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Nissan Teana Sedan Prices To Drop By 2011 February – Specifications & Price
Kia Motors Cars May Launch In India – Possible Cars To Debut
What Is Localization In Automobile Manufacturing?
Renault Fluence Seen Testing In India – Launch Expected Soon

Nissan Teana Sedan Prices To Drop By 2011 February – Specifications & Price

Posted: 14 Dec 2010 05:07 AM PST

Nissan India is sincerely revising its line-up and trying to compete with the existing market leaders to whatever extent they can. Reason being the fact that in India to survive one has to offer the best product at the best possible price and so far Nissan has failed to do that.

The very first and important step taken by the company is that it is going to cut down the cost of one of its sedan, Nissan Teana whose two variants are priced as follows:-

Nissan Teana XL – Rs.24.45 lakhs (Ex-showroom Delhi)
Nissan Teana XV – Rs. 29.45 lakhs (Ex-showroom Delhi)

Vehicles which are the toughest competitors for this car are as follows:-

Toyota Camry
- Rs. 24.60 lakhs (Manual)
- Rs. 26.44 lakhs (Automatic)
Honda Accord
- Rs. 21.16 lakhs (Manual)
- Rs. 22.01 lakhs (Automatic)
- Rs. 39.78 lakhs (3.5 V6 engine)

One the localization plans for this car come under implementation then the car's price is expected to drastically fall down and lie between Rs.18 Lakhs to Rs.22 Lakhs.

The car is currently imported as CBU unit and the company is working on to convert it into SKD. Kiminobu Tokuyama, CEO and MD Nissan India, said, "Nissan has looked at all options to increase volume and is studying semi knocked-down (SKD) option for Teana,"

By middle of next year the SKD operation will commence at Orgadan plant of Nissan-Renault in Chennai.

Nissan Teana Specifications In India

Engine

The Nissan Teana's 2349cc, V6 engine can provide a maximum power of 170 bhp @ 6000 rpm and a maximum torque of 224 Nm @ 4400 rpm.

Suspension

Independent strut, ball joint type/Multi link type

Brakes

Front – Ventilated
Rear – Disc

Transmission

4speed automatic

Dimensions & Weight

Length – 1485 mm
Width – 1765 mm
Height – 1485 mm
Ground clearance – 146 mm
Kerb Weight – 1509 kg

Turning Radius

5.30 metres

Tank Capacity

70 Litres

Mileage

11 km/L (Highways)
8 km/L (City)

Top speed

198 km/h

Click Here For: December 2010 Discounts On Cars

Kia Motors Cars May Launch In India – Possible Cars To Debut

Posted: 14 Dec 2010 04:30 AM PST

With the commencement of the year 2011 a number of global majors are planning to enter India of which the most awaited brands are Ferrari , Proton, Mazda, Ssangyong and a few others and newest to the list of such anticipated manufacturers is Kia which is a part of Hyundai Group.

Michael Choo, Kia Motors spokesperson had stated "Kia Motors is only in the initial feasibility study stage and is contemplating whether to launch its cars in India" In fact some of the sources have informed that the company is sincerely working on its entry into our market.

For settling into India one has to look for a place and Kia is doing exactly the same as it is said to be figuring out pieces of lands near Hyundai's Irungattukottai factory, located on Chennai's outskirts. Apart from Chennai, Gujarat is also under consideration.

In June this year one of the South Korean daily had reported on Kia's plans for the Indian market wishing to establish a plant worth a capacity of 300,000 units excepted to become operational by 2012. The company is conducting numerous studies to find feasibilities of its establishment in our market, as stated by one of the company official.

Kia Motors Line-Up In India

Small Car Engine Capacity (Litres) Estimated Price(Lakhs)

Kia Picanto 1.1 CRDI diesel/1.0 MPFI petrol Rs. 4

Kia Soul 1.6 CRDI diesel/1.6, 2.0 petrol Rs.8.48

Kia Rio 1.4 petrol/ 1.5 diesel Rs.5.95

Kia Venga 1.4 petrol/1.6 petrol/1.6 CRDI Rs. 7.87

Mid Size Car

Kia cee'd 1.4 petrol/1.6 petrol/1.6 CRDI Rs. 8.09

Kia Proceed (3 do0r) 1.4 petrol/1.6 petrol/1.6 CRDI Rs. 7.87

Sedan

Kia Rio 1.6 petrol Rs. 6.5

Kia Forte 2.0 petrol, 2.4 petrol Rs. 15.2

Kia Optima 2.0 petrol, 2.4 petrol Rs. 20.58

SUV

Kia Sorento 2.4 petrol/2.0 CRDI/2.2 CRDI Rs. 20.11

Kia Sportage 2.0 petrol/2.0 Diesel Rs. 14.9

MPV

Kia Sedona 2.2 CRDI Rs. 15

Station Wagon

Kia Carens 1.6 petrol/1.6 Diesel Rs. 10

Kia cee'd SW 1.6 petrol/1.6 CRDI Rs. 10.7

What Is Localization In Automobile Manufacturing?

Posted: 14 Dec 2010 04:21 AM PST

Localization is a term which is mentioned in a lot of Automobile news articles. This term is related to the manufacturing or assembling of automobiles. Especially in context of Indian automobile manufacturing, a lot of car companies in India get some of the automobile components from outside India. For example, CNG kits in factory fitted CNG vehicles, transmission components and gears, ECU units etc. There are many components which are imported from the other countries. The main reason for importing these components is lack of availability of some of these components in India locally, or sometimes car makers prefer to use the imported components because of high quality standards of certain components.

What Is Localization?

For a car maker, Localization means locally producing or manufacturing the components at its own plant or in ancillary units. Localization is very beneficial for an automobile maker as it cuts down the cost of the component and the car or automobile as a whole. Also the waiting period between the order and receipt of the component is also reduced. This is also useful in socio-economic sense as higher localization means more production in the region which means more business and employment opportunities for the people of the region where automobile factories and ancillaries are located.

The only concern with localization, especially for the components which are made for the first time is the quality and technological challenges. For example, if a global car maker is setting up its plant in India and it uses certain quality of components which are not available in India, making such components in India through the ancillary may not match the quality of the component manufactured at the base plant in the other country because of infrastructure or technological challenges. This is the reason because of which, some amount of components are usually imported to keep the quality of the automobile high and large amount of the components are localized to keep the overall cost of automobile low and competitive.

Hope my explanation was simple and basic enough and did not confuse you.

Renault Fluence Seen Testing In India – Launch Expected Soon

Posted: 13 Dec 2010 10:30 PM PST

Renault in association with Mahindra & Mahindra has made remarkable progress as far as Indian Automobile market is concerned with Mahindra Renault Logan which has picked up sales during the last 2 months and is still picking at an appreciable pace.

Do you think that this French brand can grow in India with just one product in its line-up? Well certainly not and the most evident thing about the future plans of the same is the fact that Renault Fluence has been spied a couple of times on the Indian roads.

The Fluence is a sedan targeted at some of the most competitive cars including H onda Civic, Chevrolet Cruze, Toyota Corolla etc. which fall in price bracket of Rs.11 to Rs. 14 Lakh.

As per the company's official announcement the car's launch is due for April 2011 therefore spotting the same every now and then is not strange at all. Renault has been for its beautifully carved cars and this one does belong to the same list as the looks and dynamics of the car are very striking.

Renault will bring the car as a CKD unit and will probably become the first ever car to be produced by the company in India. More interestingly the car is speculated to sport the same engine which is coming with Logan but with major tweaking to pump out some more horsepower.

Click Here For: December 2010 Discounts On Cars

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