AutoPundit : Indian automobile news and reviews » 2008

Another cheap electric car ? from Ajanta Clocks ?

Ajanta has been a renowned name as a Clock manufacturer, but its also been making electric scooters and bikes under ‘Oreva’ brand. As company says, Production of electric car is not difficult for us as the technology is almost similar and 70 per cent of its parts can be produced in-house, giving us an edge over the vehicle’s pricing.

Now, many car manufacturers are planning to make cheap cars say it the Nano effect.The Ajanta group is serious in its attempt to keep the basic price of the proposed car as low as Rs 85,000. At present, in the electric car segment only Reva car is available in India, which starts at around 4.5 lacs. So that will make the car cheaper than the tata nano.

Another player in the small car segment, the Rajkot-based Field Marshal group, is in negotiations with Australian company Farnow Technologies for a joint venture for a low cost electric car.

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Hyundai i10 : 2008 Indian Car of the Year (ICOTY)

Hyundai i10 : 2008 Indian Car of the Year (ICOTY) The Indian Car of the Year (ICOTY) 2008 is the Hyundai i10. Infact the South Korean brand’s small baby has won all the ‘car of the year’ awards of 2008. The ICOTY award has been instituted by automotive magazines including Business Standard Motoring, Autocar India, Auto India, Car India, Overdrive and Top Gear.

Hyundai i10 debuted November last year in India and got an overwhelming response. The sales accounted over 5,800 units February ‘08. Although it had affected sales of Santro and Getz, it was a hit. Santro sales was just above 4,700 units which used rival WagonR in sales before i10 came. Maruti Suzuki WagonR sales in the month was above 12,000 units mark.

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Tata Motors to produce ‘eco cars’ in Thailand

Tata Motors, Toyota & Mitsubishi as received Thailand government’s approval for setting up a greenfield facility to manufacture “eco cars”. The estimated investment is about Rs 760-1,015 crore.

The three plants would be built on industrial estates in eastern Thailand. Last year, the BOI (The Board of Investment of Thailand) approved the eco car production plans of Honda, Suzuki and Nissan worth a combined 21.75 billion baht with a total capacity of 378,000 cars per year. Thailand is the world’s biggest maker of one-tonne trucks and has struggled for years to convince big carmakers to invest in export-oriented plants for small cars, including the eco car project which stalled in 2004 amid fears it would bleed sales from other vehicles.

Tata Motors aims to invest 7.3 billion baht on a plant that will produce up to 100,000 eco cars a year. Production is expected to start in 2010 and 52% of the output will be exported to Asia-Pacific and South Africa, the board said.

Mitsubishi Motors (Thailand) would spend 4.7 billion baht on a plant with an annual capacity of 107,000 eco cars. Of this, 88% will be exported. Production is scheduled to start in 2010, the board said. Its key export markets would be Australia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Japan.

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Review : Fiat 500 and India, How well does it match ?

FIAT announced its plans earlier this year to release the iconic “FIAT 500″ along with Bravo, Punto and Linea. But how well will this car perform in the Indian Market ? The small car is not that small on price. But yesteryear stats can be wrong, infact looking at stats of the newly launched model like Skoda Fabia, there is a good market for high-end small hatches. And above all Fiat seems to have a good hope with the new new line of economy & high-end cars and better service backed up by the TATA. Fiat 500 in India Review : FIAT 500 Front

But The 500 when launched might already have competetion in the market with international players like Volkswagen and Mini Cooper.

Erasing its name as one of the “cheap” car (..padmini..) maker, FIAT is all set to roll this baby with a 11-13 lakh Price tag. The car, all in all is a compact, superb and sexy package to own. Its incredibly cute and real fun to drive. Though indians might not like its practicality with 2 doors, but if you can spend that much, who cares anyway ? The coolest looking part of this cutie is the retro dashboard and odo/temp screen, which in fact can also show you your text messages !