Ford launches its first compact sedan Figo Aspire at Rs 4.9 lakhs

Ford India launched its first compact sedan Figo Aspire in India today at a starting price of Rs. 4.89 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).

With several segment-first features such as 6 airbags, 6-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox, leather seats, etc, the Ford Figo Aspire takes on the likes of Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire, Hyundai Xcent, Honda Amaze, Tata Zest and others in the sub-4 metre sedan segment. The Ford Figo Aspire has become the first car in its league to offer driver and front-passenger airbags standard across all variants.

It will replace the company's ageing Fiesta Classic sedan in the Indian market, which had seen sluggish sales due to a proliferation of compact sedans like Maruti Swift Dzire, Honda Amaze and Hyundai Xcent in the last three years. Sub-four-metre sedans due to their shorter length get excise duty benefits and are priced significantly less than full sized bigger sedans.

The new sub-compact sedan is offered with three engine options - a 1.5-litre Ti-VCT petrol (110bhp), a 1.2-litre Ti-VCT petrol (87bhp) and a 1.5-litre TDCi diesel (99bhp). While the 1.2-litre petrol and 1.5-litre diesel-engined variants will get a 5-speed manual gearbox, the 1.5-litre petrol model will come equipped with a 6-speed dual clutch automatic gearbox.

"There are many high end features that we are offering with the Figo aspire like six airbags and leather seats that are not on offer in this category," said Nigel Harris, president and managing director, Ford India. "It will also be exported out of here world over and Sanand will be a world class export hub. This is not a compromised car."

Figo Aspire is powered by a 1.2 litre petrol engine that belts out 88 PS power and 112 NM of torque and has a rated fuel economy of 18.2 kpl. The 1.5 litre diesel engine gives 100 PS power and 215 NM of torque with a fuel economy of 25.83 kpl. For a first, Ford is offering dual airbags as a standard feature in the Figo Aspire. The top end variant of the car is also equipped with six airbags - a first in this segment. 

The company will follow up the sedan with a hatchback version in the next few months that will replace the existing Figo small car. Compact cars is the largest segment in the Indian market accounting for 45% of overall sales or almost 1.1 million cars per annum. The segment is expected to grow to around 1.8 million cars per annum by 2018. Globally small cars are expected to account for 60% of overall sales in the near future.

In India, around 350,000 units of compact sedans are sold every year with Maruti Dzire the dominant leader with around 200,000 unit sales annually.

FIAT launches Avventura in India

Fiat Group Automobiles India, the fully owned subsidiary of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, today launched compact sports utility vehicle Avventura at a price starting from Rs 5.99 lakh.

The new Avventura is a compact crossover model from Fiat India. It is based on the Punto platform and shares majority of its underpinnings and interior with the former. It is the Italian automaker’s entry into the now trending hatchback-based compact crossover segment which has been getting a lot of attention from Indian buyers lately. Other players in this segment at the moment include the Volkswagen Cross Polo and the Toyota Etios Cross.

Fiat is planning to go on the offensive in 2014 for India to turn around its fortunes and the first in the scheme of things will be the Fiat Punto Avventura, which as the name suggests is a ‘tougher’ variant of the Grande Punto.

Fiat Avventura price list (ex-showroom Delhi) is as below:

Fiat Avventura Petrol Price In India

Fiat Avventura Active Petrol is priced at Rs. 5.99 Lakhs

Fiat Avventura Dynamic Petrol is priced at Rs. 7.05 Lakhs

Fiat Avventura Diesel Price In India

Fiat Avventura Active Diesel is priced at Rs. 6.89 Lakhs

Fiat Avventura Dynamic Diesel  is priced at Rs. 7.65 Lakhs

Fiat Avventura Emotion Diesel is priced at Rs. 8.17 Lakhs

Honda launches Mobilio in India at a price tag of Rs. 6.49 lakh

Japanese car maker Honda has launched its much awaited seven seater MPV, the Mobilio. The vehicle is available at a price of Rs. 6.49 lakh (Ex-showroom Delhi for petrol base variant) and Rs. 7.89 lakh (Ex-showroom Delhi for the diesel base variant).

The company has made Honda Mobilio available in three exciting trims i.e. the E, the S and the V.

Honda Cars India president and CEO Hironori Kanayama said, “The launch of Honda Mobilio follows the success of Honda Amaze and the new City, which led to our exceptional growth of 83 per cent in the previous financial year.”

Developed at the company’s R&D centres in Bangkok exclusively for the Asian markets, particularly Indonesia and India. During the fiscal 2013-14, Honda Cars India reported 83 per cent increase in sales at 1,34,339 units as against 73,483 units during the previous year. Honda India aims to sell 300,000 units annually by March 2017. 

Mobilio, is competing with Maruti Suzuki Ertiga, Toyota Innova, Chevrolet Enjoy and Nissan Evalia in the MPV Segment.

Mobilio will be offered in both petrol and diesel versions, the 1.5 litre 16Vi.DTEC 4 cylinder petrol engine generates the max power of 119 bhp at 6600 rpm, produces the torque of 145Nm at 4800 rpm. The price of petrol variant starts from INR 6.49 lakhs for the base model Mobilio E, and will go upto 8.76 lakhs for the top end variant which is called Honda Mobilio V.  

The diesel model will be powered by the 1.5 litre 16 Vi. DTEC diesel engine, with max power of 100 bhp at 3600 rpm and a peak torque of 200 Nm at 1750 rpm. 

The 1.5 litre i-DTEC diesel engine of the Mobilio, based on Honda’s latest Earth Dreams Technology, delivers a power of 100 ps@3600 rpm, maximum torque of 200 Nm@1750 rpm and fuel economy of 24.2 kmpl as per test data. The 1.5 litre i-VTEC petrol engine delivers a maximum power of 119 ps@6600 rpm, maximum torque of 145 Nm@4600 rpm and fuel economy of 17.3 kmpl. The price of diesel variant starts from INR 7.89 lakhs for the base model Mobilio E, and will go upto 10.86 lakhs for the top end variant which is called Honda Mobilio RS. 

A fuel efficient Automated Manual Transmission called EZ drive in Celerio from Maruti.

Maruti will debut an Automated Manual Transmission in its latest small car, rumored to be called Celerio, in India next month. It will be the first time for such gearboxes to be used in cars in India and being a pioneer in the car industry with this new gearbox, Maruti expects it to change the face of urban motoring calling it a ‘revolution’.

 

 

The gearbox has been christened ‘EZ Drive’ pronounced as Easy drive. The AMT uses manual shift patterns at the gear lever but without the physical input for the clutch. By automating the clutching mechanism but leaving the gear shifting mechanism to the driver, the gearbox becomes cheaper to manufacture and as a result should find more takers. By relieving the driver from engaging and disengaging the clutch, the stress of driving through stop-start traffic is also reduced considerably.

 

 

Reports in the media reveal that the gearbox will be imported at first but it will soon be localized. YL7 is expected to have the tried and-tested 1.0 litre K-Series engine (also used on the A-Star, WagonR and Alto K10) that delivers a claimed fuel-efficiency of around 20.2 kmpl. "The new technology will allow Maruti to make the drive much more comfortable without any drop in mileage and maintain its tag as the most fuel efficient small carmaker," an analyst tracking the auto industry said. In the technical tests conducted by the company, the AMT for mass-production vehicles delivers a 5 per cent higher fuel economy than automatic transmission for the same models along with some emission gains.  

The company has already ceased production of two hatchbacks - A Star and Estilo - and the new car will be showcased at next month's Auto Expo.