LOOKING BACK AT 2006

The year of 2006 saw many cars and two wheelers launched. Here is a list of the new launches that were featured on India Auto Blog.

CARS

Lancer Cedia
Chevy Aveo
Honda Civia
Chevy SRV
Hyundai Verna
Maruti Zen Estilo
Chevy Aveo UV-A

TWO WHEELERS

Hero Honda Pleasure
Bajaj Platina
Kinetic Blaze
TVS Apache
Hero Honda CBZ Extreme

Here is wishing all the readers of India Auto Blog a very happy new year. Let's look forward to many more newer, advanced, user friendly and environment friendly vehicle in the year of 2007.

A NEW MARUTI BALENO?

December issue of Autocar India magazine makes a mention of a new Maruti Baleno. They don't seem to have much substance in their story, yet they seem to be confident about it. All they have are some pictures of a left-hand-drive car with Suzuki logo behind it, and they don't even say where the pictures are taken from. But there is a small mention that the new Baleno will be similar to its Chinese counterpart. They support their argument by another fuzzy image, which they claim to be that of the new Baleno being tested by Maruti. The date of launch they are projecting is 4-5 month down the line in 2007, and make a price estimate of Rs.7-8 lakh for the new car.

I am not sure how true is the story, but Baleno surely needs a replacement. Infact, Baleno is a much appreciated car and is the best value for money car in its segment, but its dated looks alone have done lot of damage to its sales. Customers who would want to buy a Baleno are also discouraged by the fear that it may be obsoleted by Maruti very soon. If they launch a completely new car costing 7-8 lakhs, Maruti will loose the value for money advantage they have on current Baleno. Maruti has an experience of sprucing up the looks of their cars in the past - like the Zen and Esteem. Neither Zen not Esteem see an improvement in sales after they got the new looks, but a similar job could do wonders on the Baleno if they can make it look contemporary but retain everything inside and keep the same price tag. If they do that, they can also work on getting a replacement for Esteem, which is badly needed immediately, instead of spending their energy on a new Baleno.

CHEVY AVEO UV-A ROLLOUT

After a long time since Chevrolet Aveo was rolled out, General Motors has now launched the hatchback version of the car, called Aveo UV-A. For a price tag starting from almost 4 lakhs, the Aveo UV-A appears big, impressive and value for money. It also has looks that can impress anyone. The Aveo comes with 3 variants, all of them sporting a 1.2L, 72bhp engine. For more details on the specifications, details and images, see Chevy website.

SCORPIO AND FORD DISCOUNTS

Continuing on the discounts raining during the year end, Mahindra has announced upto Rs.50000 discounts on Scorpio. I heard it on an ad on the radio, and could not get the details. Mahindra Scorpio website was down when I was writing this.

Ford also is running good discounts on all its vehicles, which will be on only till December end. Here is a summary of discounts:

Endeavour: In car DVD player worth upto Rs.30,000 free
Flair: First year insurance free
Fiesta: Sporty pack worth Rs.20,000

See more details on this on Ford website.

YEAR END DISCOUNTS

Rediff says is a good time to buy a car if you are looking for discounts, with companies trying to meet their targets at the end of the year. The discounts they are mentioning look pretty attractive, which includes a good 35,000 on Hyundai Santro, double that money on Accent CRDi, a 20,000 off on Maruti 800, and 26,500 to 40,000 on some Tata cars like Indica and Safari. See the entire list here. Go for it now if you were planning to buy a car.

THE NEW HONDA CRV

It has been some time since Honda has launched the new CRV. The review at Business Standard Motoring says it is better than the old CRV, but still has room to improve. They also think it is not exactly value for money.

So you do get a safe automobile when you put in Rs 20 lakh and some more for your CR-V. It has got the space, has more comfort at the back (if you employ a chauffeur), ride quality, presence and handling that apes a car.

The new CRV comes with 6 speed manual transmission or 5 speed automatic versions, powered by a 161bhp engine. See the detailed webpage of the new Honda CRV for more details.

MARUTI ZEN ESTILO - THE NEW ZEN

The relaunched new version of the Zen, called Zen Estilo, which was due for a while, was revealed to the Indian buyer yesterday. It has been a fairly quiet launch, without much publicity or fanfare.


The Zen Estilo comes with Maruti's time tested formula or variants - the no frills LX, LXi and high end version VXi. The car comes with a 1061ml capacity engine which can deliver 64bhps. See more details of the car on Maruti Zen website.

The LX is expected to be priced at 3.2lakhs and the VXi will cost 4.02 lakhs, keeping the pricing competitive.