BBC TOP GEAR INDIA EDITION

I was out grocery shopping 2 days back and noticed the BBC Top Gear magazine's India edition. I had not seen that before and picked it up out of curiosity.

The first thing that stuck me was if it is really the Indian edition! As if to prove that, there is an Indian editorial board and there are some little mentions about cars available in India. Discount that and it looked as if you bought it somewhere in the west. One of the few articles on India vehicle was too outdated to be there - it was a comparison between Indigo, Esteem and Ikon. I finished the entire mag in less than 10 minutes and put it away! I think the people of Top Gear will be better off reselling their European edition as such, or at least never bother to sell the mag in India.

VALUE FOR MONEY

Are you looking for a value for money mid-size car and don't mind going for diesel and make some minor compromise? In their recent feature, rediff recommends Hyundai Accent Viva CRDi against many other cars compared.

THE ACCEPTANCE OF NEW CARS

In the last year or so, more and more customers are embracing newly launched cars. Most of the new cars launched recently seem to have become a big hit. This could well mean that Indian customer is moving up the value chain fast or that there are so many buyers that any thing new just sells out, the former being more likely.

Look at the facts. The new City ZX already has 2000 bookings. When the new City was launched a year or so back with a complete makeover, it was actually a big hit to every one's surprise. Ford seems to be doing well with Fiesta getting more than 2000 bookings. The swift created waves when it was launched and so did Innova. It is important to note that most of these models(except Fiesta) were remarkably different from any other cars, which shows that people do like their cars to be special and distinct.

But there are exceptions too. Hyundai Getz and Ford Focus were two new cars, which stood distinct from other cars but did not so much tickle the buyers. This is where we see that value for money is an equally important factor, with both cars being priced much higher than their nearest counterparts.

MORE AUTO COMPANIES LOOK AT INDIA

Now that most of the automakers are here - either to sell their cars or to do some research and development or to outsource some dirty work or to buy spare parts. The way things are going, no one can ignore being in India. The latest to open an India subsidary is Rolls Royce. No, this is not about selling or making Rolls Royce in India yet, but to manage their growing volume of engineering work that it is sub-contracting. Read the complete story.

THE NEW HONDA CITY ZX VTEC

If the initial response for Honda’s new Civic ZX is any indication, Honda's winning spree with the new City seems to be continuing. They already have 2000 bookings only a few days after the launch. The reviews have been good too. This month's Autocar India magazine has a peek into the car for those interested. Their verdict - "A fast fun to drive, comfortable and practical car"

When Honda phased out the old City and brought out the new model, a variant with VTEC version was missing altogether. It's now back with the ZX. ZX also features a 65mm longer bonnet that gives it a smooth taper in the front and makes it look a little less unorthodox.

Here are the features to look for:

Engine Capacity: 1.5 liter
Power: 100bhp
Engine Specs: 4 cyl, 16 valve, sohc

Price: 8.41 lakhs ex-showroom Mumbai

FORD FIESTA WEBSITE

"Go Fida" seems to be their punchline for Fiesta. Since success of the Josh Machine campaign, they have been using Hindi words to promote their vehicles('Karega' for Fusion).

It is surprising that Ford did not have a website on Ford Fiesta when they launched. Finally its out and you have all the details you would want to know including images, features, variants available, booking a test drive etc. Pretty interesting design with lot of flash and nice images, and of course Abhishek Bachchan with that car. Go here.

TATA INDIGO IS GOING PLACES

Tata Motors seems to be having an unstoppable run. We all know about Tata Motor's first breakthrough in international markets for cars came when they signed up Rover to export Indica to UK two years back. Tata cars have gone places since then. Indigo has been known to be selling well in South Africa. Tata Motors is planning a production unit for Indigo in Russia. Indigo will be hitting Saudi Arabia soon. Success seems to be following the Tatas wherever they go. Tata Motors has really come a long way from a few years back when they declared a gigantic quarterly loss of 500 crores in 2001. Read about an article on Tata Motor's success on Rediff.

SPEED WEEK ON DISCOVERY CHANNEL

If you are an enthusiast for cars, racing and high speed, discovery channel has something for you this week. They are running what is called 'speed week', a series of programs on fast cars, high speed, racing and technologies involved. The program runs every day on the channel from 20th to 25th of November at 10pm. Enjoy while it lasts!

FORD: SOME POOR MARKETING

I had requested Ford for more information on the Fiesta. A representative from Ford called me today to inquire my interests. It turned out that he was not very informed himself. Apparently there are four variants - 3 in petrol and one in diesel. I wanted to know how much power do each of the variants have, and he started telling me the engine capacity(cc) instead. I tried to make my question clear by asking again as to how many bhps is each variant. It turned out he did not know what a bhp is! He shouted to his colleagues for an answer but no one knew!! He said he shall get back to me later with the answer. I did not put him many questions but just wanted to know when can I get a test drive of the car. All the information that I got was that my request shall be forwarded to a dealer and they will inform me once it is available.

GENERAL MOTOR'S WOES IN INDIA

Since the time they are in India, GM had never had any thing going good for them. And things seem to be continuing that way. Opel Astra, their first car in India was a car fit for the archeology department and that’s where it seems to have ended up. Further launches of GM never made it big in India. Opel Corsa did not click either. Many people don't even know that they sell a premium car called Opel Vectra. Chevy Forrester has no different story to tell. They were hoping to make some dent into the most popular and most important segment - the small car market by buying off Daewoo India and selling the erstwhile Matiz as Chevy Spark. With inordinate delays in acquisition, they are fed up and have shelved the plan now. Only Optra has brought some relief to GM. There is news that the next car in GM's line is Chevy Aveo to be launched in 2006, and we need to wait to see if it makes any difference to GM's fortunes.

When every one is going ga ga about selling cars in India and new models are launched almost every month, and all automakers are realizing India as a good market, GM seems to have remained more of a spectator. It still remains to be seen if they really have any serious plans for India.

THE RS. 1 LAKH CAR

And I thought only Tatas are trying to make a 4 wheeled passenger vehicle(I am now not very sure if I should call it a car) costing Rs. 1 lakh. There seems to be a bigger lot of them. Every one who has some technology and money seems to trying to make some thing of the kind of a car at that price point. And the list includes

- Bajaj Auto
- TVS Motors
- Piaggio

ALL THE FORD FIESTA NEWS YOU WANTED TO KNOW

So the Ford Fiesta launch has got every one's attention. Here is all the news you can get(which is actually very little news) about the Fiesta.



- Two variants will be available priced at 5.6 lakh and 7 lakh ex-showroom Delhi
- The engines of the variants will be 68bhp(isn't it too low?) and 100bhp
- The prices will go up in a month! And by whopping 20,000 to 30,000(Let's head for the Honda show room then!).
- Its Abhishek Bachchan. He will be endorsing the new Ford. You might already have seen some ads.

I am planning to go and check out the car as soon as it is available. So keep watching this space.

CARS, ECONOMY AND PROSPERITY

A few year's back, when Skoda decided to head to India, they were one of the very few luxury car makers in India. I was discussing about it with a friend when he slowly uttered - "I don't think what India now needs is a luxury car". And he went on to talk about bad roads to poverty and lack of education and such things that need priority addressing than a luxury car. I think you get the drift - he meant good and shared a valid view point.

But that kept me thinking. I put some grey matter into his thoughts and I only ended up feeling that in many aspects it is better to have these cars than not. The primary reason - jobs. Every car rolled out creates 5.3 jobs. And that was just what we needed in the time when Skoda was gearing up for launch. A car sold will relieve a rich man of some of his money. A part of this goes to more rich men, but a lot of people who need money also benefit from it. In the entire life cycle of a car comes the worker in the assembly/manufacturing unit, the workers of the spare parts industry, the people who transport it, the people who sell it and the people who maintain it. Summing up, the number of jobs created is indeed plentiful, which can only do good to the economy and to the standard of living of every one from richest(who buys the car) to the poorest(who does repairs or works at the factory).

That’s about the factors of economy. But there are downsides too. In India's fastest growing city of Bangalore, traffic jams make many people spend more than 3 hours on the road between home and work. The pollution is unbearable. And the question of consumption of too much of resources and energy always has an impact on the environment.

There do exist both downsides and upsides. When Skoda was about to launch four years back, we were in a good position to see more cars on the road. We now probably need better roads before we put more cars on them. But achieving such a balance is easier said than done.

BAJAJ UP FOR LAUNCHING A RS. 1 LAKH BIKE?

Two wheeler manufacturers are moving up the value chain. As the lower end of motorcycle market is inundated with many models and seems to be saturating, manufacturers seem to be working to find their niche. Bajaj is now said to be working on a Rs. 1 lakh two-wheeler for the premium segment, going beyond a segment that was created by Hero Honda Karizma. The release says that the bike will have a 250cc engine. For a long time, India does not have any personal passenger vehicles in the range of 1 lakh to 2 lakh, whether it is a two-wheeler or a four-wheeler. Tata Motors and Bajaj seem to be making their attempt to fill this gap.

FORD FIESTA IS OUT

The much publicised new car from Ford - the new Ford Fiesta is unveiled today by Bill Ford, chairman of Ford Motors. Fiesta is second car designed in India for India by Ford, the first one being the successful Ikon. Ford has been making enough noises with full page advertisements to ensure that everyone gets to hear about the launch. Fiesta is loaded with Ford's proprietory diesel technolody - TRDI, referred to as DURA which is expected to give better fuel efficiency. Fiesta is a mid-size car which might complete with the likes of Hyundai Accent and Honda Citi. The price of the car is not yet known but Sify says it is 5.6 lakh to 7 lakh. Ford's website still does not have much details and may need some more waiting, but you can see a lot of pictures and a bit of test drive details in this month's edition of Autocar India magazine..

BIGGER, BETTER CARS: HONDA CIVIC WILL BE IN INDIA

More and more car makers are now beginning to feel that India is ready to take on bigger cars, even though India's roads may not have. Adding to many big cars - according to AutocarIndia - that are arriving in India is Honda Civic, one of the best selling cars from Honda. It is good to see the Indian customer growing up to buying cars of international standards. It could well be a good time for manufacturers to consider bringing in Hybrid cars to India. Civic is already made in Hybrid versions abroad and it remains to be seen if they will be available in India too. Toyota Prius is another best selling Hybrid car that India can do with. With the Indian customer more conscious of fuel economy than anywhere else, Hybrid cars should click here despite slightly higher price tag.

Autocar India writes about the launch of Civic:

This is one of the most important models in the Honda line-up, especially with emerging markets picking up in volume in the recent years and the carmaker has spared no effort or expense in getting its Corolla competitor right

Read the complete story here

CAR LOANS, 100% LOAN, FINALLY

I have seen many people going to a bank asking for a car loan and coming back amused and angry that the loan given is not on the on-road price of the car. The financier may be playing safe but no customer likes the fact that while he is coughing up some money, the financier tells you that the price of the car is actually less than what you are paying and loans you only so much. With having to shell out some down payment, things only get difficult for the buyer. I have known friends who ended up buying a lower model because they could not pay so much upfront even though they can easily pay up the EMI. Of course, things are changing with times and you get 100% loan these days. But even this 100% is usually not on the on-road price.

But thre is some good competition, and things are only getting better. Now SBI has come out to offer loans on the on-road price of the vehicle, which should make buyers feel better. The financing will include vehicle's lifetime tax, registration fee and insurance for the first year. Being a nationalized bank, we can expect that it may not have any catches or clauses that pull you from behind. Some details at SBI's website. So if you are about to buy a car, may be you can now think of a premium model!

FIAT JOINS HANDS WITH TATA MOTORS

It’s an old news but nevertheless worth sharing.

Fiat is finally finding a much-needed co-operation from an Indian vendor. Just when it looked like things can't get any worse for Fiat, rains in Bombay inundated Fiat's assembly lines in Kurla. Though Fiat has enough inventories to keep it almost non-existent sales going, it is now planning to roll out Palio's from Tata Engineering's plant in Pune. The extend of co-operation that the two are planning is not known, but Fiat can definitely do good in integrating its sales and support with Tata Motor's, which would be of great help in reviving Palio's fortunes. Buyers in India have little doubts about the technology and reliability of Fiat's cars but support has always been a major concern, which can be overhauled if the Tatas pitch into supporting Palio

MARUTI AND THE COSMETIC CHANGES

Maruti seems to have come into a habit of changing tail lights and calling them as a re-design. They did it to Wagon R and Alto. Even changes to Zen and Esteem were cosmetic but of slightly higher order. Now is the turn of Baleno which always seemed like a car that the time has left behind. A great car with a value for money provided by no other cars for that price, it could make a remarkable improvement if they made some upliftment in its dated looks. But changing the tail lights and trying to make some additional sales out of just that is not going to help much.

AMBASSADOR: THE OLD WARHORSE OF INDIAN PASSENGER CAR INDUSTRY

It is amazing how the good old Amby has managed to survive the onslaught of modern cars. Even now, Hindustan Motors' Ambassador is selling more than 1000 cars a month and they have clocked a small growth of 2% against last year October. It may be bought mostly for babus and taxis but despite that I think it is still a big feat that it has managed to survive unlike the other old cars from Premier(Padmin, 118NE). It might have mattered that they kept upgrading - with better engines, bucket seats and many more features, but it still has the image of a grand daddy.

Talking about Amby, Indiatimes Auto has a photo feature on them. Don't expect much from the photos, but the facts given along with are pretty interesting.

MY GOOD OLD MARUTI ZEN

My first post on the autoblog has to be about my good old favorite car - It’s a 1999 model, non-mpi Maruti Zen

Its an old war horse that has been around for 6 years and has clocked more than 80,000 kms. But it has been a reliable one in my drives in and out of city. I have driven it to places far and away, probably few personal cars have seen as much of South India as this. And in each ride it has been a trusted carrier I could count on. If I try to list the many places that I have taken the car to, you will understand how much I have used it and why am I so fond of it. Here they are

- Munnar
- Kodaikanal
- Ooty
- Wayanad
- Rangathittu near Mysore, probably 2 times
- Chennai, Pondicherry
- Jog falls
- Coorg
- Bandipur National Park
- Mangalore
- Chikkamagalur

There are places I could recall off my head.

Its not that it is a perfect car; the most irking thing about the car is its power delivery. With mere 50bhp, it probably has less bhp/tonne than a Maruti 800. And it groans when it is climbing steep slopes. But on the other hand, the fuel economy it delivers is something that few cars may be able to compete against.