Maruti is planning to increase in prices of its cars from May 1st. But there is no word of the amount of hike yet. Another company to announce price raise is Hero Honda, which is planning to increase prices by Rs.500-1000. No word from other companies yet,  but it is very  likely that they were just waiting for someone to start. In a very different move, Tata Motors is reducing the price of Indica by Rs.8,000-10,000 hoping to improve its stagnant sale.

Engine: 1.3 liter petrol, delivering 87bhp; 1.25 liter diesel engine delivering 75bhp

Variants: There are 3 variants in petrol(Lxi, Vxi and Zxi) and 3 in diesel(Ldi, Vdi, Zdi). Zxi and Zdi come with tilt steering, driver seat height adjustment and automatic climate control.

Prices: Dzire is priced competitively. The petrol version starts from 4.3 lakhs and diesel version from 5.2 lakhs, ex-showroom Bangalore

Links:

1. Official Swift Dzire website from Maruti

2. Autocar India on Dzire

3. Brief review at maxabout.com

4. BS Motoring on Dzire

5. User reviews on mouthshut. Keep returning there to see more entries pop up.

The new Sumo still has a shade of the heritage of the old one with square edges and plasticky feel, but you won’t realize them unless you are searching for it. The exteriors are sleek, though not on par with the Scorpio, gets a little closer to it and much better than the Bolero. It would not be hard for Sumo to now become a family car and align its market with Chevy Tavera and Bolera, and even Scorpio to some extent.

Image from Sumo Grande website

The new Sumo has curved exteriors which looks decent at first sight. Interiors are trimmed up pretty well and comes with a dashboard that looks much better. But the interiors are still long way in styling in comparison with cars that would be priced similarly or a little less.

Tata Motors says it is an entirely new vehicle and not just a face lift. A new 2.2 litre CRDI engine asserts that fact. Sumo Grande comes in three variants - GX, VX and LX with power steering and AC as standard in all of these. Other standard features in all models include tilt steering, tubeless tyres and fog lamps. Prices vary from 6.53 lakh to 7.43 lakh ex-showroom Bangalore.

See Sumo Grande website for more details.

Launch of Dzire would being in some action in a segment which was much neglected by most car companies. When upgrading their older cars from lower C segment, most companies ended up launching cars much bigger. Ford Fiesta was pricier than Ikon which is also an old car but still in the market. When GM replaced Open Corsa, their replacement was the expensive Aveo. Even Maruti launched a big sedan SX4 which was at a higher segment. Renault Logan which is priced slightly lower than Fiesta, Aveo or SX4 still could not beat the price of Ikon, Esteem or Corsa. Tata Indigo is one of the not-so-old car in the category which somehow did not make a mark with the skeptics despite being the bestselling in the price range.

The new sedan, which will be unveiled on March 26th is said to be a sedan version of Swift. According to news source, the car’s price would start from Rs.4.5 lakhs. And the good news is that unlike SX4, there will be a diesel version which would be priced around 5.2 lakhs.

Also see: Dzier website, which doesn’t unveil much before the official launch but only gives a glimpse of it.

Last few years have seen plenty of improvements in the roads in the highways, but a similar thing is difficult to expect in our congested cities. There is hardly any room available in the cities to add new roads or widen the existing ones. Flyovers haven’t helped much in improving traffic conditions.

There have been a few good steps taken though. Delhi Metro is turning out to be a great example of public transport. The long flyovers between Delhi and Gurgaon, Delhi and Noida have also shown the example of making better flyovers. Rest of India needs to adapt similar steps to ensure smooth commute within the cities. Now Chennai also has got trains running within the city, and Bangalore is coming up with a Metro. All these are good moves, but also take long time to bear fruit and are expensive to implement everywhere.

Increasing affluence in the cities are resulting in more and more cars and bikes added to the roads every day. There is a need to consider a way to discourage people from using personal vehicles. For one, tax the cars and two wheelers heavily and use them to subsidize or fund public transport. Petrol prices can be increased further, as petrol is used only in private vehicles. An additional tax for diesel cars would help too. I would personally look at levying stringent taxes that result in doubling of the prices of all personal vehicles.

These measures can help in many ways, and the benefits are not just reduced congestion. It will improve the quality of air in the cities to a great extent, improving the health and living conditions. And to look at the larger perspective, emission of green house gases will come down considerably, resulting in a better place to live for future generations.

Without waiting for the government to act, we can take a step ahead too. Let’s buy vehicles that are frugal in fuel consumption(read - small cars), let’s avoid the temptation of frequent upgrade of our cars, and let’s avoid driving unless we have to. I have already reduced my driving by one fourth of what it used to be a year ago, and looking forward to cut down further on it. Let’s join our hands in this noble act of keeping earth liveable for longer.