Fiat 500L
- Renault has launched the new Duster in Kerala yesterday at a function in Kochi. The Duster will be offered in god’s own country for a starting price of Rs 7.19 lakh, which is same as the Delhi prices. Renault also divulged its investment plans and confirmed to launch sub-4.5 lakh rupee car in India by 2014.
- Nissan announced the name of the 19 managements student who are selected for the Nissan Student Brand Manager’ Program 2012. The 19 student brand managers were selected out of 2,467 registrations for the third year, after series of competitions and eliminations held across the country.
- General Motors has signed a deal with PSA Peugeot Citroen in Europe for economies of scale and also reducing R&D costs. Since the French alliance is planning to enter India in next couple of years, there were questions whether GM will help them with their operations in India, in spite of the fact that they will be competing here. GM India has now ruled out alliance with Peugeot in India stating that the deal is specifically for Europe.
- SIAM has marginally reduced the car sales forecast for the fiscal year 2012-13 as higher costs and slower economic expansion impinge on demand. SIAM estimated growth to be at 9-11 per cent, lower than earlier set targets of 10-12 per cent.
- Audi has overtaken BMW to become the highest selling luxury car brand in the country. In the first quarter of 2012 Audi sold only 100 units less than BMW, so with the launch of the new A4 sedan and the Q3 crossover, we were sure that Audi will take the lead away from BMW. In the month of June, Audi sold 9 units more than BMW, while the Bavarian company may get back in the game with the launch of the all new 3-Series and the X1 facelift.
- Fiat is eyeing the Utility car segment in India and may introduce the Fiat-Chrysler range including the Jeep models in the coming months. Fiat plans to enter the fastest growing segment in India, UV, and is also planning to open 70 to 80 new exclusive Fiat showrooms by March next year.
- In the last few months, most Indian buyers have become allergic to petrol cars – resulting in huge unsold inventory and under utilization of petrol car manufacturing facilities. To tack these issues, Manufacturers plan to export petrol cars to Africa and Middle East. Yesterday we reported about VW’s plans of sending Vento there, now Maruti will be offering its bestselling hatchbacks including the Alto and WagonR in the African markets.
- Suzuki Swift has got a makeover in the fashion capital of the world, Paris. A special edition of the Swift called the “Swift Little Marcel” is launched in France in both three-door and five-door versions, by a fashion brand called the Little Marcel. Only 200 such examples will be made and sold to customers in France.
- BMW plant has rolled out 25,000th unit from its Chennai facility. The company reached this milestone within six years of commencing operations in India. The milestone units was the BMW’s highest selling car in the country, the X1.
- Volvo India have partnered with Lakme Fashion Week 2012, for new campaign called ‘The Real Show Stoppers’. The Volvo cars will there be displayed at the fashion event with their design philosophy – Designed Around You.
- Law firm in California has served a notice to Hyundai Motors US over misleading commercial of the Hyundai Elantra. The commercial claims that the Elantra delivers mileage of 40 miles per gallon, which is true only on the highways; while the mileage in city traffic is around 29mpg.
- Fiat has revealed lot more details of the new 500L, which was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March. Fiat says that the 500L has enough space for five adults along with their luggage. The five-door 500 will be available with 0.9-litre two-cylinder petrol, 1.4-litre petrol and the 1.3-litre multijet diesel engine.
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