Thursday, October 30, 2008

New Launch Cars

2007 has been a great year for the car lovers so far. It has witnessed a slew of new launches across all car segments heating up the war amongst all major car manufacturers. This, however, has lead to a healthy competition and a good variety for the customers to choose from.

Car major General Motors India has been leading the way with a series of car launches across all segments. It kick-started the journey with the launch Chevrolet U-VA in January 2007. The saga continued with ‘Chevrolet Optra Platinum’ limited edition, followed by the launch of much awaited 'Chevrolet Spark' in April 2007. GM continued the momentum though the launch of Chevrolet Optra Magnum and New Chevrolet Aveo Anniversary Edition in the subsequent months.

Expanding the small car category further, Hyundai Motors is working on a hatchback — code-named Pa — positioned between Santro and Getz and aimed squarely at the new Zen Estilo.

'Mahindra Renault Logan' hit the India roads in the mid 2007. This was one of the much-awaited vehicles and came with a bang with a fiercely competitive price tag of Rs 4.5-5 lakhs.

This year also made way for the big names. BMW began its journey in India with the 3 series, assembled at its factory in Chennai. DaimlerChrysler also has brought in its M class. Amongst the other prominent launches this year were Maurti SX4, Grand Vitara and Ford Mondeo.

GM India has brought in the Optra Magnum Diesel TCDi and is slated to bring in the diesel version of Aveo by the 3rd quarter of the year. Optra Magnum was placed against the likes of Scoda Octavia, Honda Accord and Toyota Corolla, and it has already been well received by the consumers.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Fast Cars

Exhaustive market research has revealed that there is growing demand for fast cars among the design-oriented consumers and the young executives.

Among the fast cars that we have today, first name that rings a bell is General Motors’ Chevrolet SRV which is India’s first Premium Sportsback car. The SRV’s powerful 1.6-litre petrol engine with VGIS technology has four valves per cylinder and dual overhead camshafts driven by a toothed belt for silent operation. The engine generates 101 PS and 140 Nm of torque. Despite excellent performance characteristics, fuel efficiency is ensured thanks to the engine’s unique VGIS technology, which provides a uniform spread of power and torque from low rpm upward.

Then we have Chevrolet Optra Magnum. Magnum’s Turbocharged Common Rail Direct Injection has an engine utilizes second-generation common rail technology. Diesel fuel is injected at a very high pressure of 1,600 bar through a multi-step injection process. The Optra diesel is faster and more powerful than many petrol driven cars currently on the market, delivering peak power of 120.5 ps and peak torque of 314 Nm (which is more than 100 Nm higher than the Skoda Octavia).