Indian Autos Thread

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 31 Jan 2012 22:25

their most powerful engine seems to be a 400hp model. between 200-400 they have lot of engines.
http://webapp109.scania.com/i/Industria ... kW_SCR.pdf

a choice apart from fiat, cummins et al if we ever do a fennek type recce vehicle ...

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 01 Feb 2012 11:35

MN Kumar wrote:Came across this :

Looks like the Hyderabad International airport road.

Ouch! Suspect its a Jubilee Hills, Film Nagar Yupee

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 01 Feb 2012 15:46

Maruti Suzuki Swift DZire launched at Rs 4.79-Rs 7.09 lakh

The car has been shortened to make it less than 4 meters long to qualify for 10% excise duty.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 01 Feb 2012 21:16

per photos the trunk capacity looks quite pathetic. with a trunk worse than a premium hatchback what is the USP that people should buy this neutered 'sedan' over the swift / polo / i20 / vento ?

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 04 Feb 2012 10:32

Singha-> 5 years ago a when I bought my swift and explained to a friend of mine it was a different class and better than Santro (no offence Santro is a good car) with its then 1.3 petrol which was fun to drive etc.

He just said " Bada Gadi Dhiki wala Hai or baki sub Chota Gadi, Koi fark nahi". I guess the mentality that a sedan is big car and hatchback is small car will make it sell. a Cheap sedan has been the Dzire USP so far, so maruti expects it to do well, lets see how the market reacts.

How many people will require a full space Boot? that is the question.

Gus · Post by **Gus** » 15 Feb 2012 14:30

Ended up buying a 2011 Vista aura at 25K kms for just under 5L from somebody we knew. Decided to stick with Tata where I know people at VST.

Meanwhile, JLR continues to do good.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/ ... 7120120215
Feb 15 (Reuters) - Tata Motors Ltd's global vehicle wholesales rose 21 percent in January from a year earlier, the Indian company said on Wednesday, led by strong sales of its luxury Jaguar Land Rover vehicles.

Tata sold 119,799 vehicles in January, with passenger cars accounting for 66,785, a rise of 26 percent.

Sales of its Jaguar Land Rover brands, which Tata purchased for $2.3 billion in 2008, stood at 29,293 in the month, a rise of 44 percent.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 17 Feb 2012 13:18

Mercedes Museum guide rides Bajaj Chetak to work

krisna · Post by **krisna** » 17 Feb 2012 18:05

How Motorcycles Could Eradicate Traffic

The explanation for the traffic cure is simple enough. "When there is little traffic on the road, it can be expected that motorcycles will take up as much space on the road as cars," researchers wrote. "However, when the road becomes busier, and the speed of the traffic flow falls, motorcycles take up less space. Some motorcycles keep less distance from the vehicle in front or ride between two lanes." And when car traffic stops altogether, motorcycles keep moving thanks to lane splitting -- the practice of steering between rows of cars lined up in traffic lanes, which is legal in many parts of the world.

Yogi_G · Post by **Yogi_G** » 17 Feb 2012 21:49

Chetak, Priya

These r the only 2 vehicles that come to mind with Indian names.

Have there been other cars/bikes with Indic names to them?

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 17 Feb 2012 23:50

^^Rajdoot

And yeah the ubiquitous "Fiat" in India was sold as the Premier Padmini although nobody really called it that. It was always the "Fiat".

Ambar · Post by **Ambar** » 18 Feb 2012 06:12

Yogi_G wrote:Chetak, Priya

These r the only 2 vehicles that come to mind with Indian names.

Have there been other cars/bikes with Indic names to them?

Chetak/Priya etc may have had indic names, but were pure rip offs of Italian Vespa. The greatest disappointment of Indian auto industry is despite having a 7+ decades of history, we are yet to build anything that can be termed "world class". Really Nano doesn't count. The old scooterettes were hand-me-downs of Vespa, Jawa and Rajdoot were both commie mobikes from czech and Poland, Bullet and Amby from Sahib log's desh, the entire Tata line of trucks were licensed builds from Mercedes, the OM616 engine from Merc and its various variants are still in use. The so called 80s luxury 118 NE was a run down Fiat 124/Lada Riva with Nissan engine, Contessa was Vauxhall Victor first with British Motor Co engine and later with Isuzu motor, Tata Sierra/Estate/Mobile were shameless copies of Merc W124 platform. Maruti was never Indian to start off with. TVS stole technology from Suzuki..the list goes on and on.

krisna · Post by **krisna** » 18 Feb 2012 09:19

^^^^
tata Indica is the first wholly indigenous car as far as I know in India.

ArmenT · Post by **ArmenT** » 18 Feb 2012 09:35

^^^
First indigenous car was the Standard Gazel in the early 70s.
http://www.oocities.org/greatkalam/gazel.htm
http://www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/2011/09 ... ard-gazel/
Before the Maruti Suzuki came out, this was the fastest accelerating car in India.

Yogi_G · Post by **Yogi_G** » 18 Feb 2012 11:07

Errr, can you think of any vehicle with Indic names?

I was wondering if Japanese can bring in a product with name Mitashi why not a Indian car with name "Adarsh" or "Agni".

What would be the market reaction to a product with such a name?

Ambar · Post by **Ambar** » 18 Feb 2012 11:59

ArmenT wrote:^^^
First indigenous car was the Standard Gazel in the early 70s.
http://www.oocities.org/greatkalam/gazel.htm
http://www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/2011/09 ... ard-gazel/
Before the Maruti Suzuki came out, this was the fastest accelerating car in India.

But the Gazel was based on Triumph Herald - or Standard Herald as it was called in India. There was the ill-fated Sipani Dolphin, but that too based on Reliant Kitten, Mahindra's lineup was based on Willys GP/Jeep. San Motors 'Storm' again was from Reliant UK. So i guess it has to be a tie in between the Tata Sumo and the Tata Indica - though the later kicked up a bit of a storm as Fiat was furious at Italdesign for designing the Indica that took more than a cue from the new version of Palio which was also being designed by Italdesign in the mid-90s.

@Yogi : A little trivia - Tata Sumo was named after Sumant Moolgaonkar - the architect of modern day Tata Motors. Probably thats as far as we'll get with Indic names for contemporary Indian automobiles.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 18 Feb 2012 13:52

well there was the Badal as well in early 80s. based on a british design.
it was called Reliant dolphin I think..same car with 4 wheels became Reliant Kitten -> sipani dolphin.

have to salute those industrialists who in license raj era tried to manufacture such products in India...

Ambar · Post by **Ambar** » 18 Feb 2012 19:59

Badal was Reliant Robin, and yes, its close cousin Kitten became the Sipani Dolphin.

anishns · Post by **anishns** » 19 Feb 2012 01:16

^^^

Reliant Robin

Ambar wrote:Badal was Reliant Robin, and yes, its close cousin Kitten became the Sipani Dolphin.

Ambar · Post by **Ambar** » 19 Feb 2012 02:53

..and the Badal ..

Varoon Shekhar · Post by **Varoon Shekhar** » 19 Feb 2012 12:31

"hand-me-downs of Vespa, Jawa and Rajdoot were both commie mobikes from czech and Poland, Bullet and Amby from Sahib log's desh, the entire Tata line of trucks were licensed builds from Mercedes, the OM616 engine from Merc and its various variants are still in use. The so called 80s luxury 118 NE was a run down Fiat 124/Lada Riva with Nissan engine, Contessa was Vauxhall Victor first with British Motor Co engine and later with Isuzu motor, Tata Sierra/Estate/Mobile were shameless copies of.."

Interesting perspective. A Canadian acquaintance of mine very spiritedly argued that when a car is manufactured in another country, whatever the origin of that vehicle, the car in question is not the same, not a copy, of the 'parent' or original car. He stressed manufacture, not CKD assembly. Not long before that, my two cousins in India were involved in a friendly discussion about one of the 3 Tata automobiles mentioned above. One cousin flatly stated "It's a merc in disguise, yaar". The other said confidently, no, it's made in India, so it will not be, cannot be, a 'copy' of a Mercedes. For one thing, it won't be as good, and Mercedes itself would not equate the Indian 'version' to its own. He averred that the learning and absorption Telco received from Merc enabled it to produce an indigenous car, with its own efforts. But it was not a copy of anything German.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 19 Feb 2012 12:51

only the quirky british could produce something as the Robin!

Yogi_G · Post by **Yogi_G** » 20 Feb 2012 11:46

my wagon-r wobbles after 100 K+, got the wheels aligned but still. Once past 120 KM it doesnt wobble, must be something with the resonant frequency etc. I watch helplessly as the SUVs and super powerful sedans zoom past me at 140 and 160 with ease. The max I have done on my wagon-r is 135 KMPH. It did that 0-135 in some 120 seconds

Just wondering, will a logan, dzire or tata indigo allow me to do 120+ with ease? How about sx4? Or is such speeds only in the realm of the SUVs?

Yogi_G · Post by **Yogi_G** » 20 Feb 2012 11:48

Looking at the badal reminds me of Mr. Bean with his padlock to the steering.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 20 Feb 2012 14:11

logan, dzire, indigo, sx4 will do 120, but then roads where you can sustain such speeds SAFELY are hardly there ... even if its a NHAI highway you need to super careful about people/animals/bikes jumping down from the median into the fast lane, tractors and BUSES coming from opp direction, the unexpected pothole etc.

I'd say 100 is about what is safe and sustainable on empty NHAI roads...in the day and dry conditions. at night or rain prolly safer not to venture beyond 75.

play the percentage game, dont stick you neck out when there is no need.

Yogi_G · Post by **Yogi_G** » 20 Feb 2012 14:24

No question of maintaining sustained speeds of 120+ on NHAI. I do short bursts here and there where things are conducive. The sedans you mentioned, can they do the 120+ without wobbling? When I go past 120 it feels like my wagon r will break up into pieces

.

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 20 Feb 2012 14:34

Singha wrote:logan, dzire, indigo, sx4 will do 120, but then roads where you can sustain such speeds SAFELY are hardly there ... even if its a NHAI highway you need to super careful about people/animals/bikes jumping down from the median into the fast lane, tractors and BUSES coming from opp direction, the unexpected pothole etc.

I'd say 100 is about what is safe and sustainable on empty NHAI roads...in the day and dry conditions. at night or rain prolly safer not to venture beyond 75.

play the percentage game, dont stick you neck out when there is no need.

+1, Yogi, Although many people do it, I suggest you lower your NHAI speeds, driving in any car above 120+ is risky on Indian highways. Atleast in 15 Lac + cars you have R15's or 16's, 195 mm width tyres with ABS, chassis and brakes that are designed to do that. Rest of the bunch are meant for city speeds.

I stick to cruising at 100 in my accent or in my dad's Honda city.

Gus · Post by **Gus** » 20 Feb 2012 14:41

Yogi_G, I seriously advise you not to venture past 100 on economy tallboy cars. They are not meant for those speeds. higher center of gravity tends to increase roll tendencies and these won't be having ABS and airbags except for the top premium models. Stick to 80 to 90 where you can get most mileage with least stress.

My vista is already minus a wheel cap and plus a bent rim - courtesy of riding over a hole at 100 ft road in the night..and I was only doing 60.

Manish Jain · Post by **Manish Jain** » 20 Feb 2012 16:27

Listen to wise men Yogi_G. Yesterday a man crashed his Lamborghini in Delhi. Even with all the safety features in car, he died as most probably, he hadn't tied up his seat belt.

Talk about having the best of world and throwing it all away.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... 957149.cms

Gus · Post by **Gus** » 20 Feb 2012 18:01

This is a true statement. Across all cultures, genders, races..universally, everybody thinks they are a better driver. And their misjudgement gets exponentially worse with the cost/features of the car.

All the features and hi-fi of the Subaru did not prevent me from totalling it after spinning it 720 deg and smashing on the side rails and then the mountain wall on the other side. And then the car caught fire. The seat belt and airbags saved my life. Most cars in India don't have ABS and Airbags. Even if your car has it, bear in mind that the OTHER car/truck does not have it. One ram from another car is enough to cause a life threatening crash for you.

Always drive within your limits and your car's limits and the road/traffic's limits. Saving a few minutes in a stretch is not worth it. Most often, it averages out. A guy like me traveling at a sedate average speed will catch up with you when you hit the inevitable congestion.

Plus, look at the lesser wear and tear and fuel used.

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 20 Feb 2012 18:14

And Remember public roads are not a race track, there is no point in being at a destination a few minutes earlier, I have crossed limits in the past but I remember how foolish I was. Its kind of like day traders in the share market at office, they will not do their work till market closes, and at the end of the day with a lot of risk make INR 100 to INR 500 a day at the cost of job/ appraisal and when they get it wrong, lose big time.

When drives a car, rides a bike one must do it understanding the social responsibility, accidents do happen but we must make sure it is not due to our overconfidence or carelessness.

Yogi_G · Post by **Yogi_G** » 21 Feb 2012 13:52

Aaarrgghh, guys spare me the safety tips, not that I dont need it or that I am super smart. Its just that I am the safety guy at home. I wear seat belts all the time (and been mocked for it) and I insist my wife also does so when we travel, I never go past 90 in my wagon r on highways due to the wobbling, I hate the wobbling and just got me wondering if thats the case with other cars as well.

ArmenT · Post by **ArmenT** » 21 Feb 2012 14:05

^^^^
I had that wobbling problem on my BMW once and it would start around 35 mph, was very severe at around 45-50 mph (steering wheel would start to shake like crazy) and go away at around 65 mph and upwards. I took her in for a wheel-balancing and that problem went away after that.

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 22 Feb 2012 03:20

Could the nature of the road surface have any effect on the stability of a car at high speed? I am talking about the wobbling issue mentioned above. I remember my father doing 130kph in a SDRE diesel Indica many moons ago, without even a hint of instability. But the Mumbai-Pune expressway was still fairly new back then and there were no undulations and depressions in the well-laid concrete. All the new NHAI roads are asphalt and I don't know if the construction quality of those long distance roads is as good as what it was when they built the <150km Mumbai-Pune expressway.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 22 Feb 2012 03:29

Manish Jain wrote:Listen to wise men Yogi_G. Yesterday a man crashed his Lamborghini in Delhi. Even with all the safety features in car, he died as most probably, he hadn't tied up his seat belt.

Talk about having the best of world and throwing it all away.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... 957149.cms

Reminds me of the Sanjeev Nanda incident except in that case the turd survived and killed a bunch of bystanders and policemen.

Is he still in Tihar or is he out on Grandpa's money?

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 22 Feb 2012 03:50

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 87364.html
Mahindra Plans to Assemble Vehicles in Russia

NEW DELHI -- Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. may start assembling its utility vehicles in Russia within two years, a senior executive at India's largest utility vehicle maker by sales said Tuesday.Pawan Goenka, president for automotive business at Mahindra, said the company may utilize the services .of a company that currently assembles and distributes sport-utility vehicles of its South Korea unit, Ssangyong Motor Co., to build its own vehicles in Russia."Russia is the biggest market for Ssangyong outside South Korea," Mr. Goenka said. "We are engaging Ssangyong's distributor to look for assembling Mahindra vehicles there.""Russia is a huge opportunity already for Ssangyong and holds a lot of potential for Mahindra as well," said Mr. Goenka, who is also the chairman of Ssangyong. He declined to name the Russian distributor for Ssangyong
..

Ambar · Post by **Ambar** » 22 Feb 2012 06:47

Raja Bose wrote:
Manish Jain wrote:Listen to wise men Yogi_G. Yesterday a man crashed his Lamborghini in Delhi. Even with all the safety features in car, he died as most probably, he hadn't tied up his seat belt.

Talk about having the best of world and throwing it all away.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... 957149.cms
Reminds me of the Sanjeev Nanda incident except in that case the turd survived and killed a bunch of bystanders and policemen. Is he still in Tihar or is he out on Grandpa's money?

If i remember right, he came out of jail a longtime ago and had one of the most lavish weddings in the history of Nai Dilli ! So much for karma and what not!

About the Lamborghini crash - the young man would've been alive had it been a lesser car. Everybody likes to think of himself/herself as Michael Schumacher without realizing the awesome firepower supercars/superbikes pack. Even with hundreds of onboard computers, these cars will absolutely splat you flat at any given opportunity. An Audi R8 crashed under similar circumstances in Chennai, then there was a Ferrari F430 of another amir laadla with more money than brains who crashed and burned it to crisp in Mumbai.

If someone is lucky enough to have such millionaire dads,atleast buy something more forgiving like a BMW M5 or a AMG tuned Merc - you'll have some chance of surviving.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 22 Feb 2012 07:00

^^^Going by the proliferation of super cars in India, I am sure the Mahdi would have felt destitute if he did a repeat visit - after all he only drove a Merc SL55 AMG

. Saw it forlornly parked outside on the curb few weeks back now thats its poor owner is gone forever.

anishns · Post by **anishns** » 22 Feb 2012 07:22

^^^

They should put it up on ebay....some fanboi will be willing to pay millions!

Raja Bose wrote:^^^Going by the proliferation of super cars in India, I am sure the Mahdi would have felt destitute if he did a repeat visit - after all he only drove a Merc SL55 AMG . Saw it forlornly parked outside on the curb few weeks back now thats its poor owner is gone forever.

Ambar · Post by **Ambar** » 22 Feb 2012 07:49

Marten wrote:
Yogi_G wrote:Aaarrgghh, guys spare me the safety tips, not that I dont need it or that I am super smart. Its just that I am the safety guy at home. I wear seat belts all the time (and been mocked for it) and I insist my wife also does so when we travel, I never go past 90 in my wagon r on highways due to the wobbling, I hate the wobbling and just got me wondering if thats the case with other cars as well.

Yogi_G wrote:No question of maintaining sustained speeds of 120+ on NHAI. I do short bursts here and there where things are conducive. The sedans you mentioned, can they do the 120+ without wobbling? When I go past 120 it feels like my wagon r will break up into pieces .
My friend, the advice was based on what you posted.

About fifteen years ago, we had a serious issue with the Tata Estate on speeds beyond 110 - the thing would just not brake in time. Used to gulp down Brake oil, steering fluid by the gallon. It's a wonder am still a little scared of buying the Safari, even though I like the feel and ride.

Marten, the Estate was based on the TataMobile - a copy of the Merc W124 platform minus the quality ofcourse! The panel gaps were so wide a fat cow could easily walk through it! I was an apprentice at Arvind Motors - one of Tata's biggest dealers those days in KAR. We had so many Estates/Sierras with blown engine and wrecked tranny at as little as 30k kms. Things did not improve with Indica either. The 13inch discs would bend out of shape at every given chance. There were shocking instances of engine mounts cracking up! Customers were so fed up that there was a mile-high consumer court complaints against Tata and its dealers! This is when they hired a brilliant GM engineer by name Dr.V.Sumantran who would turn the company around . He was so appalled by the their entire lineup, within the first year at work, Tata came up with upgraded versions of all their LMVs. And like a poorly written software, Indica became Indica V2. Even today they are nowhere close to Japanese,Koreans or Europeans in terms of quality, but they've come a long long way from the "truck culture" days of 80s/90s.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 23 Feb 2012 13:32

anishns wrote:^^^

They should put it up on ebay....some fanboi will be willing to pay millions!

Its a lease onlee.