Ford opens vehicle personalisation centre in Chennai

The centre will offer a host of vehicle personalisation options to new buyers of the company's compact SUV EcoSport, Ford India said in a statement.
   
The facility spread over 35,000 square feet near Ford India's Chennai factory was inaugurated by Ford Asia Pacific Vice-President Customer Service Division John Cooper and Ford India President Nigel Harris.

Commenting on the opening of the centre, Cooper said: "Adding to the overall brand ownership experience, we will provide customers peace of mind through premium quality customisation options that they can trust without compromising on safety, quality or vehicle warranties."
   
To begin with, the Centre will offer three customisation options on the EcoSport, including spare wheel (cover) pack for all EcoSport variants and alloys pack that offers premium quality alloys and rear-spoiler for EcoSport's Ambiente.

Ford plans to expand the personalisation centre's offering offerings later this year, the company said.

Source: Car and Bike News  and Tech Reviews and News

 

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Ford to launch new hatchback and sedan in next few months

According to reports, both the cars are  undergoing endurance tests in India wearing partial camouflage, during which both were spied.

2015 Ford Figo hatchback and sedan carry the company’s second generation design philosophy, Kinetic 2.0, which is why the models have resemblance with new Fiesta sedan. With the launch of the new duo, Ford India will have a new-age lineup to beat their respective rivals when it comes to styling and road presence.

The upcoming Ford Figo hatchback will replace the current model and new compact sedan variant will phase out older Fiesta. Fiesta is rebadged and sold as Classic.

The cars will be produced at Ford’s new plant in Gujarat's Sanand, which will be operational by April. Ford Figo compact sedan will be launched in July, while hatchback model will set foot in the market in September.

Powertrain options for Ford Fiego are not confirmed yet. Word around suggests deployment of new 1.5 litre TDCI diesel engine rated at 75 bhp and 190 Nm, and 1.0 litre 3-cylinder EcoBoost petrol motor without a turbocharger, rated at 80 bhp and 105 Nm. 

Source: Car and Bike News  and Tech Reviews and News

 

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Volkswagen India starts diesel engine assembly plant at Chakan

The Rs 240-crore powertrain plant at its Chakan facility near here is spread over 3,500 sqmt and can produce 98,000 engines per annum in three shifts, all Bharat Stage III compliant.
   
The company will use the new power trains from the new facility for the models Polo, Vento and Rapid. The plant was inaugurated by the Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday.
   
Fadnavis asked the company to make Maharashtra its global export hub and assured that his government will further reduce the existing 25 levels of approval needed to start a business.
   
The labour laws in the state were "anti-labour and anti-industry and only time killing", the Chief Minister said, adding that they would be revamped soon.
   
While the five Volkswagen group companies — VW, Audi, Skoda, Porche and Lamborghini -- together sell 25 models in the country, Audi being the largest in terms of volume and offerings and the market leader in the luxe car space, VW has been trailing with only three models — Vento and Jetta sedans and the Polo hatchback.

Source: Car and Bike News and Tech Reviews and News

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सूरत ऑटो एक्‍सपो में दिखेंगी रॉल्‍स-रॉयस और BMW

रॉल्‍स-रॉयस होगी बड़ा आकर्षण
सूरत ऑटो एक्‍सपो 2015 में शामिल होने वाले विजिटर्स के लिए सबसे बड़ा आकर्षण रॉल्‍स-रॉयस की गाड़‍ियां होंगी. गौरतलब है कि इस बार ऑटो एक्‍सपो में टाटा, हुंडई, स्‍कॉडा, फोर्ड, रिनॉल्‍ट, टोयोटा, बीएमडब्‍ल्‍यू, फिएट, निस्‍सान, मिनिकूपर जैसी बड़ी ऑटोमोबाइल कंपनियां शामिल होंगी. इसके साथ ही इस बार टूव्‍हीलर सैगमेंट में हारले डेविडसन, बजाज, वेस्‍पा, यामाहा और अन्‍य कंपनियां भी शामिल होंगी.

सफलता की सीढ़‍ियां चढ़ता सूरत एक्‍सपो
गुजरात के ग्रोथ आइकन शहर सूरत में यह ऑटो एक्‍सपो लगातार तीसरी बार ऑर्गनाइज होने जा रहा है. गौरतलब है कि हर साल इस ऑटो एक्‍सपो में लोगों और पार्टिसिपेट करने वाली कंपनियों की संख्‍या बढ़ती जा रही है. मसलन पहला सूरत ऑटो एक्‍सपो 8 से 11 अप्रेल के बीच आयोजित किया गया था. इस आयोजन में मारुति, टाटा, हुंडई, स्‍कॉडा, टोयोटा, बीएमडब्‍ल्‍यू और ऑडी ने पार्टिसिपेट किया था. इसके साथ ही एक्‍सपो में भाग लेने वाले पार्टिसिपेटर्स 25 करोड़ रुपये की डिमांड क्रिएट करने में सफल भी हुए थे. इसके बाद 15 से 18 फरवरी से आयोजित होने वाले ऑटो एक्‍सपो में फोर व्‍हीलर्स के साथ-साथ टू-व्‍हीलर सैगमेंट में भी पार्टिसिपेटर्स शामिल हुए थे. इस बार ऑटो एक्‍सपो से क्रिएट होने वाली डिमांड लगभग 38 करोड़ रुपये थी. इसके बाद अब तीसरे सूरत ऑटो एक्‍सपो को 20 से 23 फरवरी के दौरान ऑर्गनाइज किया जाना तय हुआ है. इसके साथ ही इस ऑटो एक्‍सपो में डिमांड के प्रतिशत के बढ़ने की संभावनाएं प्रबल हैं. इस वजह से एक्‍सपो में शामिल होने वाली कंपनियों की संख्‍या बढ़ गई है.

Source: Automotive News and Gadget Reviews India

Nissan may advance launch of 3rd Datsun vehicle in India

The company that last week launched a compact multi- purpose vehicle Go+ to add to the Go small car will expand its network in small towns to boost sales of its Datsun brand of vehicles.

"The target we announced about getting 10 per cent market share in India is still our dream but 2016 is just round the corner. So we will have to go step by step. How long will we take to reach there? Cannot say at the moment," Corporate Vice-President & Global Head of Datsun Vincent Cobee told PTI.

Last year, when Nissan launched the Datsun Go in India, marking the global comeback of the brand after nearly three decades, it had said that it was aiming to garner 10 per cent share in the Indian passenger vehicles market by 2016.

So far in the April-December period this fiscal, according to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) passenger vehicle sales were at 18,94,932 units, up 3.67 per cent from 18,27,866 units in the same period last fiscal.

Nissan's total passenger vehicle sales during the same period this fiscal stood at 35,042 units as against 23,927 units in the year-ago period.

Cobee said the last 10 months since the launch of Datsun Go have been a learning process in India and the company was now planning to get to the next level.

Source: Automotive News and Gadget Reviews India

ऑडी की लेजर हाई बीम कार R8 LMX अब इंडिया में भी

ऑडी की अब तक की सबसे पावरफुल और फास्टेस्ट कार ऑडी R8 LMX अब इंडिया में भी लॉन्च् कर दी गयी है. इसकी सबसे मेन स्पेशियल्टी इंडिया की फर्स्ट लेजर हाई बीम लाइटिंग वाली कार होना भी है. कंपनी ने बताया कि वे अपनी एक और बीएमडब्ल्यू i8 को भी 2015 के फर्स्ट क्वॉर्टर में लॉन्च करने की तैयारी कर रहे हैं, जो लेजर हेड लाइट वाली इंडिया की सेंकेंड कार होगी. कंपनी ने ये भी बताया कि वर्ल्ड वाइड आर8 एलएमएक्स की सिर्फ 99 यूनिट्स ही अवेलेबल होंगी.

आर8 एलएमएक्स में 5.2 लीटर का 570 हॉर्सपावर की ताकत वाला वी-10 इंजन है और इसका टॉर्क 540 एनएम का है. सबसे इंर्पोटेंट बाद इस कार में ये है कि इसकी टॉप स्पीड 320 किलोमीटर/पर ऑवर तक जाती है और जीरो से 100 किलोमीटर/पर ऑवर की स्पीड के लिए ये कार 3.4 सेकंड में ही एक्सलरेट कर लेती है. ऑडी की इस सुपर स्पीड कार में 7-स्पीड एस-ट्रॉनिक ट्रांसमिशन भी लगा है जो क्वाट्रो-टेक्नॉलजी से कार के चारों व्हील्स को पावर देता है.

Source: Auto News 2015 and View more Gadget Reviews India

China smartphone maker Xiaomi wants a bite of Apple

In the next five to 10 years, Xiaomi has the opportunity to become the world's number one smartphone company," Lei Jun told the Chinese-organised World Internet Conference.

Xiaomi, which takes its name from the Chinese word for millet, has excelled in China's cut-throat smartphone market by delivering high-performance products at cheap prices.

In less than five years, the Chinese company has become the world's number three smartphone vendor, behind only Apple and South Korea's Samsung, shipping 17.3 million phones in the third quarter of 2014, according to International Data Corp (IDC).

Xiaomi claims sales of more than 61 million smartphones last year, up 227 per cent from 2013, with turnover more than doubling to USD 12 billion.

But critics say the firm has simply copied the look of Apple's iPhones, thriving because of weak intellectual property protection in China.

Source: Gadget Reviews India and view more Automotive News

50,000 units of Redmi phablet go out of stock in 5 seconds: Xiaomi

Manu Kumar Jain, Xiaomi India Head disclosed the latest flash sale figures on Twitter.

Xiaomi on Monday claimed to have crossed 500,000 registrations this week for the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4G and Redmi 1S altogether. Xiaomi India Head revealed the figures on the Twitter.

Manu Kumar Jain took to social networking site Twitter to announce the news.

"Today's sales of Redmi Note 4G: went out of stock within 5 seconds. Thank you Mi fans for your awesome support.. @MiIndiaOfficial," he tweeted.

Xiaomi has launched three handsets - Mi 3, the Redmi 1S and the Redmi Note in India.

Source: Gadget Reviews India and view Autonews 2015

Nissan announces pre-bookings of Datsun GO+ in India

The Datsun GO+, which was first previewed at the 2014 Delhi Auto Expo, will be available for pre-booking between January 3-14, Nissan India said in a statement.

"Prospective customers can now pre-book their Datsun GO+ with a fully refundable amount of Rs 11,000 at any Nissan dealership across India," it added.

The Datsun GO+ is India's first sub-4 meter compact multi-purpose vehicle (MPV).

"We opened pre-bookings today for customers who would like to be the early ones to own the new Datsun," Nissan India Operations- President Guillaume Sicard said.

Terming the product as a "segment-creating compact MPV", he said, "The Datsun GO+ is our second product in the market after the Datsun GO and reiterates our commitment to India."

Source:  Automotive News 2015

General Motors adds another 92,000 vehicles to ignition switch recall

It is also facing investigations by the US Congress, regulators and the Justice Department over why it waited more than a decade after first uncovering the ignition-switch problem to start recalling cars.

The latest recall affects some 83,572 trucks in the United States from the 2011-2012 model year, as well as vehicles from 2007 to 2014 that were repaired with faulty parts.

Including vehicles in Canada and Mexico, the total number of recalls comes to 92,221.

Models affected include the Chevrolet Silverado, Avalanche, Tahoe, and Suburban, as well as the Cadillac Escalade and the GMC Sierra and Yukon.

Fewer than 500 vehicles are expected to have the defect, GM said in a statement, adding that, as of December 10, 2014, the company did not know of any accidents in the named models related to the problem.

GM said it discovered the issue through an internal review following returns of parts under warranty.

Source: Autonews 2015

Honda to launch its 'discontinued' Jazz model in July 2015

Honda had stopped production of Jazz last year. The vehicle was launched in India in 2009 with a hefty price tag of over Rs 7 lakh which was slashed by Rs 1.6 lakh later.

According to reports, Honda will make available its all new Jazz in both petrol and diesel variants.

Unveiling its features in 2014 Auto Expo, Honda said Jazz model's hatchback will borrow its engines from Amaze, and hence the petrol unit will be the 1.2-liter i-VTEC while the diesel will be the 1.5-liter i-DTEC. 

Source: Automotive News