Maruti Suzuki IGNIS launching soon ?

 Internet is abuzz with rumors of the much awaited Suzuki IGNIS launching in the Indian markets soon.

Maruti Suzuki showcased IGNIS in Delhi Auto show in Feburary this year. The car which looked similar to the hot selling tall boy Wagon R, received good response from the auto enthusiasts visiting Maruti pavilion.

Even though Maruti did not announce any expected date of launch for IGNIS in the Indian markets, rumour mills have been working overtime since than, and expecting a launch in the festive season this year.

Maruti has been plagued with production issues this year, and the long waiting list for its last two launches Vitara Brezza and Baleno made the expected 2016 festive season  launch date for IGNIS seem very unlikely. Auto pundits expected Maruti to clear up the backlog for Brezza and Baleno before launching a new product which may tax its already overstretched production capacity.

But recent spyshots of IGNIS road testing in the Delhi NCR region has made the auto enthusiasts speculate  and bet again on the 2016 launch date.

When introduced in India Maruti may  bring IGNIS through its Nexa showrooms there by making Ignis the second car - after Baleno - to be sold through its premium dealerships.

Found this video of International version Suzuki IGNIS which shows the interiors and exteriors of the car in detail. I just hope Indian version of IGNIS too will be at par with the models available internationally.                                                                      ...Alok

Renault Kwid - the best gets more powerful !

 Renault Kwid, the hot entry level hatch, has been burning the sales charts since its launch mainly due to its SUVish looks and good value for money proposition.

Though most Kwid buyers were satisfied by the performance of its  800cc engine in the city , its lack of power became more apparent on the long highway runs, particularly while overtaking. Comments from car enthusiasts desiring a Kwid with more powerful engine started floating around the internet since its introduction.

To increase its market share by attracting the enthusiast drivers towards Kwid, Renault took this customer expectation seriously and recently introduced a new model of Kwid powered by a 1 liter engine.

To keep the costs down the same  800cc engine has now been tuned to produce more power , this has also helped Renault in keeping the fuel efficiency numbers in check and there has not been much drop in the ARAI tested fuel efficency figures for Kwid 1 liter engine.

More power means the one liter Kwid is more fun to drive as it still has best in class power to weight ratio. I feel with a bigger engine Kwid is now a more complete car - good for city and also more competent on the long highway drives, which were not as enjoyable in the 800 cc model, particularly for the more enthusiastic drivers.

The price of 1000 cc Kwid is 25-30  thousand rupees more than the  800 cc model, but it still proves to be a great value for money hatch.I feel with the bigger engine Kwid is now a more complete car - good for city and also more competent on the long highway drives, which were not as enjoyable in the 800 cc model, particularly for the more enthusiastic drivers. 

With the launch of this new model Renault India will be able to tap into new market segment and Kwid is sure to increase its share in the Indian auto market. 
                                                                                                                                                         ...Alok

Review video of Renault Kwid 1.0 liter.

Hyundai Tuscon coming soon - review video.

Breaking News - after the astounding success Creta, Hyundai India is ready with its new offering in the SUV space - Tuscon, the big brother of super hit Creta.

SUV sales in India are going northwards since last few years, and all manufacturers have  have been trying to get a slice of this growing auto segment. 

The two biggest players in the Indian auto market Maruti Suzuki  and Hyundai took their time in joining the party, and it was only in end of 2015 that Hyundai launched its compact SUV Creta, which has been a runaway success since than along with Maruti Vitara Brezza.

After tasting success with Creta Hyundai is upping its game with Tuscon, and targeting a segment above Creta buyers, who want a bigger and more luxurious SUV.

As far as the looks goes Tuscon's design looks similar to Creta, but it being a larger SUV of the two has more commanding road presence.

As a Tuscon buyer you can also look forward to a more spacious cabins with good amount of legroom and reclining seats for rear passengers.

The well equipped  interiors of Tuscon, though upmarket and high quality, do not seem to be in tune with its more stylish exteriors, and may not be liked by customers looking for something more eye catching.

As always Hormazd and Auto Car India does a good job in giving us a first look at the soon to be launched Hyundai Tuscon in this first drive review video.

                                                                                                                         ...Alok

New Tata Nano coming soon?

*Image only for reference.

Internet is abuzz again with the spy pics of a  new Tata Nano.

There has been raging debate between car enthusiasts about Tata Motors continuing with the production of Nano even after its dismal sales performance.

 While some Tata fans give credit to team Tata for regularly giving an updated Nano model to the customer even after its lackluster sales, others take a more pragmatic view, they feel that Tata Motors is flogging a dead horse, and should let go off Nano, while  concentrating more on better products like Tiago in its portfolio.

 Frankly I feel Nano is a very unique product and the main reason behind its failure was its cheap car image. Tata Motors stretched things too far by giving Nano unconventional features all in the name of make it more affordable.

Tata Motors has come a long way in improving its product quality since Nano was launched in 2009, and its latest offering to hit the car market - Tiago, has been lauded for its exceptional interiors, fit and finish, the same improvements can bee seen in Nano. 

Tata Motors has been taking customer feed back very seriously, and with every new update Nano comes out to be a better product and more closer to customer aspiration.

 New updated Nano is rumored to go through some major changer. if rumour mills are to be believed these are the various changes one may expect in the new Nano :

New headlights and bonnet design.

Larger wheels.

Fuel filler to be shifted from under the bonnet to more conventional rear location .

New double arm wiper design,

Windshield washer at the center of the bonnet.

New dash.

New seats.

Major change – Instrument console goes behind the wheel from the awkward center of dash position.

Harman infotainment system as seen in Tiago.

And probably also a larger engine.

If you are in the market for new small car, to take on the over crowded city streets, it may be a good idea to wait for new Nano, because personally I dont feel any other car in the market makes a better city runabout than a Tata Nano.

Mercedes GLS 350d, awesome combination of luxury and space,

Mercedes GLS 350d was recently launched in India, and when I watched this video review what strikes me the most was  acres of space in this car.

The spaciousness of this big car was highlighted in the very start, normally video start showing the exterior design of the car, talk about the design language , lights etc., and its only in the second half of the video that the presenter normally moves to the interiors, and space comes distant third.

But here you will see Renuka sitting in the back seat with spacious and luxurious interiors of the car surrounding her. And then she too goes on too talk about the huge amounts of space the car offers.

I felt an instant rapport with the car, it looked very comfortable and the pleasant airy cabin looked ideal for those long long drives with my family.

Check out the review video of Mercedes GLS 350d by Renuka Kripalani.

Tata NEXON, its drop dead gorgeous !

 Tata NEXON was first revealed to the world at Auto Expo 2016 as a concept to showcase Tata Motor's designing skills. NEXON was an instant hit with the crowds and the display stall was probably most popular one.

Looking  at the fantastic response NEXON got at Auto Expo Tata Motors has decided to bring the car to the market.

 NEXON will be Tata Motor's answer to Ford Ecosport and Maruti Vitara Brezza, which are presently ruling the hugely popular compact SUV segment.

Though in the same category NEXON is different from it's rivals, instead of a boxy design, the designers at Tata Motor's has given it a coupe like look, which surely makes it better looking than its rivals and will make it stand out in the crowd of similar looking compact SUV's.

Tata NEXON will be positioned more as a lifestyle vehicle than as a regular family car, which will  appeal to the young crowd and also to car enthusiasts.

Expected to be launched in 2017... I am sure whenever NEXON hits Indian roads there wont be any dearth of buyers for this goregous looking compact SUV at Tata Motor dealerships.

Read more about Tata Nexon in this article by Hormazd Sorabjee, editor of AutoCar India.

Ford Ecosport Goes Black !

Ford India has launched Black edition of its hot selling compact SUV Ecosport.

Black is a special edition of Ecosport which gets some cosmetic changes to the exterior of the SUV, and as the name Black Edition  suggests black is the highlighting colour here.

I guess the colour black is being used to enhance the rugged and sporty look of the SUV and to make it standout in the crowd of other Ecosport.

The Black edition Ecosport gets a black front grille, 16 inch black alloy wheels, black mirror covers, black fog lamp bezels, black roof rails and roof cross bars.

The Black edition Ecosport will only be available in Trend+, Titanium and Titanium+ variants and will be priced higher than the normal variants.

So if you don't like the chrome and dazzle of the normal Ecosport then this Black edition, more macho looking car will be for you.

I guess Ford has done a good job by providing one more option to Ecosport buyers, as many young customers go for all black theme for their cars and has to go for after market accessories to get the black look, so this original  factory quality Black edition Ecosport  should find quite a few takers in the young crowd.

The growing popularity of  recently launched Maruti brezza must have got Ford worried and they had earlier reduced the prices of Ecosport to bring it at par with its direct competition Brezza. 

                                                                                                                                                         ...Alok

New Toyota Fortuner Review Video

New Toyota Fortuner review video by Shapur Kotwal, deputy editor of Autocar India.

India has been waiting for the new Toyota Fortuner for a long time, and finally the first drive video of  India spec Fortuner is here.

Taking into account the customer feedback over the years Toyota has tried to improve the new Fortuner in every department. The New Fortuner has sharper looks than the outgoing model, its longer and wider, has much better interiors, better ride quality, and new suspension setup which can take the corners much better at high speed.

Along with nice interiors new Fortuner is also more spacious, with three rows of comfortable seating.

New Toyota Fortuner will be able in both manual and automatic gearbox, the auto box will also come equipped with paddle shifters.

Tired of waiting for the New Fortuner many SUV  have bought New Ford Endeavour, which was launched launched few months back and has overtaken  Fortuner sales. 

It will be interesting to see how New Fortuner performs against New Endeavour  , once it hits the Indian roads.

 

Get ready for Datsun redi-GO , new entry level hatchback.

Datsun India dealers recently started accepting bookings for it's soon too be launched entry level hatchback called redi-GO. 

The earlier two Datsun offerings called GO and GO+ were not well received by the Indian car buyers and Datsun has high expectations from its new kid and to differentiate it from other entry level hatches already in the market its calling redi-GO an "unique fusion of compact crossover & urban hatchback".

 Some  features of redi-Go which are sure to attract prospective buyers to its dealerships are -

Stylish Design.

Highest in class ground clearance of 185mm

Projector Head Lamps

Day Time Running Lights

Spacious Interiors

Impressive mileage of 25.17 km/L

Performance Augmented Brakes

Reinforced Crash Protection Shell

Energy Absorbing Steering and Airbags.

 On the face of it the stylish new redi-GO looks like a good package and its Yukan Design may appeal to urban buyers towards whom its targeted, but when pitted against market leader Maruti Alto 800...which is soon launching its refreshed version, and other popular hatchbacks like Renault Kwid and Hyundai Eon, redi-GO may find it a tough going. 

 Datsun redi-Go can also be booked  online on Snapdeal dot com.

I guess the success of redi-GO now depends on a good price, if Datsun comes up with a killer price we may see redi-GO burning the sales charts.

Datsun redi-GO official website

New Alto 800 Face Lift Coming Soon !

Internet is abuzz with the rumours of Maruti Suzuki Alto , the best selling car in in India is getting a face lift. New updated versions of this hatch have already been spied at Maruti dealerships, which may indicate a launch in May 2016 itself.

The new model gets changes to its exteriors , and may also get a diesel engine to widen its appeal .

The front end of  800 cc Alto gets new head lamps,grill , new front and rear bumpers, with the Suzuki logo now placed on the front bumper.\

Even though Alto has been best selling car for over a decade, and a favorite with first time car buyers, recently its been getting tough competition from the hot selling Renault Kwid which has vowed many car enthusiasts with its SUVish looks. Nissan too is ready with its new entry level hatch Redi-Go, which may may things tougher for Alto 800

Maruti is not taking any chance with the market leadership of its  highest selling car, and want to up the game with the new refreshed version of Alto800.

Honda BR-V Review Video By Renuka Kripalani

Renuka Kripalani reviews much awaited Honda BR-V, the first compact SUV by Honda, soon to be introduced in India.

On first look BR-V looks like a  Mobilio, Honda's first MPV in India which unfortunately was no taken up by the Indian car buyers. 

Built on the Brio platform BR-V is narrow + long, and looks more like a MUV than a compact SUV. Though the narrow width may not give three people enough room to sit abreast in the rear seat comfortably, the extra length gives good legroom in second row and enough space for two adult passenger in the third row.

Even though the side profile looks very similar to Mobilio, the front end of BR-V is nice and muscular with the squared out bonnet, large head lamps and a wide chrome strip runnging across the engine grill  giving it a big car SUV'ish look.

BR-V will be available in diesel and petrol engines, and will give a choice of both CVT Auto and six speed Manual transmissions. 

Launch Date - 5th May 2016
Price -  8 to 11 Lakh for Petrol
           9 to 12.5 Lakh for Diesel
CVT Auto box will only be available with Petrol Engine option.  
Mileage - Diesel Engine -  21.9 Kmpl
              Petro Engine - 15.4  Kmpl
              Petrol Auto   - 16     Kmpl

 

Brezza vs TUV300 Vs Ecosport Comparison Video.

Overdrive Magazine compares the three sub four meter compact SUV's in the Indian market, pitting the new kid Maruti Vitara Brezza against the ruling champ Ford Ecosport and the upstart  Mahindra TUV300, the only body on frame compact SUV. 

The result of the comparison was not much of a surprise as Brezza came out to be the winner because of its fresh design, roomy interiors, frugal engine makes it more complete package.

The result of this brief comparison test does echo the market sentiment where over 5600 cars were booked with in 48 hours of commencement of booking.

Segment leader Ford Ecosport stood out as better looking vehicle with more SUVish looks and  with good ride and handling. 

Out of the three TUV300 is the only sub four meter with body on frame chassis like the larger SUV's, and its rough tough look makes it stand out in the crowd of hatchbacks on steroids and psudo SUV's in the market.

                                                                                                                                                      .....Alok

Maruti Vitara Brezza Review Video.

Kartikeya Shingi of Autocar India takes a first drive of  just launched Maruti Vitara Brezza, and reviews its on road performance.

In this video review Brezza comes out as a well rounded package for Indian car buyers, and Maruti's first crack at the compact SUV market seems to have hit a bulls eye.

Karthikeya is particularly impressed by the noise insulation that the Vitara cabin has, which filters out the engine noise and road noise very effectively and makes the cabin a relaxing place to be in. 

Brezza also scores on understated styling, roomy interiors, rear leg room, large boot, segement leading fuel economy and safety features available as standard or add-on on  all models.

Vitara Brezza particularly stands out in dual tone colors, and Maruti expects these models to be more appealing to the youth.

The feature rich Vitara Brezza  has been priced attractively, and fully loaded ZDI+ model is below 10 Lakh mark - ex show room Delhi.

                                                                                        ...Alok 
pic source

Brezza Wave Crashess Down Ecosport Prices !

The terror of Brezza wave sweeping the market has made Ford to cut the prices of its market leader compact SUV Ecoport by huge margin. 

Maruti started Vitara Brezza bookings two days back at very attractive prices, undercutting Ford Ecosport prices by a good margin.The result of attractive Brezza pricing, combined with stellar reputation of Maruti  brand, was that the dealers have already bagged orders for over 5500 cars in just two days.

The grand reception given to Brezza by Indian car buyers had sent shock waves into the Ford India headquarters, which has wisely decided to lower the prices of its bestselling compact Suv - Ecosport,  by as much as Rs.1.12 Lakh (ex showroom Delhi).

 With this smart move Ford should be able  to divert some of  the flow of prospective Vitara Brezza buyers  to its own showrooms and maintain the leadership position of Ecosport in this segment.

 

Now it will be interesting to see how the  car buyers responds  to this generous price cut by Ford, and how Maruti Suzuki responds to this drastic price cut. 

But I am sure of one thing that more competition in this segment will only result in compact SUV’s being available at  attractive prices, making them VFM propositions for Indian car buyers.

In the coming days it will also be interesting to see how the success of Brezza, and price cuts for Ecosport, effect the sales of TUV300, the hot selling compact SUV from Mahindra And Mahindra.

                                                                                                                   ....Alok 

Pic Source

Tata Tiago Booking Starts Today.

Booking for Tata Tiago, the much awaited, and delayed,  offering from Tata Motors has started today. Interested buyers can book the cute Tiago with a token amount of Rs.10,000.

 Tiago is expected to hit the Tata Motor dealesrships on 28th March 2016

With market expected launch price of around four lakhs, Tiago is expected make quite a splash in the entry level  hatch market in India. 

Pic Source