Bharat Rakshak

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. is considering building a new factory in the western state of Gujarat and may take a final decision in the next two to three months, the chairman of the country's largest auto maker by sales said Thursday.

R.C. Bhargava also said that a delegation from Maruti Suzuki, comprising Osamu Suzuki, chairman and chief executive of Maruti's parent Suzuki Motor Corp., will meet Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and other senior government officials later Thursday to hold discussions about the proposed factory.

pandyan wrote: What I was highlighting is the fact that one of their crown jewels has a non-indian as a CEO.

Ambar wrote:Singha, old Jawas up until Roadking did not have proper keys. The so called key that they provided resembled a long nail, and it worked on all Jawas. It did not have a handle lock either, so you had to lock the handle using a Everest taala ! If you ever lost the ignition "nail", a regular 1-1/2 inch nail could easily start the bike ! I loved its long,loud twin smoking pipes though! It had such terrible combustion design ( designed in communist Czech!), it would belch smoke like a 303 rifle long after the engine was shut off. My then GHQ hated riding pillion on it though as it would blacken the ankles of her jeans with soot!

mraghu wrote:Escorts were the manufacturer. The Rajdoot bikes were a licensed and detuned copies of Yamaha bikes. The service levels were pathetic. One of my relatives owned it in the early 80's and it was a mess to maintain especially in the small town we lived in. Once the 100CC bikes become successful, Escorts simply stopped manufacturing them wisely...

Ambar wrote:Thought you could do better than hurling personal insults!

What exactly is it that makes one compare a Bullet and a Harley Davidson ? Two motorcycles that are as different as chalk and cheese! Its like someone trying to say "Will Bentley Continental's entry into India take some shine off Tata Nano ?". The only progress RE has made in the last 60 years was to change the wheel size from 19" to 18", and then go to Austria and ask AVL to build a engine that would not seize within first 6 months or leave a pool of oil on your drive way everytime you park!

RE peddled the cast iron,pushrod 350cc engine up until early 2000 because they knew nothing better and had no R&D dept to speak of! The Machismo had alloys of such low quality it cracked at multiple places within a matter of months! Thats before we get to the welds on the chassis that looked as if it was put together by a half paralyzed monkey! And then their municipality office like after sales service at dealer network. I was told my engine seized twice within 1000 kms because i was riding "too fast!". Convincing that I've owned atleast a 7 motorcycles in the past and i know what a break-in period is would fall on deaf ears. Like someone once said in a RE meet, RE created the worlds biggest and fastest vibrator and that's it!

Heard after much celebrations about "ground breaking" efforts by RE and their fuel injected engines on CL, they are running back to carbs because of soot filled cylinders and plugs within the first 1000 kms! And before someone says they export a few of them to England every year, the local dealers in UK strip and rebuild Bullets before selling them to end customers.The sustainability of RE in India was due to the same reasons why PAL/HM stayed in business. License raj and government orders. Yezdi would have sold plenty of bikes too had they been around to see India turn into a thriving economy, unfortunately the Irani brothers decided to run away. RE survived, and used their "big bike" image in a growing market full of 100cc motorcycles. Don't believe any of these ? Login to Indiethumpers and hear what even the most ardent loyal fans of Bullet have to say about them.

So apart from the fact that Bullet and HD/Triumphs are motorcycles with 2 wheels on them, there is no reason at any level to compare them! Then again, i have long given up hope of expecting sense from Indian media, both print and electronic.

Ajatshatru wrote:Doesn't India have one of the highest reserves of thorium in the world?

'A car that may run 480,000 km before refuelling'!

http://www.rediff.com/business/slide-sh ... 110922.htm

A United States company has announced a new design for a thorium engine that could be used in a future car.

Singha wrote:tbhp reviews the newly launched honda brio - their small car entry in India
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/official- ... eview.html

Mahindra will position the XUV 500 between the Scorpio and the premium SUV range which comprises of the Toyota Fortuner, Chevrolet Captiva, Mitubishi Outlander, Honda CR-V and the likes. The XUV 500 will be available in both 4x2 and 4x4 variants.

ManjaM wrote:
TBhp guys are still not impressed, they would ideally want something that is around 200 hp, powered by diesel and CNG (no loss of power allowed, CNG to be stored in the diesel tank itself and should magically appear when the switch is thrown), cost around 6-8 lakhs, should have the interiors of a tata aria at least and look like nothing else that exists in the universe. I mean should absolutely not look like a car that has been made before, similarities could be the presence of 2 headlamps, doors that open outwards, wheel arches and the rear windshield. The front grill should bear no resemblance to anything animate or inanimate that has a picture of itself on the interwebz in the last 200 years.

Singha wrote:sooner or later I hope the back of the diesel car lobby is broken for good - perhaps by charging a one time road tax at purchase based on KMPL figure and est lifetime mileage of 100k km to arrive at how many LTRS of diesel it would consume over lifetime.
once a fat 3L or such bill is added to equalize with petrol cars, only the 20-30% better mileage of diesel will remain...not sure if thats true for city driving too.

ManjaM wrote:^^ good point. but i think the subsidy of diesel personal vehicles is a side effect of the subsidy that was originally meant for trucks. A better way to subsidise would be to provide a subsidy card only to truck owners/drivers to tank up. I am sure that will set up a mini industry for trading of these subsidy cards.

Singha wrote: typical vacation
- must be atleast 2000km round trip
- must start around 3am to get the jump on normal people who might start at 7am
- bundle the wife and kids in a blanket on the back seat and start driving
- soon speeding among the late night trucks and making good progress 300km out already
- at 7am wife wakes up and asks about food - spray her with sleeping gas bottle immediately and put her back to sleep - cover another 200km before food
- finally stop in a roadside tea shop for some food
- spend around 12 hrs at the final destination covering all points methodically before starting the drive back
- on way back from say vizag to chennai, suddenly decide to take a short detour via amaravathi, warangal, hyd, chittor, blr, krishnagiri and vellore to take in some pending sights
- meticulously log the mileage, times, road conditions in a book

Vasu wrote: You know about the history and the comparisons a lot more than I do, but with the passion for a Bullet that I see around me, and the way they are talked about by every owner i've met, I really thought they'd be a lot better in terms of quality than as you describe!

Singha wrote:heh heh tbhp and the search for the holy grail 4x4 and hatch-mki. the one last point would 16" tires - every true bhpian drives straight to the tire shop from the dealership on delivery to trade in the stock tires for better hoofs. that a v-cool sunfilm and a powerful ICE system.

Gus wrote:
People who own bullets have to compensate for their unreliable vehicle by building up on other points ("passion").

I am neutral on bullets..had one recently when I was in India for a couple of months and had to sell it off because of constant problems reported. The Yamaha that I had before that for many years, was also left neglected when I moved to massa 9 yrs ago. Never had any problems. The first time I went back after 5 years...Yamaha started in one kick. I drove it to the bunk and changed oil and it was fine for the vacation.

The bullet - although the ride comfort was great and 'street cred' and all...gave me electrical problems, starting problems, oil leakages, heat issues etc.

I am torn about what to get when I R2I. I was planning on a Classic 500 with fond hopes of touring the country with a saddle bag of tent and cooking utensils. But I don't think I can tough it out if it goes all paki on me. Leaning more towards the Honda CBR500 and mod that to a tourer.

Vipul wrote:Enfield is now planning to produce 750-800 cc Bikes.

Lads,
I came across this rare photo of the ONLY Interceptor Mk3 800cc motorycle that RE ever completed. It's the only one.
Currently owned by Steve Linsdell in the UK.
Tested to be capable of 128mph.

Q: How worried are you about Narendra Modi and Gujarat because they are trying to get all of the business that is currently in Haryana to move to Gujarat?

A: Not at all. Maruti is going there as a part of their own business plan to export cars. They are next to a port which is fair. I am nobody to decide upon Maruti’s business plan. But they are also making investment of Rs 10,000 crore in Haryana. Having said that some of the auto manufacturers also came to Haryana and we took a call to send them back to Gujarat. There was a reason for it.

Here is a state which gives land at rupee per acre, waives value added tax which is the principle main stay of running your state for 25 years. It waives all registration and local municipal taxes. What does the state of Gujarat gain? I asked that question to myself and I could not answer that. I am sure Modi would have an answer to that. At least the state of Haryana could not offer the kind of incentives.

Land is an extremely precious commodity. I run my state on Rs 8,000 crore of VAT that accrue to me. I run my state from the registration charges and local municipal corporation taxes. We cannot possible waive everything in our quest to build an individuals leadership.