange royalty of Rs 10,000 on the Eon. While discounts range upwards of Rs 15,000 on the Santro and Accent, freebies such as LED television sets are also being offered at the dealer’s end on some products.

Toyota is taking initiatives to educate customers regarding the usage of diesel cars. “We are taking initiatives to educate customers that the advantage of owning a diesel vehicle kicks in only if you drive up to 1,500 km a month. We register 30 per cent of overall volumes from sale of petrol vehicles,” said Sandeep Singh, deputy managing director, TKM.

TKM is offering free insurance on petrol variants of sedans Etios and Corolla Altis, valued at one per cent of the prices of the vehicles.

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M&M gears up to launch XUV500 in Italy, Australia, Chile

Source: Times of India After going slow on international launches of its sports utility vehicle to meet the domestic demand, auto major Mahindra & Mahindra is gearing up to introduce XUV500 in Italy, Australia and Chile soon.

"We plan to go ahead with our international launches of XUV. Italy and Australia are planned shortly. These are vehicles adapted to the needs of these markets," M&M Chief Executive, International Operations (Automotive & Farm Equipment sectors), Ruzbeh Irani told.

He said necessary adaptations to meet the norms in these markets such as emission and left hand drive in case of Italy have been completed.

Asked about the timeline for the launches, he didn't specify an exact date but said: "We are evaluating timing of launches in various markets - Chile and Australia are our priority. We will assess the overall capacity and domestic demand to decide on the launch timing."

In February, M&M President (Automotive & Farm Equipment sectors) Pawan Goenka had said the company was going slow on international launch of the vehicle to meet domestic demand.

"We were supposed to enter markets like Australia and are ready to launch XUV500 in many markets in terms of homologations and regulations. But we have decided to slow down to met domestic demand," Goenka had said.

He had also said the company will increase the output of XUV500 to 4,000 units by May from the earlier 3,000 units. Without specifying a timeline, he had also said the output would ultimately be taken up to about 5,000 units a month.

The company is in the process of delivering the bookings of 7,500 orders that were selected through a lottery following excessive demand.

On the need to launch the XUV in international markets, Irani said: "XUV is a global vehicle designed for international markets, it is important that we supply to international markets."

M&M exports XUV500 to South Africa.

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i-Gen i20: On the fast lane

Source: Business standard Hyundai Motor India has expanded the portfolio of its high-end compact car, the i20, which made its debut at the Paris Motor Show in 2008. The new i-Gen i20 (priced at Rs 4.73-Rs 7.67 lakh) is available in 12 variants now — seven petrol and five of diesel — and will compete in the Indian market with the likes of Skoda Fabia Diesel, Fiat Punto, Volkswagen Polo, Nissan Micra, Renault Pulse and Maruti Swift Diesel.

The new line-up will be supported by a 360-degree  marketing campaign touting ‘I live the uber life’. The campaign is based on the concept of life beyond the usual — something which everyone aspires to, but only a few can achieve. “Taking up from where its predecessor left, i-Gen i20 pushes the attitudinal edge further to enhance the aura of the car,” says Nalin Kapoor, group head, marketing, Hyundai Motor India.

 The i-Gen i20 has some first in class features such as rear parking camera with display in the cabin mirror, clean air-cluster ionizer for fresh air in the cabin, auto headlight control function (the lights turn on automatically when visibility drops) and rain sensing wipers, among others.

The i20 customer is the one “who starts a new trend and believes that the same cannot be followed by others.

The print and television commercials feature young, smart and aspiring Indian models representing the aspiration life that the car promises to usher in. Their personality traits portray them as people who dream big and spend lavishly on themselves. But above all, they are emotionally attached to their car. “One of the core elements of our campaign is to engage our target group with i-Gen i20 product attributes on ground as well as on the digital medium. We have an ongoing online contest called ‘I live the uber-life contest’ where visitors can upload their uber-moments. The best pictures are rewarded. The engagement activity provides them the opportunity to share moments which are unique expressions of their personality,” adds Kapoor.

According to the company sources, in the last six months the i20 has sold approximately 2 lakh units, growing at almost 20 per cent during this time. In 2011, Hyundai sold 3,73,717 units in the domestic market and 2,42,330 units in the export market, the total being 6,16,039 cars. The launch and campaign of i-Gen i20 is aimed at increasing Hyundai’s share in its segment.

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Mitsubishi Montero SUV now available with new features

Source: www.rushlane.com

​​​​Hindustan Motors Limited has launched Mitsubishi Montero SUV in India with new features.

The new features of Mitsubishi Montero SUV include new muscular coloured key front bumper, new chrome radiator grille, new finish on power window panel and new stitch design on leather seats. While these changes have added a new dimension to the design of the premium vehicle, the newly introduced interior illumination colour has imparted a refreshed ambience to Montero. 

 Montero's other acclaimed features like 3.2 liter DOHC diesel engine with intercooler and turbocharger, 202 PS@3800 rpm power and 441 Nm@2000 rpm torque continue to provide the vehicle formidable power and thrust. The vehicle is available in solid white, black mica and cool silver metallic shades.

After the launch of Pajero Sport, Outlander 2012 and now the upgraded Montero, Hindustan Motors has also repositioned the price of Mitsubishi's sedan Cedia, a car with a strong rally pedigree, at Rs. 7.99 lacs, ex-showroom New Delhi, enhancing the value-for-money quotient for its numerous enthusiasts.

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Jeep all set to enter India

Source: The Economic Times

​​​It's one of the oldest names to grace the automobiles and definitely one of the most legendary and its finally coming to India. Get ready for Jeep India has always been the land of SUV's. Big on size, space and presence which is complimented perfectly by their ability to gobble up bad roads which make up the majority of the surfaces here in India, make them just the right vehicle for us. While we already have a horde of SUV's here in India, we finally have the big daddy coming in. The American icon Jeep is all set to drive us SUV buffs crazy.

Part of the Chrysler group, Jeep is being brought in by Italian giant, Fiat who now owns it since the last few years. While they have a range of vehicles in their portfolio, the ones slated for India are most likely the Grand Cherokee and the Wrangler. 

The Grand Cherokee is now in its fourth generation and received a lot of updates for 2012. Muscle is what comes to your mind when you look at the Grand Cherokee. It's a brilliant mix of classic styling cues and modern design. Look beyond the signature seven-slot grille, round headlamps and trapezoidal wheel arches and you'll see thoughtful details that set Grand Cherokee apart. 

The cabin follows suite with a handsome cabin with a cleanly styled dash, tight seams, high-quality materials and consistent textures from door to dash. Quality is expected to be on par if not better than its Japanese/German/Swedish rivals. Comfortable seating is courtesy the large plush seat which is designed for plus sized American. However, the only drawback is that the Grand Cherokee is offered as a five seater and not a seven. The current Grand Cherokee shares components with Mercedes-Benz's ML-Class, DaimlerChrysler owned Jeep during this vehicle's early development so its premium look and feel is no surprise.  

The other entrant from Jeep will be the famed and go anywhere Wrangler. While the Grand Cherokee will be the premium luxury SUV, the Wrangler will be the tough, off-road lifestyle product. Like the Grand Cherokee, the Wrangler has been around since ages and was in fact produced by Kaiser-Jeep and then American Motors (AMC) and finally Chrysler.

The Wrangler too has received a lot of updates for the 2012 model and is pretty much in its most modern avatar yet. There are all new interiors which boast of higher-quality materials, the center stack has been redesigned, an all-new instrument panel and strategically applied sound insulation that makes this the quietest Wrangler ever. 

For off road and SUV enthusiasts this is indeed a brilliant piece of news. What remains to be seen is how well are the vehicles priced.

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Hyundai ramping up diesel Verna and i20 supply

Source: The Hindustan Business Line

​​​To match the sharply increased demand for popular diesel variants of the i20 hatch and the Verna sedan, Hyundai Motor India has increased the supply of such models by 50 per cent. 

This is expected to halve the waiting period on the diesel Verna, while bringing down the delivery date for new diesel i20 to a month.

“Increased supply will ease the waiting period substantially. Our customers have shown great patience, they have waited for many months,” Mr Arvind Saxena, Director, Marketing and Sales, Hyundai Motor India Ltd, said.

The Korean car maker has been encouraged by the Government’s move to not put an additional tax on diesel cars in the Budget last month despite pressures. It is thus increasing the supply of the diesel versions of the two models together to 10,500 units a month, from the current 7,500 units by ramping up diesel engine imports from South Korea.

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Volvo bullish on growing luxury segment in India

Source: Hindu Business Line

​​The slipping of Mercedes Benz in ranking in the Indian luxury car market has given Swedish car-maker Volvo a glimmer of hope. 

Currently, German majors – BMW, Audi and Mercedes Benz – have a stranglehold on the luxury car market in India. They are followed by Tata-owned Jaguar Land Rover and then Volvo. 

The March-quarter numbers show Audi overtaking Mercedes to grab the number 2 slot which Mercedes had held since 2009. (Mercedes was leading the pack till BMW displaced it in 2009). 

This shows there is intense competition at the top, said Mr Tomas Ernberg, Managing Director, Volvo Auto India. 

It also shows there is space for everyone to grow and gives us the confidence to fight for bigger market share, he said. 

Volvo currently has a small footprint in India; its cars have been here only since 2008. But it believes the country will become its “focal point” in the coming months. 

Last year, the Swedish car-maker sold 320 cars in the country; this year it expects to deliver over 1,000 units. This is of course a far cry from its German peers. 

“Under a relatively new owner (Ford sold Volvo to Chinese carmaker Geely in 2010) and a new CEO globally, the company has now put India in perspective – as one of the most promising markets in the world.”

The luxury car segment in India accounts for just one per cent of the overall volumes of 2.5 million cars. 

Volumes 

By 2020, car volumes will touch 5 million – the luxury market will be three per cent of that at 1.5 lakh units. Volvo is gunning for 15 per cent of this segment by then. “The income of middle class families is growing and the country is getting richer.” Volvo has eight showrooms and seven dealerships in India.  

“We will double showrooms and dealerships by 2013. We will also launch a slew of new products,” said Mr.Ernberg, during the launch of Chennai's first Volvo car showroom. 

“We expect Chennai to start delivering 500 units next year.” 

Diesel cars 

Volvo's cars in India are skewed towards diesel. It recently launched the new D3 diesel engine variant of the S60 and S80 salons and XC60 SUV. 

A new car is slated for launch in the beginning of next year. 

The company recently increased retail prices by an average of Rs 1 lakh across the board, to cushion the excise duty hike.

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Maruti Ertiga receives 11000 bookings in just five days

Source: www.rushlane.com

​​India's largest car manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki India launched Ertiga earlier this month with a base price tag of Rs 5.89 lacs and along with it, announced their entry into the MUV segment of the Indian auto industry. Within just 11 days of Ertiga's launch, Maruti Suzuki has registered over 11,000 bookings for their all new MUV (Multi Utility Vehicle), which they call as LUV – Life Utility Vehicle.

Maruti Suzuki India has launched Ertiga in an attempt to amplify their declining market share in the Indian car market. Maruti Suzuki, as of today, has a market share of 39% in the Indian auto industry, which is also their lowest ever. Maruti has launched Ertiga as an MUV so that they can compete in a segment where they have entered for the first time.

MUV segment captures 14% of the Indian auto industry and the top sellers in the segment are Toyota Innova and Mahindra Xylo. Mahindra Xylo costs between Rs 7.30 lacs to Rs 10 lacs while Innova is available between Rs 8.5 lacs to Rs 12 lacs. Xylo and Innova do not have a petrol option whereas Ertiga offers thee trim petrol variants. Ertiga Diesel is available in the range of Rs 7.30 lacs to Rs 8.45 lacs.

Maruti Suzuki, which never competed for this 14% of the Indian car market, will now want to grab a big chunk and increase their overall market share in India's car industry. Maruti Suzuki aims to sell 70,000 units of Ertiga this year.

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