- General Motors has announced a weekend bonanza this weekend from 25th to 27th May where each booking would get an assured gift and a lucky customer can have his Spark for free. The offer is only on Spark and Beat with the showrooms open from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm.
- Maruti Suzuki will sign an agreement with the Gujarat government on June 2 to set up a 2.5 lakh car per annum facility near Mehsana in north Gujarat ending the 5 months of speculation. Capacity of the Rs 6000 crore 500 acre facility will be scaled up in future as per the requirements.
- As we have been reporting earlier, Fiat is working hard to gain formidable foothold in the Indian market after the failure if it previous joint ventures in India. Going solo this time, the company faces an uphill task to regain the diminishing customer confidence.
- Toyota’s Etios sedan and Liva Hatch specifically made for the Indian market have crossed the one lakh sales mark in less than two years after their launch in December 2010. Toyota has also started expoting the cars to the African market eyeing around 20000 units per year.
- Ssangyong unveiled the new Rexton at the Busan Auto show with radical changes in the looks as well as under the hood. The Rexton W as it is known, has a new 2.0 litre diesel engine that producs 154bhp and 367 Nm torque and returns a fuel economy of 13.7 kmpl for the automatic transmission. The new ‘work of art’ Rexton W would certainly help the Mahindra owned Korean manufacturer rebrand itself in the Chinese market.
- After the overwhelming response for the new ML 350, where 100 cars got sold within a week of launch when Mercedes were targeting 500 units for the year, Mercedes are planning to launch the ML 250 CDI with a 2.2 litre four cylinder diesel engine making 205bhp and 500NM of torque. Probably priced about 5 lakhs below the ML 350, the Mercedes SUV range would start from 50 lakh in India luring the BMW X3 and Q5 buyers to upgrade to a bigger car by spending some more money.
- Fiat has now suspended its exports to Iran due to the economic sanctions imposed for its nuclear activity. Fiat has joined Hyundai, Peugeot-Citroen and Porsche as automakers no longer doing business in Iran.
- Fiat is developing the 500X crossover to compete with the Ford EcoSport and Nissan Juke and Renault Duster. Carrying forward the highly popular 500 brand, the sub 4.2 meter crossover is expected to debut at the 2013 Geneva Auto show.
- BMW has showcased the Zagato Concept coupe at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este show in Italy. Based on the Z4 and body work by the famed Italian coach-builders Zagato, the stunning coupe is a treat to the eyes with the trademark BMW kidney grille,an old school long bonnet, the signature Zagato double bubble roof and the Kamm tail section.
- After the Passat Alltrack for the US, Volksagen is keen on offering the Jetta and Golf in the lifted and cladded avatar. The Passat Alltrack may later house 3 roews of seating pushing it to the upper segment,.
- Lotus CEO Dany Bahar has been temporarily suspended from office following an operational review. The parent company DRB Hicom stressed that it is business as usual at Lotus and onthing is to be onferred from the developments.
The CarWale Daily Fuel is your quick daily dose of automotive news from India and around the world. If you want to know whatever's in the news but want it short and sweet, here's your solution.
