The Auto village proposal: India may soon have a permanent mini expo

Auto Village proposes to have about 80 vehicle showrooms and workshops of all automobile brands

You may no longer have to wait for the biennial Auto Expo to explore automobiles of all brands at one location. Haryana is working on the proposal from a private company that wants to set up an Auto Village over more than hundred acres of land.

Auto Village proposes to have about 80 vehicle showrooms and workshops of all automobile brands across industry segments (cars, two wheelers, three wheelers, commercial vehicles and tractors, etc) at one location, an RTO, recycling units, test tracks, new vehicle launch zone, financing institutions, component shops, petrol pumps, hotels and an amusement park. In addition to this facility, another land parcel of over hundred acres will be used to develop a residential project targeting thousands of people who will be employed in the Auto Village.

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Himanshu Narayan, the director of Auto Village, said he has received offers for land parcels from a few private owners but the facility could also come up on a land purchased from the state government. “All I can say is the first facility will come in the national capital region in the state of Haryana and not more than hundred kilometres away from Delhi”, he said.

Auto Village, which is in talks with the state, has sought waiver of VAT and vehicle registration charges from the Haryana government to make prices attractive and pull buyers from city-based showrooms. “This will give a new direction to the automobile industry in the country. Buyers will have the advantage of comparing and test driving different brands at one location, securing finance and then driving out with a registered vehicle. It will be a one day affair”, he said. Read more

Larry Page is secretly investing millions to build flying cars

Larry Page is secretly investing millions to build flying cars

Three years ago, Silicon Valley developed a fleeting infatuation with a start-up called Zee. The company had set up shop right next to Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California, which was curious, because Google tightly controls most of the land in the area. Then a reporter spotted patent filings showingZee.Aero was working on a small, all-electric plane that could take off and land vertically — a Flying car.

In the handful of news articles that ensued, all the start-up would say was that it wasn’t affiliated with Google or any other technology company. Then it stopped answering media inquiries altogether. Employees say they were even given wallet-size cards with instructions on how to deflect questions from reporters. After that, the only information that trickled out came from amateur pilots, who occasionally posted pictures of a strange-looking plane taking off from a nearby airport.

Turns out, Zee doesn’t belong to Google or its holding company, Alphabet. It belongs to Larry Page, Google’s co-founder. Page has personally funded Zee since its launch in 2010 while demanding that his involvement stay hidden from the public, according to 10 people with intimate knowledge of the company. Zee, however, is just one part of Page’s plan to usher in an age of personalised air travel, free from gridlocked streets and the cramped indignities of modern flight. Like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, Page is using his personal fortune to build the future of his childhood dreams. Read more.

Tata Tiago trains guns on the Celerio, i10 at Rs 3.39 lakh

India's biggest vehicle manufacturer Tata Motors today launched the compact hatchback Tiago at Rs 3.39 lakh petrol (ex-showroom, Mumbai), while the diesel is priced at Rs 4.18 lakh.

The Tiago (formerly named Zica) will compete against Hyundai i10, Maruti Celerio, Maruti Wagon R to name a few in the B Segment space.

The Tiago, promoted by ace footballer Lionel Messi, is built on an all-new platform and will fill the product gap between the Nano and the Bolt as the ageing Indica is now increasingly pushed for commercial usage. 

The Tiago will feature two new engines, petrol (1.2 litre) and diesel (1.05 litre). The 1.2 litre, three cylinder petrol is a new ground up naturally aspirated engine generating peak power of 85ps. This is the first new engine from the gasoline family of Tata Motors. The petrol version has a claimed mileage of 23.84 kmpl

The diesel version, meanwhile, carries the smallest engine yet developed by Tata Motors for passenger application, a 1 litre three cylinder, turbo-charged mill that develops peak power 70ps. The diesel version of the Tiago has a claimed mileage of 27.28 kmpl.

Features like bottle holders on all doors, iPad or tablet holding tray inside the glove compartment, hands-free telephony above the drivers’ head, new fabric for upholstery are not seen on other models.

The Harman-developed but Tata Motors-funded entertainment system is the Tiago’s biggest draw. With eight speakers (a first in the segment) the compact hatchback is made to appeal to the music loving youth. The car will have five variants each of both fuels.

The car will have a multi-drive mode — City and Eco — a feature also seen on the Zest sedan though it has one more drive option Sport. The two drive modes are supported by an advanced Engine Management System.

Tata Motors team spent three years in developing the car and was originally slotted for a commercial launch in January, just before the Auto Expo. Though the car was showcased at the Expo it was not commercially launched.

The Tiago is the first car to flaunt the new Impact design philosophy. The car is developed with inputs from Pune, UK and Italy design studios.

Eager to cash in on demand for automatic transmission Tata Motors will be offering AMT technology on the Tiago as well in later months.

The Tiago will be the third all-new product launch by Tata Motors in 20 months, Zest and Bolt being the two products. Last financial year the company launched the updated Nano called GenX Nano with a host of new features, new styling and an added automated manual transmission (AMT) variant.

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Maruti's LCV launch delayed due to activism against diesel vehicles

Maruti Suzuki has missed a date set earlier for entering the light commercial vehicle (LCV) segment, pointing to the activism against diesel use. The country’s largest car maker was to launch a mini truck, which it has been developing since 2013, before March 31.

Kenichi Ayukawa, managing director, said: “Launching the LCV this financial year is quite difficult. So much has happened against diesel.

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How Chennai floods allowed people to own a Mercedes or a Jaguar

How Chennai floods allowed people to own a Mercedes or a Jaguar: Get a Merc or Jag for one-fourth its price, as insurance companies sell off inventory of flood-damaged vehicles to cut losses

Volkswagen unveils compact sedan Ameo; to launch later this year

German auto major Volkswagen today unveiled here its compact sedan ‘Ameo’, which will be launched later this year in the country.

Auto Expo 2016 : Besides Ameo, the company also plans to launch three new models including premier SUV Tiguan and Passat hybrid during the next financial year.

“We will launch Ameo in the second half of this year. It is a car specially designed for the Indian market. It will mark our entry into the growing volume segment in India,” Volkswagen Passenger Cars India Director Michael Mayer told reporters here.

Delhi diesel car market shrinks after court orders

Car buyers in this city, one of the country’s top car markets, are showing less interest in purchase of diesel vehicles after the twin orders by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and the Supreme Court this month.

Dealers say there’s been a 20-25 per cent drop in demand for diesel vehicles with an engine capacity below 2,000cc. Earlier, for two weeks, they'd been unable to sell any diesel vehicle after the NGT order, leaving unsold stock of 8,000 units.

“The action against diesel passenger vehicles is fresh in the mind of buyers. Some also apprehend restrictions on use of diesel vehicles in the future. On an average, the share of diesel-run cars in our daily sales used to be about 20 per cent before these developments. It is now 15-16 per cent,” said an executive with a company owning multiple Maruti Suzuki dealerships in the capital.

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Delhi's transport sector 3 times more polluting than Mumbai's

Delhi’s transport sector produces six times as much greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) as that of Kolkata’s, five times as much as Ahmedabad’s and three times as much as Greater Mumbai and Chennai, according to a study.

Delhi’s transport sector contributes 32% of the city’s GHG emissions—gases responsible for global warming—said the report, GHG Footprint of Major Cities in India, conducted by the Centre for Ecological Sciences of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore.

However, data presented to the Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament) said that Delhi transport sector contributes only 28% to the total greenhouse gas emissions, excluding emissions from compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles.

Despite a 187 km, seven-line metro network carrying 2.4 million commuters every day, private vehicles rose 92% over the last 15 years, even as buses and their ridership declined, according to Delhi’s Economic Survey 2014-15, as we will detail in part two of this series.

Delhi’s transport sector emits 12.39 million tonne of carbon-dioxide (CO2) equivalent, followed by Greater Bangalore (8.61) and Hyderabad (7.81). The transport sector in Hyderabad emits the greatest proportion (56.86%) of GHG emissions compared to other Indian cities.

The transport sector includes motor cycles, scooters and mopeds, cars and jeeps, taxis, buses, light motor vehicles (passengers), light motor vehicles (goods), trucks and lorries, tractors and trailers. Transport emissions of Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai also include emissions from shipping.