Volkswagen's Beetle to hit Indian roads in Dec

Europe's largest carmaker Volkswagen will roll out the Beetle – fondly called the people's car after its maker – on Indian roads by beginning of next month.

A senior company official said on the sidelines of the India Economic Summit that Volkswagen – which mean People's car – would import the car from its Mexican plant for sale in Indian markets.

He, however, declined to divulge the possible price of the car.

Beetle is one of the most successful models that the German carmaker has ever produced.

The car bucked all trends and has made history, although critics had predicted a complete failure due to its peculiar styling, underpowered motor, rough ride and noisy engine.

Volkswagen, which currently sells luxury sedans Passat and Jetta in Indian market, is planning to launch its small car Polo by early next year.

The group has two facilities in India at Aurangabad and Chakan, which assembles cars of its three brands – Skoda, Audi and Volkswagen.

VW is looking at full-capacity production at this plant by 2012 and in order to strengthen its workforce, it is planning to more than double the India headcount with addition of 1,500 employees at Chakan alone in Maharashtra.

The group had earlier announced a target of 8-10 per cent share of the Indian passenger car market in the next 6 years.

It will also consider integrating after-sales service of its three brands in India for better synergy.

It sold about 19,000 units of Skoda, Audi and Volkswagen brands last year in the over 1.5 million-unit Indian passenger vehicle market.

Nissan Murano Might Be Launched In India Before Mid-2010

Nissan India is likely to launch the new Murano in India before mid 2010.

Nissan Murano is a premium sports utility vehicle (SUV) that will be catered as a CBU unit from Japan.

Nissan Murano might get launched in three variants the S (Base), SL (Mid) & LE (Top-End) that will sport a powerful 3.5-Litre petrol V6 engine and all-wheel drive (AWD) handy.

Nissan Murano will directly step into a war against Toyota Prado, BMW X3, Mitsubishi Montero and Mercedes Benz M-Class models between the price ranges from Rs 35 lakhs to Rs 40 lakhs.

The Nissan Murano might get the following features:

    * Aluminum interior accents
    * Leather seats
    * Rain sensing wipers
    * Memory seats
    * Mood lighting
    * 11-speaker Bose unit
    * 9.3GB hard disk storage device

Nissan has various plans for India that will include the Micra small car hatchback that might launch before Q1 2010 and followed by a sedan in 2011 and a compact Multi-Purpose vehicle (MPV).

Nissan Micra is been produced at the Renault-Nissan plant in Chennai and it is also manufactured in five different countries including India, China and Thailand.

The name ‘Murano’ comes from a region of Venice, Italy which is known for the hand blown glass produced there.

Nissan Targeting Nano Customers

While we were writing about the Nissan small car that the company was planning to launch in India, Thailand, and China, little did we know that Nissan was in fact targeting the Nano. Nissan wants to break the vivid market, which the Tata Nano has managed to build.

We would not be surprised, this could be the dream of any car maker, such is the acceptance of Nano not only in India but throughout the world. Nano has been stealing the limelight for long now and Nissan wants to substitute itself with the little wonder, Nano. The new small car from Nissan will be launched in March 2010. But it is expected that, for the car to come to India, it will take another two months since its launch in March.

The new small car from Nissan is named V, where V stands for Versatility. And Nissan is expected to sell one million Vs by 2013.

There are other car makers whom we thought would launch cars so that they can compete with the customers' favorite Nano. But breaking our expectations, Fiat recently denied any plans of the company to launch ultra-cheap cars. Now we will all set out hopes on Nissan.

Thinking deep about what in Nano lures the customers, anyone would say, the price. And so Nissan also focuses on the pricing, which the company believes will win over the customers.

Mercedes-Benz Announces C-Class Executive Special Edition

Mercedes-Benz is a company which puts out stylish, luxurious and stunning vehicles. Earlier we reported that the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG gullwing had been revealed. Now the company has announced the Mercedes-Benz C-Class Executive SE, a special edition car which gives the customer added value with an exterior styling pack and interior upgrades.


Mercedes-Benz C-Class Executive SE

The Executive SE is powered by the manual C180 Kompressor BlueEfficiency engine, and is based on the SE model line. It is offered in the Saloon and Estate body style. The Mercedes-Benz C-Class Executive SE will come with a Sport Grille with the integrated Mercedes-Benz star, a feature usually exclusive to the Sport model. It will also have 16 inch ‘Pristix’ alloy wheels, and chrome trim finishes on the boot lid and exhaust.

The interiors of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class have the COMAND fitted as standard. The multimedia system comes with hard disc drive navigation, a 6 GB music register, a PCMCIA slot and Linguatronic voice control, and all can be fully controlled via the Executive SE’s multi-function steering wheel.

The 156 hp engine gives 44.8 miles per gallon on the combined cycle and carbon dioxide emissions of just 154 g/km put the Executive SE in the 18 percent tax bracket. The Mercedes-Benz C-Class Executive SE comes with Hill Start Assist which eliminates the need to use the parking brake.

The Mercedes-Benz C-Class Executive SE comes with a host of safety features and a three year unlimited mileage warranty. The Executive SE will be available from November 2009 for 23,190 GBP (approx. Rs. 17,88,790). The Estate model will cost 24,390 GBP (approx. Rs. 18,81,355).