Suzuki eyes on getting full control over Maruti

Suzuki Motor Corporation now owns 55% stake in Maruti Suzuki, which has triggered speculation about the Japanese firm’s intentions of taking full control on its Indian subsidiary. As per the Indian rules and regulations relating to stake acquisition, a foreign company is allowed to increase its stake unto 5% each year. As such if the foreign company achieves a stake of 55% and beyond then it can make a direct offer for another 20%.

Suzuki's website is yet to reflect the revised stake holding of its company and several emails sent to Suzuki by media persons remained unanswered. However, a person close to the company said that "Any change in the stake holding will only come up before the board at the statutory board meeting scheduled for the third week of April”.

Chennai born Karun Chandok confirmed for F1 this season (2010)

Karun Chandok has just been confirmed as the official driver for the Hispanic Racing F1 Team (HRT) formerly known as Campos Racing in Spain for the 2010 F1 season! He will now partner with Bruno Senna, with whom Karun had already shared the team space in the 2008 GP2 season. Chandhok will be presented to the public at the Murcia unveiling, which is set to confirm the team's new identity and its plans for 2010. 

Colin Kolles, HRT's team principal, said: "I am very pleased to use the Murcia site to officially unveil our car livery today. We also complete the driver's team line-up with the Indian Karun Chandhok at the wheel of the car for our first ever season. We have been very impressed with Karun's performance in GP2. India is a great country. It will be great for the sport to have an Indian driver on the grid for the first Indian Grand Prix. Murcia is part of the roots of the team."

 

The Chennai born Karun, started racing in 2000 and ultimately joined GP2 in 2007 where he did quite well to let the whole world and especially the F1 teams know his standard of driving. He was presented with the ‘Best Driving Style’ award in 2008. With this deal, Karun Chandok now is the second Indian driver to race in F1. The first one was Narain Karthikeyan who spent a single season at Jordan five years ago.

'Pure Fascination' in Kochi - Mercedes Benz unveils new S- Class

(L-R) Mr. Debashish Mitra, Director of Sales and Marketing, Mercedes-Benz India along with Mr. S Sivakumar, Managing Director, Rajasree Motors Pvt. Ltd. at the unveiling of "Pure Fascination" in Kochi

Mercedes-Benz today set off a high-octane start to the year for the South Indian luxury car market by bringing the "Pure Fascination" to Kochi. This theme was highlighted during its participation at the Auto Expo 2010 reflected the company’s strategy in the near future for Indian market. On display, were the seven models launched by the company since Janaury, 2010. The new S- Class was also unveiled for the first time while the M-Class, E-Class & GL-Class models made its first public appearance in Kochi.

 

The Director of Sales and Marketing of Mercedes-Benz India Mr. Debashis Mitra in a statement said, "So far, we have registered a good start to the year 2010 and February sales have been encouraging. We started the year with the presentation of the SLS AMG at the Auto Expo 2010. In the past eight weeks we continued this product excitement with 10 new product introductions. We have reinforced the Mercedes lifestyle quotient with the 10th edition of the Mercedes-Trophy while our association with Manish Arora ensures exciting fashion evenings with his unique couture "Fascination Collection" inspired by Mercedes. With our network expansion and upgradation program, we are now present in 25 cities with more than 50 touch points, the largest for any luxury player in India. A few projects are remaining, e.g. a 12-car display showroom in Hyderabad, a 16-car display showroom in Chennai and a 26-car display brand center in South Delhi. These will be finished within the next few months and will set standards in their segment. We are looking forward to an exciting 2010 and markets like Kochi are the growth engines of the emerging Indian luxury landscape."

Ford Figo Launch on 9th March in New Delhi!

The small car from Ford which was showcased at the Auto Expo held in New Delhi this year, is all set to be launched officially in the country on the 9th of March, 2010. Michael Boneham, president and MD of Ford India, and Joe Hinrichs, group VP, Ford Motor Company would be gracing the occasion at Hotel Taj Palace in New Delhi.

 

The five door hatchback will don a 1.2 litre Rocam engine(Duratec) or 1.4 litre diesel engine (Duratorq) and will come in four variants common to both the petrol and diesel options - Base (LXI), Mid (EXI), Upper-Mid (SXI) and a high end variant called the Platinum. Figo will be available in seven colours - Diamond white, Panther Black, Moondust Silver, Chille, Sea Grey, Squeeze and Colorad Red.

Prices

1.2L Duratec LXi         – Rs. 3.6 lakhs

1.2L Duratec EXi         – Rs. 3.85 lakhs

1.2L Duratec SXi         – Rs. 4.20 lakhs

1.2L Duratec Titanium – Rs. 4.50 lakhs

1.4L TDCi LXi             – Rs. 4.5 lakhs

1.4L TDCi EXi             – Rs. 4.75 lakhs

1.4L TDCi SXi             – Rs. 5.15 lakhs

1.4L TDCi Titanium     – Rs. 5.45 lakhs

Karun Chandok might join F1 this season! 2010!

Chennai born Karun Chandok who was once titled "The most promising Asian", is all set to make his F1 dream come true. For Karun, the racing blood runs in the family with his father the legendary Vicky Chandok and grandfather Indu Chandok, both being ace drivers of their times. And now, Karun is carrying the family's racing heritage forward.

Karun started racing in 2000 and ultimately joined GP2 in 2007 where he did quite well to let the whole world and especially the F1 teams know his standard of driving. He was presented with the ‘Best Driving Style’ award in 2008. But the last season (2009) wasn’t too great for him. So Karun is all set to make a comeback to racing and this can’t get better than this...

He is about to sign a deal with Spanish Campos Racing founded by former F1 driver Adrian Campos. Bruno Senna,nephew of late Aryton senna will be Karun's team mate if the deal is finalized. Bruno shared the team space with Karun in 2008 GP2 season too. Campos racing's team principal Collin Kolles is going to rename the team once they get a position on the finalized 2010 F1 grid. Karun's F1 dream is slowly turning into reality which means that he will soon get a well deserved place at the pinnacle of motorsport. The team hasn’t done any testing in the pre- season. If things go in the right direction they will be present on the grid on March 14th in Bahrain.

With Narian eyeing Nascar this year and Karun thinking of securing a place in F1, the country will soon get the much needed and deserved recognition in this fast paced world of racing.

Nano EV revealed in Geneva Motor Show

The world’s cheapest car is now on its venture to become the world’s cheapest and greenest car. The Electric version of the Tata Nano was revealed by Tata Motors at the Geneva Motor Show. Cosmetically, the Nano EV will carry the skin of the regular Nano. But within the skin will be an electrically driven heart that can easily accelerate from stand still to 100 kmph in just 10 seconds. The battery run motor when fully charged can commute an entire range of about 160 km.

Present at the launch were Mr. Ravi Kant (Vice Chairman), Prakash Telang (Managing Director – India Operations) and Carl-Peter Forster (Group CEO). Mr. Ravi Kant stated, ‘Electrification will be an integral part of our initiative to launch environment-friendly vehicles. The Indica Vista EV will be introduced in select European countries, beginning this year. We will progressively introduce electric vehicles in all relevant markets.’
 
Earlier, when the Tata Nano was introduced, it helped the economically backward to afford a car. After this, the Tata Nano EV will now help keep the environment green. In a country like ours with a high rate of rise in pollution, a car like the Tata Nano EV would prove to be a gift to the environment. So let’s sit back and hope that the Nano EV makes its to our good old Indian streets.


Images: India Automotive

Last 20 Limited Edition Gran Turismo from BMW

BMW India, who recently launched the limited edition of the new Gran Turismo at the Auto Expo this year in New Delhi, has already hit the sales figure of 80 units till date. The company's target is set on selling 100 units of such kind in the country which means only 20 more units remain up for grabs!

The BMW Gran Turismo housed with a 3.0 diesel engine is priced at Rs. 6,300,000 and is available as a Completely Built-up unit (CBU). On the occasion, Mr. Peter Kronschnabl, President, BMW India said, 'The BMW Gran Turismo is a completely new vehicle concept, adding a unique and distinctive model variant to BMW’s product line-up. The BMW Gran Turismo combines the benefits of a prestige sedan, a modern Sports Activity Vehicle, and a classic Gran Turismo (Grand Touring). Only the elite few in India will have the opportunity to own one of the 100 exclusive limited edition BMW Gran Turismos.