IndiBlog

This weekend i took a test drive of the latest generation Accord courtesy their dealer Pearl Honda in Gurgaon. The initial impression you get when you approach the car is that it is much larger than it's predecessor. The car has a more German look and feel to it and i mean that in a very good sense. The interiors are roomy with soft beige leather pampering you. Legroom is great as is shoulder room. Three men sitting at the back is manageable. The drivers seat is electrically adjustable as are the mirrors. The new accord's dashboard is cool and funky but has too many buttons making it look confusing. The central display screen shows all necessary information in a clear, easy to read format.

I drove the 2.4 litre base manual version. With five adults in the car, the Accord felt adequately powered with the engine performing best beyong 4,000 rpm. The motor has been carried over from the previous Accord but has more power now (180 bhp) due to some tweaking by Honda engineers. I took the car upto 140 kmph at which it was very well behaved in straight line and road & tire noise was also very low. The brakes were responsive and adequate to bring the car down from 140 kmph-20 kmph in a matter of 5-6 seconds. The geashift though very slick did not have that precise feel to it. The dealer informed me that a 3.0 litre V6 version is also coming in a few months.

All in all the new Accord looks like a winner and runs like one too. In my mind there is no doubt that you cannot get a better D segment sedan at this price in India.

In the wake of rising input costs the countrys' largest car maker Maruti Suzuki has hiked prices of most of it's product portfolio.

The minimum price hike of Rs. 1,000 has been levied on all variants of the Zen Estilo and WagonR LPG. The bread and butter Alto and M800 are now Rs. 1,500 costlier. The SX4 and Swift hatch would now set you back by Rs. 9000 more while its sedan version the Swift Dzire would cost Rs. 18,000 more which does away with its introductory price starting at Rs 4.49 lakh. The fast selling diesel Swift is now Rs. 15,000 costlier. Considering Maruti Suzuki's buyers are the most cost sensitive, this hike in prices would dampen their sales this year. It's also a bold move by Maruti Suzuki to make the first move in hiking prices in the wake of rising input costs. The industry would follow .........soon.

The new generation Škoda Superb is most likely to reach Indian shores by early 2009. Longer and wider than the earlier generation Superb , the car features an aggressively styled front end with BMW inspired headlamps and design cues borrowed from the Volkswagen Passat which is already on sale in India . The Superb’s long list of features include adaptive cornering headlamps, a new electronic air conditioning system, automatic parking assist and nine airbags along with Skoda's new 'Twindoor' design for the boot which offers users the standard boot opening of a saloon or the fully opening rear of a hatch.

It would be interesting to see which engine variants make it to India as the Skoda Superb featues a varied range in international markets which include the 1.9 litre and 2.0 litre turbodiesels , 1.4 and 1.8 litre petrol engines, and a 3.6-litre V6 topping the range with standard four-wheel drive and six-speed DSG automatic gearbox. The new superb is most likely to be sold alongside the current generation model albeit at a higher price, being Skoda’s latest offering in the luxury D-segment of the Indian car market.

If priced right (Rs. 18-20 lakh) the new Superb could turn out to be more popular alternative to the just launched 2008 Honda Accord which is set to dominate the D segment sales as of now.

Fiat India is planning to roll out a CNG variant of the Palio Stile by the end of 2008 or early 2009 according to market sources. The Fiat Palio Stile was recently launched with the Multijet 1.3 litre Diesel engine which has been received well. Now Fiat wants to solve the problem of it's petrol variants being perceived as being poor on fuel economy by introducing a CNG variant. The factory fitted CNG Palio Stile would come with a warranty and have CNG endorsed on the Registration Certificate as well.

I expect the CNG variant to cost Rs. 35,000-40,000 more than the petrol one. It should offer a wallet friendly mileage of 20 kmpl for the 1.1 litre petrol Palio Stile. The 1.1 litre Palio suffers from poor power to weight ration as it has only 57 bhp to pull a car weighing nearly 1 tonne. With CNG the power would drop another 10-15% making the 1.1 litre Palio slower than most cars on sale today. Fiat would know this and would want to upgrade the Palio's engine to a 1.2 litre 4 valve per cylinder unit before it comes out with the CNG variant.

Fiat is on the comeback trail, especially after the 500 became a big success. We already know that Fiat has grand plans for the Indian market with the upcoming Grande Punto and Linea sedan. What most dont know is that Fiat is also going on a major shopping spree in India. For auto components to be precise, lots of them to supply Fiat's international vehicle manufacturing plants and enable it to reduce costs to stay competitive. To facilitate this Fiat has set up a purchasing office in New Delhi which would source as much as €250 million (Rs1,595 crore) worth of auto components from Indian auto component manufacturers.

“Whatever it is possible to buy from India, we’ll buy,” said Gianni Coda, chief executive officer of Fiat Group Purchasing srl. “We have to be competitive in selling cars, selling trucks, selling tractors... We need to reduce costs.”
He's got that right, India has become a sought after destination for auto majors looking to source quality components, 12-15% cheaper than those from Western Europe. Fiat currently purchases parts worth €30 million from India for exports to its factories worldwide.

Hyundai Motor India is going rural. Maruti Suzuki was hte first Indian auto manufacturer to launch a focused initiative targeting rural buyers with offers on it's 'bread and butter' model, the M800. Now Hyundai, the countries second largest auto manufacturer is gearing up to tap those rural wallets with it's own ‘Ghar Ghar Ki Pehchaan’ promotional scheme aimed at members of Gram Panchayats and Govt. employees. The scheme relates to mainly the Santro which is the most affordable product in Hyundai India's portfolio and is likely to attract many who would want to upgrade from the bare bones Maruti 800.

‘Ghar Ghar Ki Pehchaan’ promotional scheme was launched on 1st May and will continue till July 31, 2008. The scheme will involve Hyundai dealers contacting the Panchayats and conducting road shows, distributing pamphlets and posters to promote the scheme, and also make the villagers aware about the Santro. Tie-ups with financing institutions with rural branch networks is also on the cards to extend easy financing options for rural buyers.