- Ford has hiked engine production capacity at its Chennai plant by 80,000 units, as a part of the USD 72 million expansion plan announced last year. The Chennai facility now has the capacity to produce 3,40,000 units per annum, which is expected to bring down the waiting period for the Ford models like the Figo and the recently renamed new Classic.
- Hyundai has opened a new microsite for the launch of its new D-Segment sedan, the Elantra fluidic. The Korean car maker has also started accepting booking, while the launch is expected to be somewhere in the second week of August.
- As reported by leading publication, Nissan plans to launch 5 new models under its low-cost brand, Datsun, in India. The first two Datsun cars are expected to be unveiled at the 2014 Auto Expo, while the entire range may include 3 hatchbacks, compact MPV and compact sedan.
- Ford’s Chennai facility reached a new landmark yesterday of building 4,00,000th engine in India. At the press conference hosted to commemorate the occasion, Ford India’s president and managing director, Michael Boneham, also divulged certain details about the Ford EcoSport. Ford confirmed that the EcoSport, compact SUV will be available in both petrol and diesel variants; and the 80 per cent of the components used are localized.
- There are rumours that the Japanese auto company, Isuzu Motors, is planning to enter the light commercial vehicles segment in India. The company may invest Rs 1,000 crore to set up a facility in India and compete with local giants like Tata Motors and Mahindra.
- The special performance edition of the Toyota GT86 was displayed at the 2012 Goodwood Festival of Speed, last month. The same car will now go on sale in UK as special edition, under model year 2013.
- The Subaru BRZ – rear-wheel drive sportscar jointly developed by Subaru and Toyota, basically rebadged Toyota GT86; has been great success for the Japanese car maker. One of the recent examples of the models success is that, when Subaru decided to sell 201 units of the BRZ online, all of them were sold in just 3 hours. And we are not talking about just online registration, but a token payment of 3,000 to 5,000 Australian dollars.
- One of the greatest racing circuits in the world, Nurburgring, in Germany has gone bust and need an aid of 13 million Euros for revival. Unfortunately, German officials have declined to provide any assistance at this moment and the future of ‘the ring’ might be decided in the court. It is also reported that all the activities confirmed at Nurburgring for 2012 will be held as per schedule.
- Remember the track edition Volvo S60 Polestar churning out 508bhp? Though it was one of example, the Swedish car maker is now planning to hire them to build a performance version of the V40. The Volvo V40 Polestar will be production model delivering 280bhp through all-wheel-drive system; more details including price will be available at the Paris Motor Show in September.
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