General Motors has launched its first Hatchback in India (ofcourse we are not considering the Opel Corsa at the moment) before the Christmas season. The Aveo U-VA is a premium hatchback with a 1.2 litre petrol engine that will cost you close to 4 lakh (base model).
The Aveo U-VA is in direct competition to the Getz and the Maruti Swift which has been a revelation from MUL. The other variants of the U-VA are priced at Rs. 4.39 lakh and 4.79 lakh. The car comes with a 4 cylinder engine, along with 76 bhp power.
The new Aveo U-VA, Mr Chaba said, “We have re-engineered the car to suit Indian conditions and it carries a local content of less than 50 per cent, which we plan to take up to about 55 per cent in the coming time.”
Overall the car will come with a weaker engine compared to the Swift or the Getz, but will be more spacious and definitely will give you more for less.
Aveo, General Motors December 24th 2006
The new Maruti Zen Estilo has been fully launched in Hyderabad now, and bookings have started rolling in. The car has been released in Hyderabad and Secunderabad and will be sold through the biggest dealer there, that is RKS Motors. The Managing Director of RKS, Mr Vinay Saboo, commented “Zen’ brand and the ergonomic design and comfort value were pushing the passenger car well in the Hyderabad market, which is growing rapidly.”
Already they have seen over 200 bookings for the car, and the number is expected to double in the coming days. Lets now see how the car actually does in the more important cities like Mumbai and Delhi.
Maruti December 18th 2006
Maruti Udyog will be looking ahead to the new year in an effort to raise the bar with the new Swift diesel and Estilo. The company has announced that they are going to increase the prices of the cars by up to Rs. 12,000. The amount of increase in each model is not known but the maximum should be in the Maruti Swift.
MUL had earlier raised prices in August 2006 and this will be another increase within only 5 months. The company say that the hike in prices is due to the rising input costs and freight rates.
On this news the stock did not react as much as expected but just closed marginally higher at Rs. 885.8 on 15 December.
India, Maruti December 17th 2006
Maruti Udyog is chalking out their plan to release the diesel version of the popular and virtually one of their best cars on the Indian road at the moment.
The diesel Swift will borrow its 1.3 litre multi engine from their counterparts - Fiat. They are also looking at coming out with a new Esteem within the next year. There were rumors flying around that the Esteem will be discountinued like the Zen, but the sources are now denying this rumor.
The Estilo has also been launched in Delhi and will be rolled out soon in over 20 Indian cities. This car is basically the successor to the Maruti Zen. The Maruti Estilo will also be exported at some point of time, but first the car will need to find its footing here.
Maruti December 11th 2006
Fiat in partnership with TATA has launched the new Palio 1100 version. This car will be more fuel efficient and less powerful than the earlier versions of the Palio. The new Palio 1100 comes with a 1108cc engine with 54 bhp power. This is 25 percent less than the previous version which carried over 72bhp.
The estimated torque in the Palio 1100 is 9kgm and the Kerb weight of this car is close to 900 kgs. The trunk is pretty spacious at 280 litres. The cost of this car will be close to 4 lac ex-showroom Delhi. The motor of this car is from FIAT and the popular FIRE (Fully Integrated Robotised Engine) version which is on the Palio nV too.
The car is expected to be launched in January next year. We shall see if the partnership with the TATAs do any good for the Italian company.
Fiat, Tata December 9th 2006
