Bharat Rakshak

Maram wrote:I want to buy a small petrol car for my mother. Any suggestions please... Good build quality,easy to repair and easy availability of spare parts and cheaper to maintain/repair yet RELIABLE. looking for 4-6 lakhs range?????

I don't know how good a driver your mom is but given today citi driving conditions and style of road users, women in my family prefer to drive automatics (and even men as they touch 60 and above), I would suggest the A-star VXI automatic which comes on road of Rs. 5 lac, easy to drive and park in the city and inspite of being automatic- the K-series engine will give good mileage.

If it was massa my advice would be different, but the driving conditions in Indian cities have become so bad that unless one specifically has an interest in driving, its a real pain in the neck, too many things to watch out for.

the i10 auto is also an option but iirc around 1L costlier which makes it non-VFM. and hyundai dealer services tend to be costlier than MUL allegedly.

Singha- i10 auto is also a 3 speed auto versus 4 speed auto for A-star. I feel from both a driveability and fuel efficiency standpoint, 3 -speed gearbox is too much of a compramise.

are you sure its 3 speed? the santro-AT has "2" followed by "D" and a overdrive off button on the gear lever which means there is a "3" too. I would imagine similar on the i10. I dont think anyone makes 3-speed anymore.
I can see the OD-off button on i10 photo

http://cars.zimbly.com/wp-content/uploa ... _trans.jpg

the a-star looks the same to me
http://indianautosblog.com/wp-content/u ... _lever.jpg

the ancient wagonR-at did have a 3spd though

Singha-> Correction I10 auto is 4 speed and not 3 Speed as I thought it was. Then it is pretty close between I10 auto and A-Star and the I10 is a hit model in the Indian market. and maintence is lowest for both maruti and Hyundai.

if manual is fine, then ritz is a good option as well. Ritz k12 is much better and refined than k10 of astar. Plus a tall boy for easy ingress and exit, which may be an issue with astar for some.

Finally took delivery of my Manza on Monday. The car is well engineered with a good engine, gear box, suspension, space and feature set. However, it looses out on a lot of smaller things. The quality of plastic and rubber used in door and windows, switches leave a lot to be desired. Apart from that the buggers at the TAFE REACH Pallikaranai showroom had wiped the dusty car with a dry cloth before delivery and and created so many dry wipe marks all over the car. Did a predelivery inspection prior to registration and none of these marks were there.

Took the issue with their manager. They got some token scrubbing and polishing done which did not help much. Told him that I would be taking this matter up with Tata Motors and he was fine with it stating that most new cars have these marks and the usual Tata response is that for 4-5 lakh vehicle, they can only do much. I told him that Manza is around Rs.8L on road and you cannot apply such lahori logic here. The other option is to repaint the car totally which would affect my resale value later.

Though the Sr. Mgmt and engineering teams at Tata are moving up the value chain, the whole supply chain, plant and delivery chain still has a long way to go. Finally got these marks removed at a 3M authorized dealer who did it for me free as part of the package for anti rust treatment and sunfilm installation.

Even more shocking was a brand new Punto meant for delivery which had all its four chrome plated door knobs rusted and dry wipe marks all over it. The Punto top end is same as Manza but with such build quality. No wonder FIAT is selling around 200 odd units in December. After looking at a lot of cars meant for delivery, can state that the paint quality of Tata cars seemed much better than FIAT

PS: For buying any Tata Cars, please avoid TAFE reach in Chennai. Unfortunately, I went by couple of my friends who had good experience with their car servicing, which is different from their sales showroom. I did not read the car dealership thread in TBHP prior to booking and learnt it the hard way

rising yen, and toyota wants to shift mftrg to other places. we should prepare ourselves to take such oppty, spreading this mftring base to rural India.

Thanks Marten. So far the experience has been very similar to the reviews on TBHP (especially the official version). The car is really feature rich, VFM and easy to drive considering its size as long as one is conscious of its long boot. Will post a detailed review once I am done around 1000 Kms. I actually wanted to buy the upcoming Manza CS (assuming that it is really coming), but couldn't wait as the resale value of my Getz was skiing downhill faster than a paki and got good discounts in December.

On TBHP: I have not registered in TBHP as it is too much of an hassle. Tried once and they rejected me stating that I did not fill up the *reasons for joining section* according to their standards. Need to try once again.

Ford India to Build Engines for Some New Models Locally


Ford India to export Figo to 48 countries this year

Mr N Raja vice president sales of Ford India told reporters here that last year, Ford had exported about 7000 units of the new model to South Africa as there was good demand. The company has started exporting to Nepal and this year it would be exporting Figo to 48 countries. He added that Europe will be the next stage.

M&M launched a new pick-up yesterday, named the Genio. Based on the Xylo platform, seems to be priced quite competitively at 5 lakh.

report from The Hindu

The 1.2 tonne pick-up vehicle will cater to the small and medium businesses' transportation needs and is priced at Rs.4.99 lakh (BS3 variant, ex-showroom Navi Mumbai). The BS4 compliant version is also available for BS4 markets.

Genio is the second product to roll out of the company's Chakan plant and comes with a 75 hp power CRDe engine.

The link has a picture as well.

A snap of a KSRTC depot in BLR - is in stark contrast to the sight of these places from the early/mid-1990s. All piss and plogless onree with all the TFTA buses that seem to outnumber the SDRE coaches in the corner.

Who woulda thunk

They even seem to have parked them neatly within the designated areas/markers. Hope things keep improving!

Those super luxury vovlo buses are callaed AIRAVATA (written in big font on the bus).. the whitel elephant which was the vehicle of Indra!

yes in mid 1990s they would be muddy yards with no paving with deep ruts where the wheels had dug into the mud..a few helpers would be taking bath outside and living in these vehicles leaving the smell of sweat on the last row of seats. also rows of derelict buses which were not repaired but cannibalized for spares or for pilfering and selling on aftermarket.

even now the overflow yards used here and there by pvt operators have that look n feel. all is not iphone/JSF yet.

Awesome picture. Reminded me of some others of the DTC low floor buses around the time of CWG2010. I can't find some of the larger ones I saw then, but here's one from wikipedia:

There was another picture of a DTC depot with row upon row of dozens of these red and green buses.

Added: found them:

if you PS away the cop in the foreground, would look like the psyops pix chinese drone posters use to show us of shanghai and shenzhen a few yrs ago.

^ Bus depot is built illegally on Yamuna riverbed for CWG game by Delhi govt. Now they have spent so much that it cant be destroyed. Even though the land was for some other usage. & its prone to flooding during monsoon

I can see a deep concrete drain bottom right in last pic.

Will electric car reign in Indian roads?
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Wi ... 78415.html

Indian government should phase out the petrol cars in 20 years of time. When we depend on Electricity then it is possible to reduce prices of goods as we do not depend on Petrol and its price. FOr this Indian government needs to develop a policy soon.
to have many electric points where the cars can charge themselves again
to make sure within certain cities only electric cars can be allowed
to have mass production and supply of car parts and so on.

Renault Chief: Spy Case Focuses on Electric Car
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 15280.html

Canada’s Electrovaya plans India JV
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/133 ... ia-jv.html



Air hybrid vehicles could halve fuel consumption in future
http://www.sify.com/news/air-hybrid-veh ... gjidg.html

Was driving from office late evening yesterday. To my surprize I saw a "double decker" bus moving on NH7. It caught my eye because the double decker buses are becoming a rarity these days. This bus looked like the Leyland low floor buses bought as per the JN..... scheme, with an additional deck. And the design of the double decker was more in the lines of modern double deckers used in the UK (different from the old double deckers you see in Mumbai). And to top it all, the bus had the Kerala SRTC livery .

Came back to say:-
Looks like it is not a big surprise at all. Various blogs have written about the plan to introduce double deckers in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram.
About the new double deckers
About the older double deckers

rsingh wrote:

The Euros and the US have such an awesome vehicle in the Fiesta

Tanaji kyon majak kar rahe hein

Oh come on... Fiesta in Europe and US is quite good, especially the last 2 years models. Very good reviews. Dont compare it with BMW and Mercs...

January sales robust:

Record car sales in Jan; total vehicles sales up 19%
Press Trust of India, February 10, 2011 (New Delhi)

Domestic car sales hit a new monthly high in January, but the overall growth rate of vehicles sold in the country moderated to 18.69 per cent at 13,22,979 units during the period.

According to figures released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), total vehicles sold in the country in January last year were 11,14,692 units.

Domestic passenger car sales jumped by 26.28 per cent to 1,84,332 units in January from 1,45,971 units in the same month last year. ........................

PTI via NDTV

For those of you who are interested in the Manza, I have posted my initial ownership review of manza in the t-bhp forum

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-driv ... eport.html

Vipul wrote:India-EU FTA may make luxury cars cheaper by 38%.

Did we get concessions for exporting smaller cars without duty? I rememebr Hyundai was saying the Duty was a problem for them to export cars made in India to EU.

Otherwise rich get to buy expensive cars cheap, there being no benefit to India from this concession

We can only hope that this Napunsak Sarkar would have negotiated that.
AFAIK, the talks were held up at one point on EU's non willingness to include free movement of Services professsionals from India and india's non willingness to reduce duty on Spirits and Wines.

Aditya_V wrote:

Vipul wrote:India-EU FTA may make luxury cars cheaper by 38%.

Did we get concessions for exporting smaller cars without duty? I rememebr Hyundai was saying the Duty was a problem for them to export cars made in India to EU.

Otherwise rich get to buy expensive cars cheap, there being no benefit to India from this concession

From the article, FTA seems to apply to all auto products, not just luxury cars ... not good for domestic industry.

Peugeot plans manufacturing facility in Gujarat

Ahmedabad, Feb 23: French auto major, Peugeot, is considering setting up a manufacturing facility in India and is scouting for land in Gujarat, a top state industry department official said on Wednesday.

“A delegation from Peugeot recently visited us. They have evinced interest in setting up a plant in Gujarat, for which the land requirement was told to be 150 acres,” the official told PTI.

“We have shown them a site in Bol village near Sanand, which is a proposed industrial estate, to be developed as an automotive hub by the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC), near Tata’s Nano plant,” he said.

“A final decision is expected to be taken soon by the Peugeot headquarters,” the official said.

“The government has acquired 1,200 acres of land near Sanand and land allotment for industrial purposes is expected to commence in next three to four months.”

Inward Investment Officer of Embassy of France in India, Guillaume Page, who is in the city for trade promotion, said, “Yes I have also come to know that Peugeot is looking for land in Gujarat.”

“Close to 700 companies from France are in India, engaging around 200,000 people,” he said.

“The bilateral trade with India last year stood at $ 9 billion. The target for two—way trade between both the countries is $ 12 billion by 2012,” PAGE said.

“The Indian car market is projected to be of 65 million cars by 2017,” he said

Pranav wrote:

Aditya_V wrote:quote="Vipul"India-EU FTA may make luxury cars cheaper by 38%./quote

Did we get concessions for exporting smaller cars without duty? I rememebr Hyundai was saying the Duty was a problem for them to export cars made in India to EU.

Otherwise rich get to buy expensive cars cheap, there being no benefit to India from this concession

From the article, FTA seems to apply to all auto products, not just luxury cars ... not good for domestic industry.

Not really, EU has has tax barrier against small cars from India. Hyundai stopped exporting small cars India to EU because of these. So, EU bring CUstoms to duty to under say 5% for All cars I think India will benefit a lot from exports to Europe.

Pranav wrote: From the article, FTA seems to apply to all auto products, not just luxury cars ... not good for domestic industry.

the UK almost does not manufacture any cars now. Except for the luxury and super luxury brands and some one off cars. It will be India which will benefit by this. Auto products are cheaper in India to manufacture than in the UK. A turbocharger which would cost you like $100 in India will cost you $130 in the UK, purely on exchange rate bias.

Tata's stunning new concept car, Pixel

Tata Motors on Tuesday presented the TataPixel, a new city car concept for Europe at the 81st Geneva Motor Show.

looks like a Nano crossed with eurofighter.

the production model imo will end up looking like the nissan micra. Tata needs a vehicle that attracts young buyers out for their first car. in urban india, the indica owners average age is likely in the 40s.

nikhil_p wrote:

Pranav wrote: From the article, FTA seems to apply to all auto products, not just luxury cars ... not good for domestic industry.

the UK almost does not manufacture any cars now. Except for the luxury and super luxury brands and some one off cars. It will be India which will benefit by this. Auto products are cheaper in India to manufacture than in the UK. A turbocharger which would cost you like $100 in India will cost you $130 in the UK, purely on exchange rate bias.

You may be wrong, example,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Mot ... cturing_UK

Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Ltd, or NMUK is a car manufacturing plant in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom. It is owned and operated by the European division of Japanese car manufacturer Nissan. It is the largest car plant in the United Kingdom, and the most productive in Europe. It has been active since 1986

Singha wrote:the production model imo will end up looking like the nissan micra.

I agree. This one looks too much like a space age toy. I doubt if anyone would actually want to be seen getting out of this one. It feels that the door will open with a hissing noise and smoke will billow out. The guy/gal emerging out of this should atleast be wearing a shiny leather body suit, a helmet and/or a mask.

Door opening upwards...
Designers! Get real!!!

Dunno how many Jingoes noticed. But in the pics and videos coming out of Libya in TV channels, most of the anti aircraft guns and other weapons are mounted on the Tata 207 Tatmobile platform!

I dont think that the Indian Army uses that , but it does look like that the Tata 207 series is a pretty common thing in Libya for folks to gerrymander into a lot of things including mounting AA guns!

rgsrini wrote:

Singha wrote:the production model imo will end up looking like the nissan micra.

I agree. This one looks too much like a space age toy. I doubt if anyone would actually want to be seen getting out of this one. It feels that the door will open with a hissing noise and smoke will billow out. The guy/gal emerging out of this should atleast be wearing a shiny leather body suit, a helmet and/or a mask.

Door opening upwards...
Designers! Get real!!!

You're missing the point of a concept car completely.

India Slashes Duties on Electric and Hybrid Vehicles
http://ictsd.org/i/news/biores/101956/

Indian government should set up electrical charging centres in many places.

vina wrote:Dunno how many Jingoes noticed. But in the pics and videos coming out of Libya in TV channels, most of the anti aircraft guns and other weapons are mounted on the Tata 207 Tatmobile platform!

I dont think that the Indian Army uses that , but it does look like that the Tata 207 series is a pretty common thing in Libya for folks to gerrymander into a lot of things including mounting AA guns!

I did see a glimpse, thought my eyes were plying tricks on me...

This company, owned by an Isreali who was based in the United States, is a pioneer in EV, and the concept that we speak of. A Professor of ours was talking to us about this, and he knows the guy too.

Main issues with EV's being economical and effective -
Range - to solve range, you need lots of batteries. What do many batteries do? They make the car costlier.
And what happens when your car runs out of batteries? Do you wait for 8 hours for it to charge so you can start using it? Similarly, when we speak of charging stations, are we going to park our car there for hours to charge?

A way out is a switching station. Before anything, current technologies will continue to get better and EV's will continue to improve, but till then, we will have to work within the constraints of our current achievements.

So if all EV's have a standard set of batteries (or a range of standard batteries), they can be replaced without worrying about brand or capacity or anything. So a Switching station will work as a filling station, with an attendant replacing your battery in the same time as you fill petrol in your car. The station itself is obviously much better equipped to store hundreds of batteries with the ability to charge them.

Apparently this concept exists in Isreal, and this company has been invited by a number of Scandinavian countries to seek ways to implement it there.

The company is www.betterplace.com.

Well, maybe I can share an anecdote with you too. Our Prof told us that since this guy was Isreali, quite young, obviously drafted and probably been in conflict, hated the fact that the world was addicted to oil, which was controlled by the Arabs and the world's oil payments, he said, funded all the terrorism. So he wanted to get the world out of this situation and that was his main motivation!