Auto News
Harley-Davidson ‘hogs’ ride into India
Jul 19th
Harley-Davidson is revving up to go full throttle on India’s famously potholed roads. Harley-Davidson has opened its first three dealerships and is planning to launch two more this year in the country of 1.2 billion people where motorcycles are far and away the most popular transport.
“We see this incredible motorcycling culture here that is waiting for this new category of heavyweight motorcycles,” Anoop Prakash, managing director of Harley-Davidson India, who fell in love with the bikes when he was a US marine.
Harley-Davidson also plans to set up Harley Owners Groups — famed in the United States for members riding and partying together while swapping biking tales.
Tavera to get new life
Jul 18th
Chevrolet Tavera which saw its exit from major metros due to the BS4 axe may get a new life. As per Autocar India GM India may source the CRDi engine from Sonalika which makes the ICM Rhino in India.
The new 2.0 litre engine will be BS4 complaint and will have a max power of 100bhp.
The Tavara which is a good competitor to Mahindra Xylo and Toyota Innova saw sales dwindling as it had to be pulled out of the metro cities.
Tata Nano to cost more
Jul 17th
Tata Nano more popularly known as 1 lakh car will no more carry the tag of 1 lakh. Tata Motors have increased the price of Nano by nearly Rs. 6,000 due to rising input costs, but will retain the rate promised to the first 1 lakh customers of the low-cost car. The entry-level price of a Nano is Rs 1.23 lakh while a deluxe variant costs Rs 1.72 lakh.
Tata Motors has handed over nearly 45,000 Nano’s since it started delivery last July. It plans to deliver cars to the remainder of 1 lakh customers who were selected through a lottery last year from 2.06 lakh bookings before December.
Ford sell 25,000 Figo’s in 100 days
Jul 16th
With more than 25,000 sales bookings registered since its launch in March, the Ford Figo has cemented its reputation as one of India’s most in demand new cars.
“Reaching the 25,000 sales booking milestone in close to 100 days continues the Figo’s remarkable rise and rise in popularity among Indian consumers,” said Michael Boneham, president and managing director, Ford India.
“Figo’s success has exceeded expectations in terms of sales and target markets. Our debut compact car offering is being very well received by a wide range of customers and this response has been instrumental in our efforts to increase market share.”
Targeting more than 70 percent of the country’s prospective new vehicle buyers, the popular Figo has helped drive growth in all markets (Tier I, II and III) across India.
In the January-June period, Ford sales volume, on a year-to-year basis, doubled in Tier 1 markets including Mumbai (234%); Chennai (279%) and Delhi and the NCR region (223%). In terms of regional sales, there was a similar response – east (339%); west (277%), north (212%) and south (127%). Big gains – double, and in some cases, triple fold growth – were registered in Tier II markets such as Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Pune, Kochi, Coimbatore, Indore, Bhopal and Jaipur and Tier III markets such as Dehradun, Trichy, Nashik, Aurangabad and Kanpur.
Avenger 200 axed, 220 on the cards
Jul 14th
