Cars and Bikes

Audi A3 First up is the Audi A3. Audi’s compact sedan that will sit below the A4 will be brought to India via the CKD route from the very beginning. Audi has some serious confidence in the product to not bother testing the water with direct imports. The expected price should be around  Rs 22 lakh.  The expected launch date should be around  July-September 2014. Engine options remain speculative for now, but the model shown at the 2014 Auto Expo had a 1.8 litre TFSI petrol mated to a 7 speed automatic transmission, produces 180 hp and 250 Nm. A 2.0 litre TDI engine is also available in Europe which churns out 150 hp and 320 Nm, mated to a 6 speed manual gearbox. Maruti Ciaz The Ciaz concept was the last thing anyone expected from Maruti. The SX4 replacement has been spotted testing and the expected launch may be as early as  July 2014.  The most likely engine options could include a 1.4-litre k-series petrol and a 1.3 litre diesel. This will be the first strong attempt by Ma

Nissan India has just launched the Datsun Go hatchback at the country’s capital, New Delhi. The Go is the first product from a recently resurrected brand Datsun. While Datsun was known for building cars with a sporty bent prior to the 1980s, the brand was discontinued in 1986. Resurrected in 2014, Brand Datsun will be positioned as a low cost car brand that will serve emerging markets around the world. The Datsun Go is available in three variants, D, A and T. The D variant is devoid of a power steering and an air conditioner while the A variant misses the power steering too. The T variant gets both these features though. From the manufacturer’s angle, doing away with the air conditioner and power steering has allowed Nissan to price the Datsun Go more attractively. Although people might not buy the bare bones Base variant of the Datsun Go, the attractive price tag will be the proverbial carrot dangling in front of the car buyer, urging her or him to visit the  nissan showroom.

If you can’t cool your jets about the launch of the new Pulsar 200SS, Chakan is where you should be. The latest pictures of the bike come to us right from the hotbed of bike manufacture in the country. A test mule of the 200SS was snapped up making runs in the vicinity of the Chakan plant, from where it will be produced. Though the CS400 and SS400 had us wagging our tongues in delight, it wasn’t enough slake the grief of not seeing the lower-displacement 200SS. Well the flipside is that Bajaj plans on launching the 200SS in India first, following which its elder siblings will enter the market. So here’s a look at some of what we know about the 2014 Bajaj Pulsar 200SS (or SS200) so far. The bike borrows greatly from its naked counterpart- the Pulsar 200NS. Bajaj has installed a fuelinjection equipped version of the Pulsar 200NS engine on the 200SS. Speculation suggests the mill will be good for 25PS power and boast a maximum torque of 20Nm. A six-speed manual setup will assume its

Yamaha are all set to take the world by storm yet again with the all-new YZF-R3 motorcycle.  Yes, you heard us right! The Japanese power-brand has setup a teaser website, complete with countdown clock, for the YZF-R3 which is scheduled to break cover next week. The general consensus so far doing the rounds is that the renderings on the teaser website is an all-new 300cc motorcycle. If you recall, Yamaha had teased the YZR-R25 concept at the Tokyo Motor Show, and recent trademark filings in the United States and Europe for ‘YZF-R3′ and ‘R3′ have tipped off the YZF-R3 model. The special Yamaha website showcases a teaser video of the YZF-R3, viewers get a a quick line drawing and head-on render of a sport bike, which looks very close to the R25 prototype. With Yamaha’s ever growing indulgence in the small-displacement sport bike segment, it is only a matter of time. We won’t have to speculate much longer as the clock is ticking, as I write this article.

Yamaha has gone Sci-Fi in their latest teaser video for a new bike that they will unveil in 8 days. We get a fleeting glimpse of the bike in what looks like a trailer to a James Cameron film. Credit to the marketing team for showing just enough of the bike to pass it off as a teaser video for it. There is far too little of the bike in the 15 second sequence to make an informed decision on what it could be. It isn’t even clear if we’re in for the unveil of a new bike or a launch For those of you that have been hoping for it to happen, spoiler alert, it is unlikely that Yamaha is setting us up for the launch of the R25. As much as we would all want to see it happen, that does not seem to be the case. The one thing the video reveals is the front cheek of the mystery bike. Sadly, it seems to be just enough to soft-speculate that it isn’t the R25. Well, may be it could be. But it isn’t something you’d want to bet a whole lot of money on. What it does look like is a slightly larger spo

Renault is developing a new small car for the Indian market. The new small car is called the A-Entry for now and is based on the Datsun Redi Go platform that Nissan and Renault are developing for emerging markets. The A-Entry will be priced lower than the Pulse, the lowest priced Renault car sold in India presently. Expect the A-Entry’s price to start well under Rs. 4 lakhs. Renault wants to capture a large segment of market share in the small car space with the A-Entry. The company is aiming to make a big impact like it did with the Duster SUV. The small car will be powered by an 800 cc petrol engine, the engine capacity that is standard on India’s hot selling small cars like the Alto 800 and the Eon. The engine is being developed in India. Since the Renault A-Entry will share its engine and platform with the Datsun Redi Go, both cars will be built on the same assembly plant at Oragadam where Renault runs a joint factory with alliance partner Nissan. While both cars will s

The compact sedan version of the Hyundai Grand i 10 i.e. the Xcent has just been launched at a price of  Rs 4.66 lakh  to  Rs 6.47 lakh  for the  petrol  while for the  diesel  prices begin at  Rs 5.56  to  Rs 7.38 lakh  . The car is similar to the Grand i10 in terms of its mechanical, interiors and styling and is quite literally a booted version of the hatch back that has gained immense popularity and fast. The Xcent is available in 3 variants, namely the entry, S and SX along with the added option trims called the S(o) and SX(O). As discovered at the reveal before the 2014 Auto Expo the car features rear AC vents, tubeless tyres, a cooled glove box, rear parking camera and sensors, push button start, 15 inch diamond cut alloy wheels, a 2-DIN sound system with USB, AUX,Bluetooth and CD inputs, one touch electric trunk opening, auto folding mirrors, front airbags and ABS being offered on the higher variants. We expected the car to get a larger engines, but the powerplants t