TURANZA GOES FOR SILENT ELEGANCE

Sopan Sharma

Even though tons of green dough is spent every year on making cars more refined, it all boils down to the four patches of rubber that finally make contact with terra firma to propel you forward. You can count on the world's biggest tyre maker to do the job though, exactly the way Bridgestone showed recently with the launch of the Turanza GR-90 at its Thai facility.

Given that most luxury cars are heavy assemblies of metal with some serious engine power to push them along, handling becomes an even more demanding task for tyres. Bridgestone engineers claim that the GR-90's asymmetrical tread pattern which has straight grooves on the inside and larger blocks of rubber on the outside has been designed specifically to counter this effect, and will result in better driving stability.

India is a significant market for Bridgestone, and the company already has a 30 percent market share when it comes to radials spread across a large range of vehicles. With the Turanza GR-90's entry in the initial part of 2010, the company claims to cash in on the growing luxury car segment in the country. Looks like the 40 percent increase in the tyre production capabilities of its Indore plant will be put to profitable use.

“Copyright © 2009, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved"

Abhishek Nigam

Rolls-Royce sold just over 1,000 cars in 2007, the first four-figure annual tally in the firm's 104-year history. That surely delights parent BMW, which took charge of Rolls in 2003. But the Bavarian bosses see greater things for their celebrated English marque.

On the styling front the design team was seeking to create a modern Rolls-Royce that achieved a new dynamism but remained true to its luxurious heritage. So what they have is a modern execution of timeless Rolls-Royce elegance, breaking with some areas of tradition but retaining the core values that make the marque unique. According to the designer the Ghost will have a more informal presence than Phantom models, with a greater emphasis on driving. In design terms this is expressed by a more organic form, yet with powerful, purposeful proportions. Contemporary touches include self-righting wheel centres and the Xenon headlamps that frame the latest evolution of the Rolls-Royce grille.

Stepping inside the Ghost reveals a contemporary ambience which stays true to the to Rolls-Royce Motor Cars traditions of fine materials and peerless comfort. There are elegant, frosted lamps and chrome door handles, traditional violin key switches and eyeball air vents, frosted white dials and refined instrumentation. Deep-pile carpets can be complemented by optional lambswool floor mats for a truly luxurious feel.

Ghost is entered through substantial doors. Like the Phantom, even the Ghost gets Teflon-coated umbrellas housed with the front doors. Occupants for the rear seat enter through the traditional rear-hinged coach doors, opening to a generous 83 degrees and the same can be closed at the touch of a button.

Interiors feel nice and airy with natural light in plenty which is further enhanced by the optional Panorama Sunroof, which extends from the front into the rear compartment. The airconditioning features a four-zone climate control which can be individually tailored to each passenger's requirements, with separate controls for front and rear. As expected the Ghost also features an audio system that would delight any audiophile. 600 Watts of sound are delivered through a 10-channel amplifier and 16 speakers, including two floor-mounted subwoofers. USB and auxiliary inputs allow for the integration of external audio devices and a 12.5 GB hard drive enables storage of music files from USB or CD player sources.
One thing that Rolls-Royce has been bullish about is how it is projecting the Ghost as a driver's car. Just below the Spirit of Ecstasy lies an all new 6.6 litre twin-turbo V12 engine. Featuring direct injection, it produces 565 PS and a stump pulling 780 Nm of torque. This kind of fire power is enough to propel the Ghost to a 100 km/h in just 4.7 seconds and on to an electronically limited top speed of 250 km/h. All that power is transmitted through an eight-speed, shift-by-wire, automatic ZF gearbox. To take care of the handling the Ghost is built around a steel monocoque body, which means there is no separation of chassis and body. Coupled with doublewishbone front suspension and multi-link rear suspension work with an intelligent, four-cornered, air-suspension system and electronic variable damping the Ghost can shift between riding on a bed of air to a corner carver. The Ghost also has a series of complex electronic aids like Anti-Roll Stabilisation, Dynamic Brake Control and Dynamic Stability Control, including Dynamic Traction Control and Cornering Brake Control. These individual technologies work together under dual Integrated Chassis Management systems giving the Ghost amazing poise and handling.

Rolls-Royce definitely seems to have a winner on its hands and it seems the Ghost is all set to break sales records for the RR marque. So if you are looking to move up to a Rolls, or want a garage mate for your Phantom then the Ghost is a logical selection.

“Copyright © 2009, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved"


REVA SET FOR ICELAND DEBUT

Vikram Gour

The REVA NXR is a fourseat, three-door hatchback family car. Essentially a city car, due to its reliance on having great infrastructure support in terms of charging port outlets, the NXR is a stylish statement that is extremely eco friendly as well. It is capable of touching a top speed of 104 kmph and has a 160 km range on a single charge. If the user opts for the quick charge mode (90 minutes fast charge), the car offers an effective range of 320km in a single day. For emergencies there is the 15 minute charge as well which translates to a 40 km range. Considering NLE's ambitions for Iceland in terms of propagating the sales of EVs, the NXR and subsequent models from REVA just fit right into the picture.

Apart from this major deal with NLE, REVA is also exploring the possibilities of setting up an assembly plant in Iceland to cater to the growing demand from the European markets. It's a great step forward for REVA and considering the momentum that EVs are taking on worldwide, it is also a big opportunity to make a statement on a global front.

“Copyright © 2009, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved"

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CARS, SUVS & MUVS -Top-

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Chanchal Pal Chauhan

Demand for A-Star, i10, i20 were the highest in Europe, which takes over 80 per cent of the cars shipped from India.

Countries like Germany, (the largest market for Indian cars) France, Spain, Italy, Austria.

UK, and Netherlands were offering cash benefits of up to 5,000 euros to buy new energy-efficient cars emitting lower carbon-di-oxide gas of up to 160 gms/km.

Now most of these countries have exhausted their budget and withdrawn benefits and only marginal markets like Netherlands and the UK continue to offer incentives on new cars.

Keeping the export potential in mind, Hyundai Motor India has re-jigged production and aims to export next year only 40 per cent of its made-in-India against 50 per cent that it ships currently.

Against the 2.8 lakh cars targeted to be exported during this fiscal year, Hyundai would ship around 60-70,000 cars less next year. Last month, Hyundai posted its first drop in exports (12 per cent) in three years for lack of demand from overseas markets.

Hyundai Motor India’s newly-appointed MD & CEO Han-Woo Park said, “We would focus on the domestic market to maintain our 21 per cent market share and production will be adjusted accordingly to take advantage of the buoyant demand.’’

Keeping the bleak export prospects in mind, Hyundai has shelved plan to set up a diesel engine facility in Chennai. It exports i10 and i20 in large numbers, most of which are diesel variants even though i10 diesel is not available in the domestic market. Besides it will shift part of i20 production to its plant in Turkey during the second half of the next year for better margins, tax benefits and labour issues in India.

Maruti Suzuki, India’s second largest car exporter, is looking at a sizeable drop in exports from next quarter as Europe, its largest market, has cut down on such incentives.

“There will be some rollover of the incentive from Europe till December. As most of the major markets like Germany, Italy and France have exhausted their cash inventive kitty, the next quarter will be tough for exports,” a senior Maruti executive said. Maruti has exported 80,283 cars in the first seven months of the fiscal .......and aims to export another 50,000 in the rest of the fiscal.

Indian carmakers enjoy higher margins and profits on cars sold abroad. Hyundai and Maruti Suzuki benefitted immensely from the global market’s gradual shift towards small fuel efficient cars emitting lower emissions. Profit margins on cars exported from India are almost double than the 8-9 per cent these companies get in the domestic market.

Mr Arvind Saxena, Senior Vice-President, Marketing and Sales, said the company may look to introduce a smaller diesel engine in the 1.1-litre range after a feasibility study. The engine may be used for models like the i10. “At present, it is working out to be expensive. But as diesel popularity is growing in India, we are evaluating this possibility,” he said.

The Getz would gradually be phased out in favour of the i20, he said, as has happened in most European markets. However, as there is still substantial demand for the Getz, this may take some time.

PTI

The ULC car has been planned as a three-way joint venture with Bajaj being the single largest partner with a 50 per cent stake with the Renault-Nissan combine sharing the balance equally.

From Mr Ghosn’s point of view, the fact that a timetable is now in motion for the eventual rollout is comforting. “The plan is ready now which is important. As everyone knows, five per cent is the plan and 95 per cent is the execution, which is better than having no plan at all,” he quipped.

The ULC car has been touted as the challenger to the Nano, the first mover in the people’s car segment. Tata Motors will have two lakh Nanos on the roads by the first half of 2011. The ULC car comes a year later which will give the Bajaj-Renault-Nissan trio time to study the market.

“I would not say the ULC car will be large but everything we do will be to ensure that we get as much space as possible because this is important for people in this category,” he said.

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This is due to the strong domestic demand created by the investments in infrastructure announced by the Government and the robust performance of the industry boosted by the continuation of the fiscal stimulus.

According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) data, in October the CV segment has posted a 52 per cent year-on-year growth compared with 6.5 per cent growth in September. “As the monthly contraction rates have been moderating for some months now and have come up to a positive growth area, it signals that worst is already behind us in the commercial vehicle business. Strong investment programme in infrastructure mainly National Highway Development and Government’s decision to continue with the stimulus package for some more time, means that the growth momentum is likely to continue,” said Mr Somnath Bhattacharjee, Executive Vice-President, Sales, Marketing and Aftermarket, Volvo-Eicher Commercial Vehicles.

The segment, which was down 0.5 per cent for the first half of the fiscal, has now rebounded with a 5.36 per cent growth for the April-October period.
The growth shown by the segment in the fiscal is thus only because of the strong performance shown in October.
IIP booster

“The strong performance of the sector follows the IIP (Index of Industrial Production) numbers which show a gradual and sequential growth in industrial activity and manufacturing. There is also the low base of last year,” said Ms Jajoo.