General Motor Launches Cruze in India

General Motors launched its upper midsize sedan Chevrolet Cruze in the Indian market amidst much fanfare in Mumbai. The car is priced competitively at Rs. 10.99 lakh and Rs. 12.45 lakh for its LT and LTZ variants respectively. The new Chevrolet Cruze is available in six colours - Atlantis Blue, Light Gold, Olympic White, Velvet Red, Misty Lake and Caviar Black. It will be pitted against Skoda Laura, Honda City, Toyota Corolla Altis and Volkswagen Jetta. General Motors is offering a warranty of first three year or 1 lakh kilometers.

"The Cruze has been receiving rave reviews since its recent debut in some other markets. We expect it to perform well against the established D-segment players," said Karl Slym, General Motors India President and Managing Director. "GM's investments in manufacturing the Cruze in India are a demonstration of our sustained commitment to making Chevrolet the most admired and preferred vehicle brand in this country," Slym added.

The car is powered by a 2.0 Litre Commom Rail Turbodiesel engine with 150 bhp of maximum power and 327 nm of torque. It is the most powerful engine in its class for petrol or diesel models. ARAI has given it a mileage certificate of 18.1 kmpl for the diesel model which makes it the most economical car in its segment as well.

The new model is laden with a host of features which are standard in its category - Airbags, ABS, follow me home headlamps (headlamps which turn off automatically after some time), alloy wheels and a smart screen which shows a number of settings for the driver. The display screen shows date, time and outside temperature. Sunroof, Leather seats, 6 CD changer, Park Assists, steering mounted audio controls and cruise control are further add-on features available in the LTZ variant.

The new Chevrolet Cruze also features Passive Entry Passive Start System, which offers complete keyless operations such as keyless entry, ignition starter without keys, anti-theft alarm and central locking system. One of the striking features of the new Chevrolet Cruze is that the car can be started even with a push button while the keys are still in the pocket. The car detects the keys as soon as the driver comes near the car and it opens the locks automatically.

Apart from normal airbags, safety features also include additional features like Emergency exit where the boot also opens from an inside lever. This prevents the occupants to be trapped inside the car in case of a traumatic situation.

Apart from the launch of Chevrolet Cruze, the company officials also confirmed that GM’s new mini car “Beat” is slated for a launch later this year and will be priced at Rs. 4 lakh. General Motors is also planning to launch a new 800cc petrol engine Spark model in India next year.

http://www.cartradeindia.com/car-bike-news/general-motor-launches-cruze-in-india-111593.html

Proton Team To Visit India To Finalise Joint Venture With Hero

NEW DELHI, Oct 10 (Bernama) -- A delegation from Proton Holdings Bhd is expected to arrive here later this month to finalise plans to form a joint venture with Hero Group.

The Economic Times in today's front-page "Hero chases small car dream with Proton" said that Proton and Hero Group were in the final stage of negotiations.

Hero Group's top executives, according to the newspaper, had visited Proton's Shah Alam and Tanjung Malim plants and its car design subsidiary, Lotus in the United Kingdom.

Sunil Kant Munjal, chairman of Hero Corporate Service Ltd, told the newspaper: "Proton came and met us earlier and there's nothing more to add."

The tie-up would enable Hero Group, a family owned company that started off producing bicycle components in early 1940s, to enter the robust Indian passenger car market, which sold 1.5 million vehicles last year.

Proton had been critically exploring the Indian motor vehicle sector for some years and had talks with leading Indian players like Mahindra and Mahindra, Ambassador, Hindustan Motors, Sonalika's International Car and Motors Ltd and Argentum Motors.

More interaction between both parties is in the pipeline when International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed visit India later this month.

The US$4 billion Hero Group is owned by Delhi-based Munjal family.

In the past, the Indian company had also explored joint venture possibilities with French carmaker Peugeot-Citroen and Germany's Volkswagen, to manufacture cars for the Indian market, said the paper.
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsbusiness.php?id=445960

One more small car from Maruti, now as a CKD

The outflow of small cars from Maruti’s stable is ridiculously constant. It announced the new Zen Estilo last week, and within no time, focus has shifted on to another small car for India.
The new “eco” small car will be made in Thailand to benefit from the tax sops the government offers for vehicles following certain regulations (sub-1,300 cc, delivering fuel efficiency of 20 km per litre and under 120 grams of CO2 emissions per km). Our very own Tata is putting together a small car which will also fall under the eco category.
Moreover the Indo-Thai free trade agreement assists in sourcing componenets at a much cheaper rate now. The same has prompted Maruti to source CKD (Completely Knocked Down) kits of the eco car from Thailand and assemble it locally.
Though the details are not clear, could it be an all new small car to take on select variants of the Nano? With the 800 retiring next year, one finds it hard it to believe it will be anything else.