Volkswagen Vento first drive : Winds of Change

The Polo hatchback, launched earlier this year, was Volkswagen’s first serious foray into the Indian market and saw a lot of investment being brought in by this very serious German carmaker to set up a state of the art manufacturing facility at Chakan in Maharashtra. But their seriousness to succeed in the Indian marketplace is even more evident now with the introduction of the Vento, which in simple words, is a Polo with a boot. They’ve engineered the Vento to be ‘best in class’ and have started with possibly their most successful platform – the Polo (apart from the Golf of course!). The Polo has sold over 11million units since 1975 and is a significant platform for VW. And this isn’t the first time the Vento name (which translates to wind in Italian) is being used for a VW car.

Maruti Suzuki Alto Cars in India

Maruti seemed to have finally found an answer to the long time top seller, the Maruti 800. Maruti initially bought the alto out with 2 engine options, the 800cc Maruti 800 and the 1100cc found mainly in Wagon R. The Alto has reigned the small car section for many years now

Tata Aria Coming in September 2010

Tata Aria

Expected in September 2010

Estimated price: Rs 12-14 lakh

Toyota built the Innova, Mahindra built the Xylo. So why will Tata stay quiet? Tata is building it’s first-ever MUV the Xover The Indicruz will compete with the Toyota Innova and the Mahindra Xylo. Tata’s car profile will have some more variety with this Multi-Utility Vehicle. The Aria is based on the platform of the Tata Safari and will sport the same 2.2-litre engine block which powers the Safari. The Aria will be the flagship model of Tata Motors and will come with all the beels and whistles like ABS and airbags, ESP and cruise control to increase the safety features. The car will also sport features like satellite navigation, touchscreen, GPS, 17"alloy wheels, infotainment, dual air-conditioning with automatic climate control and multi-controls on the steering wheel.

Styling:
Tata Aria has been design in Tata's UK Research and Development centre. The Tata Aria should be a trendy MUV, which will have most of the features of a MUV and should be spacious like most of the Tata vehicles. The front grille and the head light combination is somewhat similar to the Indica Vista with the headlight tapering upwards at the end.

Mechanicals:
The Tata Aria features the 32-bit 2.2-litre 16 valve DICOR engine which even powers the Tata Safari DICOR, Sumo Grande and the Xenon XT. The engine has two variants, one which produces 140bhp and the other which produces 120bhp. The Sumo Grande has the 120bhp engine whereas the rest has 140bhp engine. The Aria will come with a 140-bhp engine. The Aria will have twin exhausts. The Aria will sport independent double wishbone at its front and five-link suspension at the rear. The Aria will even come with a 4x4 option, which will be a permanent all wheel drive.

Competition:
The Tata Aria will be compete with the Toyota Innova when it comes to pricing. In terms of space, the other competition could be the Mahindra Xylo. However, considering the price of the top-of-the-line Aria, none these will be a competition to the Aria in pricing and features that it will come loaded with.

Overall Evaluation:
If Tata Motors has worked on its styling, build quality and plastics correct with cheap cost of ownserhip, then Tata might be able to some good numbers. The way today Indigo Manza has been doing fairly well.

EVEN GROWTH

Opposing the belief that the growth in automobile industry has catered only to the top income-stratum of society, Growth of exports of 32.8 % in the first three quarters of 2004-05, the fastest growth in volumes has come from commercial vehicles as against passenger cars.

Between 1998-99 and 2003-04, output of commercial vehicles has grown 2.8 times compared to the 2.2 times increase in passenger cars. Furthermore, two-wheeler output continues to dominate the volume statistics of the sector. In 2003-04, for every passenger car turned out by the sector, there were 7 two-wheelers produced. In the two wheeler segment, there is a greater preference for motorcycles followed by scooters, with both production and domestic sales of motorcycles increasing at faster rates than for scooters in the current and previous years. However, mopeds have registered low or negative growth. Export growth rates have been high both for motorcycles and scooters.

THE KEY FACTORS BEHIND THIS UPSWING

Sales incentives, introduction of new models as well as variants coupled with easy availability of low cost finance with comfortable repayment options continued to drive demand and sales of automobiles during the first two quarters of the current year. The risk of an increase in the interest rates, the impact of delayed monsoons on rural demand, and increase in the costs of inputs such as steel are the key concerns for the players in the industry.

As the players continue to introduce new models and variants, the competition may intensify further. The ability of the players to contain costs and focus on exports will be critical for the performance of their respective companies.

The auto component sector has also posted significant growth of 20 per cent in 2003-04, to achieve a sales turnover of Rs.30,640 crore (US$ 6.7 billion). Further, there is a potential for higher growth due to outsourcing activities by global automobiles giants. Today, this sector has emerged as another sunrise sector.

Major Manufacturers in Automobile Industry

• Maruti Udyog Ltd.
• General Motors India
• Ford India Ltd.
• Eicher Motors
• Bajaj Auto
• Daewoo Motors India
• Hero Motors
• Hindustan Motors
• Hyundai Motor India Ltd.
• Royal Enfield Motors
• Telco
• TVS Motors
• DC Designs
• Swaraj Mazda Ltd

Automobile Dealers Network in India

In terms of Car dealer networks and authorized service stations, Maruti leads the pack with Dealer networks and workshops across the country. The other leading automobile manufactures are also trying to cope up and are opening their service stations and dealer workshops in all the metros and major cities of the country. Dealers offer varying kind of discount of finances who in tern pass it on to the customers in the form of reduced interest rates.