Toyota Corolla Altis

 Toyota Kirloskar Motors is planning to launch a face-lifted Corolla Altis, and here is the proof. Caught on test in India at Malleshwaram, Bangalore, by reader Vikram V, Toyota seems to be conducting trials on the car before its launch. Look closely under the tape and you can see the newer details of this car. The new tail-lights are barely hidden and the vertically aligned chin is undisguised. The face lifted car will have a wider grille and chin, and this gives the car a more aggressive and balanced look. There are no mechanical changes expected on this mid-life face-lift of the car, so you can expect the very responsive 132 bhp...

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Mahindra Logan

 Mahindra&Mahindra have rationalized the prices of its slow selling saloon, the Logan. The company has slashed prices of the Logan in the range of Rs 27,000 to Rs 80,000 for its BS III variants, while the BS IV variants see a price cut in the range of Rs 24,000 to Rs 65,000. The new prices will be effective by April 26, 2010. The announcement comes on the heels of the Indian company acquiring total ownership of the Mahindra Renault Pvt Ltd, a JV between Renault and Mahindra, of which the latter owned 51 percent stake prior to the buyout. The partnering companies had restructured their relationship a week ago, with Mahindra taking...

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Mahindra Xylo

 Mahindra & Mahindra has launched a new variant of the Xylo with a heart transplant. Christened as Xylo D2, the MPV gets a 2.5-litre mDI CRDe engine – a combination of M&M’s direct injection and common-rail diesel technology. The engine complies to the BSIII norms and this ensures better fuel efficiency figures. The 2.5-litre mDI CRDe motor produces a max power of 95bhp which is 17bhp less to the existing Xylo. Torque too has gone down by 2kgm and the new engine churns out 22kgm of max torque at 1600-2600rpm. Available only with black bumpers, there are no significant changes on the outside to differentiate it from the...

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Ford Figo

 The Figo — an all-new nameplate, which in colloquial Italian means ‘cool’, is actually a re-skinned version of the previous-generation European Fiesta hatch (Code:B256) on which the Indian Fiesta saloon (Code: B376) is also based. The Figo’s nose is particularly distinctive and bears a strong resemblance to other ‘Kinetic’ Fords with a slim upper grille and a large and inverted lower grille which impart a sense of energy and motion even in these photos. The lights, though not as radically elongated as other modern Fords, have that stretched back look and look quite striking. The side profile and glass area look a bit old-fashioned...

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Tata Indigo Manza

Motors has just launched the Indigo Manza. It is based on a stretched Indica Vista platform and has nothing to do with the old Indigo. It replaces the Indigo (the CS, the Marina and the XL will be available) and is Tata Motors rival to the Maruti Swift Dzire, the Ford Fiesta and the Mahindra Renault Logan. It looks a bit gawky. The biggest challenge when adding a boot to a hatchback is exactly that – it shouldn’t look added on. The long overhang and the square shape of the boot (which resembles that of a massive American saloon) make it look a bit awkward. Livening up the rear are those huge triangular tail lights and a thick chrome bar...

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Toyota unveils Etios

Toyota’s small car concept, Etios has been showcased at the Auto Expo in Delhi and it is expected to be 90 percent true to the production version that will go on sale in end-2010. Based on a completely new platform, the Etios will be offered with two engine options - 1.2-litre and 1.5-litre DOHC 16-valve petrol engines. Plans for diesel motor are on hold and the buyers will only have the choice of petrol engines initially. On the outside, the Etios has sharp styling cues with a big smiling grille that has been high-mounted especially for India. The car has a strong shoulder line with an upward cut along the bottom of the door. Interiors on the Etios are quite contemporary and the Etios sports a centrally mounted instrument panel with offset AC vents. Etios offers more space on the...

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Tata Nano

Tata Nano, the world’s cheapest car, that has won many accolades in India, is now winning hearts in the International markets as well. After bagging several awards on the Indian soil, the Nano has won the gold prize in the 2010 Edison Awards. It grabbed top honours in the best new product segment under the Transportation category.  Recognised as America’s innovation award, the Edison Awards symbolises the persistence and excellence personified by Thomas Alva Edison. They are judged on the parameters like marketplace innovation and success, technological innovation, market structure innovation, societal impact and design innova...

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Nissan LEAF

Nissan showcased it’s brand new global, mass-market electric vehicle. A production ready car that will be in showrooms, this zero emission vehicle will be the first serious all electric powered car to be launched by a big car maker. The Leaf will go on sale in Japan and the US early next year, and Nissan hope to make a business case of the project with the help of government subsidies for zero emission vehicles. There is apparently no dearth of interested countries, but India is not among them as of now. The car uses a unique set of Nissan designed batteries that use lithium ion as well as manganese for the +ve electrode, reducing costs....

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Honda small car Brio

These are the first pictures of Honda’s attractive new Brio, hot from the Bangkok Motor Show. Based on the 2CV design concept shown at the Auto Expo in Delhi, the Brio has a youthful and unique identity. The big chrome strip in the grille and the Honda ‘H’ at the centre are familiar but, apart from that, this tightly skinned compact car has a look all its own. It looks ready for action, thanks to the upward sweeping lines and tipped-forward stance, and the wide, open chin looks a lot like an intake on a jet fighter! Pretty radical stuff. Bulging headlamp pods get black surrounds, the Indian version may get chrome inserts and this car...

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Maruti Suzuki SX4

Maruti Suzuki India has launched the SX4 in Diesel avatar. The SX4 Diesel will compete with the likes of Fiat Linea Diesel, Volkswagen Vento and Tata Indigo Manza. The SX4 Diesel uses Fiat-sourced 90bhp, 1.3 Multi-jet diesel unit, that powers the Linea and the refreshed Tata Manza. While the SX4 hatchback in Europe uses Fiat’s 1.9 diesel engines, for India, the 1.3 Multi-jet was considered a more practical choice as it is essentially the same base engine as the one in the Swift and Dzire but with a Variable Geometry Turbo (VGT). Prices of the SX4 Diesel are Rs 7.74 Lakh for VDi and Rs 8.62 Lakh for top of the line ZDi variant while...

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Ford Fiesta

 Ford India is set to launch its latest generation Fiesta saloon by mid-2011, the company has conformed. The new Fiesta will be the first in a series of eight new global products that the American carmaker plans to bring to India by 2015. The new Fiesta (codenamed B299) employs Ford’s global kinetic design theme and will be bigger than the current-generation Fiesta which will be simultaneously sold in our market after being renamed as the Fiesta Classic. The next-gen Fiesta is built on a platform shared with the Mazda 2, and has a wheelbase of 2489mm – almost the same as the current Fiesta sold here. Ford has tuned this platform...

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New Swift Car

When the all-new Swift goes on sale around May this year, you can foresee the tough time Maruti is going to have explaining to customers that it is actually new. You need to stare long and hard to spot the differences in the next-generation Swift, which looks remarkably like the old one. The new Swift may look more or less unchanged, but is in fact built on an all-new platform and every body panel is new. It’s grown considerably too and the new Swift is bigger than its predecessor in every dimension. Though the width and height have increased only marginally, length is up by 90mm and the wheelbase has been stretched too by a very useful...

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BMW 760i

After the great success of the two world record vehicles G-POWER M5 HURRICANE RS and G-POWER M6 HURRICANE CS that were with your 750 horsepower 5.0L V10 bi-compressor engine only as a complete car on the G-POWER manufacturing company to refer to the are so-called "G-POWER Super Cars" in the future an integral part of the G-POWER program. The G-POWER manufacture is a rapidly growing division of G-POWER, in which all custom-made complete vehicles, the so-called "G-POWER Super Cars", are established as an integral part of the G-POWER program to complete by hand. Philosophy is only in small batches by the G-POWER factory produced vehicles...

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New Bmw Cars

New Class The New Class (German: Neue Klasse) was a line of compact sedans and coupes starting with the 1962 1500 and continuing through the last 2002s in 1977. Powered by BMW's celebrated four-cylinder M10 engine, the New Class models featured a fully independent suspension, MacPherson struts in front, and front disc brakes. Initially a family of four-door sedans and two-door coupes, the New Class line was broadened to two-door sports sedans with the addition of the 02 Series 1600 and 2002 in 1966. Sharing little in common with the rest of the line beyond power train, the sporty siblings caught auto enthusiasts' attention and established...

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Motorcycles

BMW began building motorcycle engines and then motorcycles after World War I. Its motorcycle brand is now known as BMW Motorrad. Their first successful motorcycle, after the failed Helios and Flink, was the "R32" in 1923. This had a "boxer" twin engine, in which a cylinder projects into the air-flow from each side of the machine. Apart from their single cylinder models (basically to the same pattern), all their motorcycles used this distinctive layout until the early 1980s. Many BMWs are still produced in this layout, which is designated the R Series. BMW roundel in 1939BMW K1200GTBMW 1955 R67/3 was the last of the "plunger" modelsDuring...

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