The Pulse petrol is powered by a 1.2-litre 3-cylinder 79bhp motor, same as the Nissan Micra. The engine is mated to a 5-speed manual transmission. Renault claims that the Pulse will deliver a fuel efficiency of 18.03kmpl.

All Pulse petrol trims get 14 inch wheels as standard and the base RxE trim gets a driver airbag, electronic power steering, central locking, air conditioning, follow-me headlamps. The top-end RxZ variant is equipped with safety and creature comforts including front dual airbags, automatic climate control, illuminated engine start/stop button, lock/unlock sensing folding outside rear view mirrors, all power windows, ABS, rear defogger with timer and integrated audio in terms of safety and comfort.

Similar to the diesel, the petrol Pulse will be available in six exterior and two interior colour options.

Speaking on the occasion, Marc Nassif, managing director, Renault India Pvt. Ltd. said, “We are highly pleased with the Pulse’s performance and it has been well accepted by the Indian customers. The new Pulse petrol is a product launched for our Indian customers and it will help Renault to broaden its customer base and cater to customers who are looking for a comfortable premium hatch with a competitive price tag.”

The specially designed outlet is to give the real Fiat experience to its customers, another move by the company in strengthening its brand presence in India, after having launched its Fiat Caffe a few months ago. The showroom which was opened by an existing Tata-Fiat dealer will provide an enhanced Fiat buying experience.

Fiat India, a joint venture between Italian carmaker fiat and Tata Motors limited, currently sells 20,000 cars per year, a market share of 0.7 percent.

The dealership was inaugurated by Mr. Enrico Atanasio, Head- Commercial, Fiat India and Mr. A K Sinha- Country Head -Fiat Product Group, Tata Motors.

Commenting on this association, Mr. Enrico Atanasio, said: “Fiat group views India as a very strategic market and will be opening a new company to leverage this potential. We are confident that this partnership with Tejaswi Motors will play a crucial role in intensifying customer base and enhancing customer experience in the city of pearls”

Mr. B S Neelkanta, Managing Director, Tejaswi Motors said, “We are extremely proud to be associated with Fiat India and are committed to provide our customers in Hyderabad a premium buying experience. Fiat diesel engines are very popular in the country and with Hyderabad being a strong diesel market historically; we have invested in opening this showroom at a very prominent location to offer excellent brand experience to both existing and potential customers.”

If you look at the Suzuki Swift Sport, you will not find any radical difference from the current 1.2 Swift in terms of looks and design is concerned. But, Swift Sport is a more powerful and aggressive version of the Swift. In international market, it comes with a 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine attached to the front wheels via a six-speed manual transmission. It churns out 134 HP and 118 pound-feet of torque.

But, if Maruti decides to launch the same international version in India, it will make the car expensive as it will not get the import duty concession because of its big engine. The car could be available in the price range of MINI Cooper. But, it will be against Maruti Suzuki’s image in India as the car company which makes most affordable and fuel efficient vehicle.

So, the only choice Maruti has is to strip down the powerful engine and replace it with more economic one. And according to some reports, the company could fit in either a 1.4-litre K14 from the Ertiga or the 1.6-litre M16 from the SX4 in the Indian version of Swift Sport.

Both engines are mounted in more or less a similar fashion to the 1.2 Swift, so it shouldn’t involve much in terms of re-engineering. The Ertiga’s 1.4-litre engine produces 94 BHP of power and 130 Nm, while the 1.6-litre engine found in SX4 produces 104 BHP of power and 145 Nm of torque.

Apart from the engine upgrade the Maruti Suzuki Swift Sport is also likely to get a body kit, stiffer suspension, bigger brakes, a Traction Control System (TCS) and cosmetic tweaks to distinguish it from 1.2 Swift available in the country.

“The company is feeling the pressure of input costs. To mitigate the impact, we have hiked the prices of only diesel variants of the new DZire with effect from May 1,” a senior Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) official said.

This is the second price revision for the compact saloon since its launch in February this year. The company had hiked prices of the Dzire in the range of Rs 11,000 to Rs 17,000 in April, owing to a hike in excise duty post the 2012-13 Budget.

The diesel variants of the Swift Dzire now start from Rs 5.99 lakh (LDi), a hike of Rs 8,000, while the VDi now retails at Rs 6.52 lakh, up by Rs 10,000. The top-end ZDi gets dearer by Rs 12,000 and now costs Rs 7.34 lakh (all prices ex-showroom, Delhi).

The new model is available in both petrol and diesel options and it qualifies for the excise duty of 10 per cent enjoyed by small cars as it is shorter than 4 metres. While the petrol version is powered by a 1.2 litre engine, the diesel one has a 1.3 litre engine. An automatic transmission variant is also available in the petrol version.

The Bajaj Pulsar motorcycle revolutionised the Indian two wheeler segment, with the launch of 150cc and 180cc bikes in November 2001. The brand today has a portfolio starting from 135 cc light-sports model to 220 cc ‘street-fighter’ product and enjoys a market share of 44 per cent in the performance segment, Bajaj Auto Ltd (BAL), the second largest two wheeler maker said in a statement.

“Not many brands in the Indian automobile space have crossed the 5 million mark. This holds true even for mass motorcycles. The Pulsar range has received many accolades over the years,” BAL President (Motorcycle Business) K Srinivas said.

The company had unveiled the Pulsar 200 NS early this year and it is hopeful of the model doing good in the market.

The Pulsar 200NS comes with new liquid-cooled, 199.5cc, four-valve, carbureted engine with a new triple-spark-plug system, coupled with a six-speed gearbox. The motorcycle produces 23.4 bhp@9500 rpm and 1.86 kgm of torque at 8000 rpm. The company claims the new Pulsar 200NS is capable of 0-60kph in 3.61sec and 0-100kph in 9.83sec.

The bike expected to be officially launched soon with price tag of less than Rs 1 lakh.

Talking about the new dealership, the showroom is spread over 13,000 square feet and has space to display four models along with a service centre. It will be operated by Select Cars.

Aston Martin sells its entire range of sports cars in India priced between Rs 1.8 crore to Rs 4 crore which includes V12 Vantage, Vantage S (Coupe and/or Roadster), V8 Vantage Coupe, V8 Vantage Roadster, DB9 Coupe, DB9 Volante, DBS Coupe, DBS Volante and the Rapide.

Yadur Kapur, executive director at Select Cars, said: “We are sure this iconic brand will provide the Indian audience with an unparalleled driving experience”.

Aston’s Global Sales Director, Andy Gawthorpe, said, “It’s been a long process to ensure that we have the right longterm business partner for Aston Martin in the Northern region of India. Select Cars has a proven track record in the automotive industry on many levels with a strong focus on trained staff and customer service and we look forward to starting a successful relationship.”

Speaking about the Indian market’s growth potential Gawthorpe added, “It has taken us sometime to come here as we were strengthening our existing bases like the US and Europe. Now we want to be strong in 160 to 170 key locations including Mumbai and Delhi.”

Image Courtesy: AutocarIndia

Audi, a division of Volkswagen Group, will ramp up production to 9,000 vehicles from 6,000 vehicles by the end of 2012, Michael Perschke, head of Audi India, said. “We are building a new assembly hall, which is called hall C, which would contribute to production of another 3,000 cars,” he added.

The Aurangabad facility was initially designed with one assembly line to produce three models –A4, A6 and Q5–with a capacity of 3,000 cars per shift, he said, adding that this has now been doubled to 6,000 cars with two shifts.

Audi sold just over 5,500 cars in India in 2011 and targets sales of 8,000 cars in the current calendar year, as it looks to overhaul BMW and Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz brand at the top of the Indian luxury car market.

“Our annual sales volume for this year is 8,000 units. We are looking at a minimum of 2,500 A4s to be sold this year, both the old and the new versions,” Perschke said.

To achieve this target, Audi India is expanding its dealership network to 25 this year from 18 now all over the country. The company is also planning to launch at least five-six new models this year including the Audi S6.

“We are happy that Ritz has found appreciation for itself among consumers across age groups. Launched in 2009, Ritz has indeed played a wonderful inning so far. Ritz owners also, have always appreciated its driving comfort. In current context too, when market is skewed towards diesel, we expect Ritz to gain more volumes in the future as well,” said Shashank Srivastava, Chief GM (Marketing), Maruti Suzuki.

Maruti Suzuki sold over 64,000 units in the domestic market in 2011-12. The company has so far exported over 8000 units to some of the popular destinations include South East Asia and other neighbouring countries.

To further boost its volumes, Maruti is set to give the Ritz its first mid-cycle facelift. The updated Ritz will sport a minor cosmetic upgrade, updated interiors and lighter shades. The new model is expected to come with 84bhp 1.2-litre petrol and the 74bhp 1.3-litre diesel engines.

The first thing you’d notice about the new A4 is a subtly altered front-end exterior styling. It features more curvaceous headlamp assemblies with reworked LED running lamps now appearing as a continuous band. Changes to the rear are less obvious with restyled tail-lamps and closely set twin exhausts.

Inside, the A4 gets new steering wheel design, higher quality dashboard and centre console trim applications, detailed design changes to the switchgear and alterations to the optional MMI (multi-media interface). Air-conditioning, infotainment controls and power window buttons get fine chrome clasps.

In terms of equipment, the A4 gets concert radio with eight speakers as standard, colour monitor and DVD player is available only in the top-end model. There’s also a new Drive Select System that lets you opt from driving modes like Comfort, Dynamic, Individual and Efficiency – a feature meant to extract optimum fuel efficiency.

The new A4 comes in three engine options, a 1.8 TFSI petrol, 2.0TDI Diesel and 3.0TDI diesel with Quattro all-wheel drive. All engines are turbocharged direct-injection units with the start stop system as standard.

Audi A4 will compete with recently revealed sixth-generation BMW 3-series, which will be launch in India soon and the recently-updated Mercedes-Benz C-class.

According to Audi, the new A4 petrol 1.8 TFSI has an ARAI-certified fuel-economy figure of 15.6 kpl while the 2.0-TDI diesel gives 16.5kpl.

“We are already the segment leader with the A4. Thanks to the outstanding sales performance in the first quarter of 2012 of its predecessor encouraged us to pre-pone the launch of the new Audi A4. The launch of the A4 and with the upcoming Q3 in June, we aim to build our volumes even faster and work towards our aim of achieving number one position in the next few years,” said Michael Perschke, Head, Audi India.

Perschke also added that the A4′s young, sleek and head turning looks would appeal to the younger generation who have arrive in life and are looking to affirm their status and positions among their peers.

In the first quarter of 2012, the A4 emerged as the best-seller in its segment in India, besides bagging 27 awards during 2011-12.

“In order to partially off-set the rising input costs, Hero MotoCorp has raised prices on most of its products in the range of Rs 500 to Rs 1,000. This new pricing is effective from today,” Hero MotoCorp said in a statement.

“There was a lot of damage that happened to the foreign exchange fluctuations,” said Ravi Sud, chief financial officer. “Out of whatever (cost) increase has come per unit in this quarter, about 70 to 75 percent is on account of forex.”

Imports account for around 15 percent of the company’s vehicle costs, Sud added. The Indian rupee weakened by around 13.5 percent against the dollar during the year to March 31.

Motorcycle sales in India, where Hero holds over 50 per cent of the domestic market, grew by around 12 per cent over the year to March 31 to 10.1 million vehicles, thanks in part to rising ownership costs putting off first-time buyers of cars.

But Hero faces increased competition from local rival Bajaj Auto, its former Japanese partner Honda, and other international manufacturers as the country’s motorcycle market shifts upmarket.

Hero has access to Honda technology until 2014. Analysts say it requires substantial investment in its research and development capacity to boost internal expertise by then.

In February Hero announced a partnership agreement with U.S. superbike company Erik Buell Racing, and in March signed a research deal with Austrian engine manufacturer AVL.

Source: Reuters India