BMW Top Cars: February 2010

fiat 500 pics

fiat 500

chrysler fiat deal pics

chrysler fiat deal

Maintaining a car or bike to be costly - Union Budget 2010

The Union Budget announced by the Finance Minister, is all set to have a direct impact on the automotive sector of the country. Buying and maintaining a car or bike is going to be costly with a hike of 2% in the Excise Duty which has already led to an immediate and corresponding increase in the prices of automobiles and component. Running cost of bikes and cars too will get dearer with the suggested increase in Excise Duty on petrol and Diesel.

The Excise Duty on small cars now stands at 10% while on big cars, Mutli Utility Vehicles (MUV's) and SUV's the duty has bumped to 22%. The duty on Electric Vehicle makers stands at 4%. Adding to that, the Excise Duty will also cut their share from the prices of vehicle components like tyres,batteries, etc. A pair of heavy duty truck tyre would now cost Rs. 500 more, while that for a sedan will be higher by Rs. 250 a tyre. Batteries will be dearer by 2%. The tyre makers of the country have already resorted to this hike.

The government�s decision, taken as part of a partial rollback of the stimulus package in the Union Budget, saw companies announcing corresponding increases in prices almost immediately. These included big volume players like Maruti, Hyundai, Tata Motors, Mahindra, General Motors and Honda.

�Prices have to go up with the increase in excise and our cars will become dearer by 2% across the board,� Maruti chairman RC Bhargava said. The entire model range of Maruti will now come at revised rate with a hike between Rs. 3,000 and Rs. 13,000.

Hyundai said that the hike on its cars will range between Rs, 6,500 and Rs. 2,5000. The price of the Santro is expected to be up by Rs. 6,500, the i10 by Rs. 6,700 and the i20 by Rs. 9,500. �The increase will be on all the models,� Hyundai India�s marketing and sales director Arvind Saxena said.

Paul de Voijs, Managing Director, Volvo Auto India Pvt. Ltd stated, "As per the Union Budget 2010 presented by the hon' ble Finance Minister, the 2% increase in the excise duty on cars will lead to a hike on the car prices. Unfortunately this will be passed on to the end consumer as it is inevitable."

Tata Motors have spared the Nano for now from the revision, but the a hike between Rs. 4,600 and Rs. 18,700 will be levied on all other models coming out of Tata Motors factory.

2010 Porsche Cayenne

The newest generation of the Porsche Cayenne is all set to make its world debut at the Geneva Motor Show soon in March. The new-generation Cayenne S Hybrid comes with a technically advanced and sophisticated parallel full hybrid drive. The car also boasts of a fuel efficiency figure of just 8.2 liters/100 kilometers which is equivalent to 34.4 mpg. The car is yet more efficient with CO2 emissions of just 193 g/km which makes the car perform like an eight-cylinder with the fuel economy of a six-cylinder machine. The car also features the new Tiptronic S eight-speed automatic transmission with Auto Start Stop and a widespread of gear ratios, thermal management on the engine and transmission cooling circuit, on-board network recuperation and variable engine cut-off.

The Cayenne S Hybrid along with the entire list of models in the new generations is specialized in efficiency and performance in their respective segments. A whopping 23 percent fall has been observed in fuel consumption which has made the car cleaner and greener. The ultra-light weight construction along with the blend of the perfect materials has helped bring down the weight of the car to 180 kgs along with a better standard of safety and quality. The weight factor has not only improved efficiency but also improved performance, agility and handling.

The new car offers a better on-road and off-road driving pleasure. The new design and shape of the car displays the typical �Porsche Look� within the car with a sports-like character. The new car is more compact and dynamic than its predecessors. The Cayenne S Hybrid comes with a 3.0-litre supercharged V6 engine that runs on petrol and has the capacity to churn out 333 horses. Along with this is an electric motor which produces an additional 47 bhp of power which adds up to the overall power and torque of 380 bhp and 580 Nm respectively. Apart from the hybrid, there will also be various other options powered by both petrol as well as diesel engines. The heart of the Cayenne Turbo is a 4.8-litre V8 that churns out 500 horses.

The car will be available in the European market from the 8th of May costing an equivalent of Rs 29.40 lakh while the Cayenne Turbo is priced at about Rs 58 lakh. However, do not expect the prices to be same in India due to the infamous import duties.

2010 Citroen DS3 Racing Car Limited Edition

Citroen plans to unveil a limited edition of the Citroen DS3 next month at the Geneva Motor Show. The Citroen DS3 Racing is a suped up version of the company's luxe supermini. While only 1000 units will be built, Citroen Australia General Manager, Miles Williams said that local availability for the special DS3 Racing will be announced when the regular DS3 launches in August.