Nano Price Rise. Gets costlier by Rs. 6000

TATA Motors on Friday said it has increased the price of Nano by nearly Rs 6,000 due to rising input costs, but will retain the rate promised to the first 1 lakh customers of the low-cost car. The entry-level price of a Nano is Rs 1.23 lakh while a deluxe variant costs Rs 1.72 lakh.Tata Motors has handed over nearly 45,000 Nanos since it started delivery last July. It plans to deliver cars to the remainder of 1 lakh customers who were selected through a lottery last year from 2.06 lakh bookings before December.

The Mumbai-based company said it has begun intimating the price rise to customers who did not make the cut, but held on to bookings.

"Despite a steep increase in input prices, their Tata Nanos are being priced only 3-4 % higher, depending on the model, than the price announced at launch," the company said in a statement.

With the price rise, which it called ‘fairly nominal’ , Tata Motors joins a handful of carmakers such as Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motor India that have raised prices by nearly four times in a year to offset galloping input costs.

The company also announced it would reward customers for bearing with the company through a delay in delivery due to capacity constraints.

"As a gesture of goodwill, the company has announced a choice of one-year free annual maintenance contract, or free accessories worth Rs 4,000, or an extended warranty," the statement added. Tata Motors has been steadily increasing the Nano’s production after its Sanand plant began running since June. The plant can produce 2.5 lakh units a year.

"This is the final step before the company opens up sales of the Tata Nano," it added. Tata Motors is also looking at overseas markets such as Asia and Africa to market the Nano, once capacity starts building at Sanand. It has started work on the car’s marketing in the US, executives said.

Source: IndiaTimes

'India can innovate on cost reduction of cars'

India enjoys the major manufacturing advantage over Europeanand American vehicle manufacturers when it comes to cost innovativeness, a top automobile industry official Monday said.

“We can demonstrate to the world that we can innovate. I saw three years
of conceptualisation of Tata Nano while at Tata Motors. How do you take the extra rupee out of a vehicle is a major challenge,” Hinduja Automotive’s executive vice chairman V.Sumantran said.

Delivering the K.C.G. Verghese memorial lecture on “Frontier of Automotive Engineering andOpportunities for India”, he said: “India has a huge young population and youth have to compete with each other to succeed. This offers many opportunities for India.”

Referring to the increasing number of onboard computers in a vehicle, Sumantran added that miniaturisation of components and electronics needs embedded software systems which India has the capability to provide.

The use of nano technology and increasing onboard electronics will reshape the frontiers of automotive engineering while miniaturisation is becoming important as the focus is on reducing the carbon footprint and be environment friendly, he remarked.

According to him, the role of autonomous or remote management of vehicle will gain importance and already some university students have started working on this area.

“A fair amount of autonomy will be there even in the normal vehicles that are seen on the city roads. Similarly virtualisation is another frontier of engineering which would gain importance as it would cut costs,” Sumantran added.

Delivering the special address on “Industry-Institute Relationships”, Lucas TVS’ chief executive officer N.Ravichandran said: “The need of the hour is to have synergies between industry and academic institution’s efforts. Both should identify areas of common interests and work together”.

He said a forum of experts can be formed - say retired industry officials - which the institutes can approach for advice or to lecture the students on the latest industry trends.

Source: TAT

Tata Venture to arrive this August

After the tremendous success of "Ace" in the market, selling about 5 lakh units, TATA motors said that they have planned to introduce VENTURE on August 2010.
Based on the one tone Ace platform, the Venture, which was displayed at the Auto Expo in Delhi, earlier this year, is a 5,7&8-seater people mover and comes strapped with the tried and tested Indica diesel engine (475 IDI Turbo Diesel) that belts out 70bhp.

Priced is expected to be between 4.5 -6 lakh, Tata Motors sure seems to be on its way to capturing a niche space in this segment, as currently there are no players besides Maruti whose vehicles the Omni and the Eeco, both, come with petrol engines only. Tata’s diesel powered engine should definitely prove advantageous as this comes at a time when there’s hardly any competition for the giant automobile manufacturer.

Besides thanking customers for creating various applications for the Ace and dramatically changing the customer profile, Tata Motors also said that the Magic IRIS would be introduced around September-October 2010. (The Magic IRIS is based on the original 750 kilo Tata Ace platform)

Tata Motors also added that they plan to get into the pre-owned vehicle business as there is a great demand for pre-owned vehicles in the country. This business would be called “Tata Certified”.

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Skoda Auto Clutch Care Tips

Disclaimer: The tips are provided by "Skoda Auto India" and "The Automobilez" does not bear any responsibility of the following post.

Skoda Auto Clutch Care Tips:

1. Do not rest your foot on the clutch pedal.

2. Excess revving of the engine before engaging the clutch may damage the clutch.

3. Do not drive unnecessarily at too high or too low engine revolutions.

4. Always drive no more than about one length of your vehicle in first gear.

5. Always shift up into the next higher gear at approx. 2000 to 2500 engine rpm.

6. Avoid slipping the clutch especially in slow moving traffic.

7. Make proper use of handbrake for hill start rather than letting the clutch slip excessively.

8. Always refer to your car owner's manual for driving tips.

9. Have your car inspected at authorized Škoda dealer only.