Mitsubishi may launch Thai eco-car in India

Mitsubishi Motors, Japan’s fourth largest carmaker, is looking to grab a slice of the 1.2 million per year Indian small car market and is mulling the launch of a compact family hatchback over the next three to four years.

Although the company has been in India for more than a decade, the absence of a compact car has affected its market share. Mitsubishi is present only in the premium sport utility vehicle (SUV) and upper mid-size sedan segment.

According to sources, the company is planning to bring in the new compact car it is developing for the Thai market under the eco car project banner floated by the government there, aimed at attracting investments into the Southeast Asian country.

The Japanese company, which has a technical tie-up with the C K Birla Group-promoted Hindustan Motors, aims to launch the small car in Thailand in the first half of 2012. This car is built on a entirely new platform and sports a 1.3-litre petrol engine.

The company may have to retune this engine and decrease its capacity in India, to take advantage of the excise duty norms laid out by the government. In India, cars lesser than four metres in length and with engine capacity of not more than 1.2 litres in petrol and 1.5 litres in diesel fall under the lowest tax bracket for passenger vehicles.

When asked, company officials declined to comment.

The small car project was indefinitely put on the back burner by the company last year, as scarcity of funds following the economic meltdown forced it to freeze earlier plans, which included the launch of the compact car in 2011-12 in India.

The plans also included infusion of fresh capital to increase the capacity of the Chennai vehicle plant multi-fold to 1,00,000 units from about 12,000 units annually.

It actively pursued plans of having a ‘world car’ from India for which it was looking at many of its existing small car models. Mitsubishi presently sells the Pajero, Outlander, Montero, Lancer and Cedia in the Rs 7.75 lakh to Rs 38 lakh range.

The development of the eco-car is funded by the Board of Investment of Thailand. A total outlay of Baht 8 billion (Rs 1,100 crore) is earmarked for the project. The project also complies with the condition earlier set by the board, which requires a minimum production capacity of 1,00,000 units per annum.

Nissan Motor Company, Japan’s third largest car producer, was the first company to have developed the eco car when it successfully launched the ‘March’ compact car last month. The same car is slated to hit Indian roads in June but will be renamed Micra.

The eco-car project offers car manufacturers significant corporate tax exemptions for at least five years, provided production reaches 1,00,000 units per year within the five years. Besides, car manufacturers are supposed to meet the Euro-IV norms.

New Exotic Detroit 2010: very aggresive styling

One of the eye catching displays over at GM is the Buick Regal GS. The Regal is basically the European Opel/Vauxhall Insignia rebadged as a Buick for the US and Chinese market (Buick is a highly regarded marque in China). This GS showcar features a potent performance package – 255 bhp/400 Nm 2.0-litre Ecotec turbo engine with power going to all wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox and electronic LSD.

Acceleration from nought to 60 mph (96 km/h) is “less than six seconds”. The Vauxhall Insignia VXR, which has a 320 bhp 2.8-litre Ecotec V6 turbo does the same sprint in 5.8 seconds. The Regal GS features a lowered body and aggresive styling that mimics the VXR, except that it wears Buick’s signature “waterfall grille”. The show car wears 20-inch wheels.

That front HiPerStrut suspension helps reduce torque steer and maintain negative camber during cornering, improving grip and feel while isolating undesirable feedback. The GS features Brembo brakes with cross-drilled rotors, four-piston aluminum calipers and uprated pads. Interactive Drive Control System (IDCS) chassis technology allows the selection of three modes – normal, sport and GS – that change suspension settings, throttle response and steering sensitivity.

Inside, the Regal GS features a full black interior, sport shifter, a suede-covered, flat-bottom steering wheel and Recaro seats with four-way lumbar support and cushion extensions.

Luxury 2010 new ABT Golf VI GTD

The ABT Golf VI GTD is based on the new Volkswagen Golf TDI which have improved both power and torque to give it 140kW (190hp) and maximum torque of 390Nm. The ABT Golf VI GTD diesel engine could reach 100 km/h in a 7.1 second with a top speed of 230 km/h.

Renault to invest in car engine facility in India

French auto maker Renault, still battling financial blues, is planning to set up an engine and transmission facility in India with Nissan, its partner. This new plant is expected to come up adjacent to the vehicle manufacturing complex of Renault-Nissan at Oragadam, near Chennai.

A powertrain plant will allow Renault to locally supply the engines and transmissions for the troubled Logan sedan to erstwhile partners Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) when the latter launches a new version of the car. This would drive down the cost of the Logan substantially and make it more competitive, as the engine and transmission unit accounts for 35-40 per cent of the total cost of the car.

M&M is presently forced to procure a variety of engines and transmission for the Logan directly from Renault’s manufacturing base in Romania and Spain, after paying hefty import charges. M&M imports the 1.4-litre and 1.6-litre diesel engines and the 1.5-litre petrol engine for the Logan. M&M on Thursday had announced a reduction of as much as Rs 80,000 on the Logan, although no engineering changes were to be made to the car. M&M last week bought Renault’s stake in the loss-making joint venture company, Mahindra Renault Private Ltd, taking full management control.

Rajesh Jejurikar, chief of operations, automotive division, M&M, said, “Renault has independent plans for making engines locally. We will source the engines for the Logan from them at later stages.”

When asked, a Renault spokesperson confirmed the move, stating, “Having an engine and transmission plant in India is a part of Renault’s long-term strategy. This plan was put on hold when the financial environment had deteriorated but now it has been revised. However, there is no final decision taken on the time line for the new facility.”

Although financial details of the engine plant has not been made public by either Renault or Nissan, typically an engine and transmission plant entail a minimum investment of anywhere between Rs 900-1200 crore, depending on the size of the plant.

This new plant will cater to Renault, Nissan and M&M when it comes onstream in the next few years. Although Nissan and Renault would largely make use of similar engines, both companies will have the liberty to tweak the engine power according to their requirements.

Both companies will also look to share vehicle platforms and technology to save on costs. The south India plant of the joint venture company has seen an investment of around Rs 4,500 crore and will have a total capacity of 400,000 units per year.

M&M, market leader in the utility vehicle segment, is planning to make multiple use of the platform on which the Logan sedan is based to make it more commercially viable. Though the Mumbai-based company lacks expertise in making cars (which includes design, engineering and total development of the vehicle from scratch), company executives say it is in talks with Renault for this.