The Truth About Cars » India

What’s Wrong With This Picture: Mahindra MIA Edition

Edward Niedermeyer — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:14:01 +0000

Autoblog ran this picture purporting to show the locations of future dealers of Mahindra and Mahindra pickup trucks. This piqued our interest because we’ve been curious to see how the Indian firm’s plans to bring diesel-only compact pickups and SUVs to the US market would play out for some time. Over a year ago Mahindra [...]

India’s Nano Wars

Edward Niedermeyer — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:33:08 +0000

With Tata unable to produce enough Nanos to keep up with demand, more automakers are gunning for its entry-level segment. Renault-Nissan is teaming up with its Indian-market partner Bajaj to produce a car that’s even cheaper to produce than the Nano. “I can tell you the cost of this car would be lower than any [...]

Want To Start Your Own Little Car Factory?

Bertel Schmitt — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:53:34 +0000

I’m thinking about opening a car factory. A really small one. Tata would sell me their Nano in kit form. I’d have it assembled (using cheap Chinese labor, of course) and sell it as the Bertel car. Entirely possible. Tata may allow small car assemblers to put together its Nano and sell it under their [...]

GM and SAIC Discussing India Cooperation

Edward Niedermeyer — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:54:14 +0000

Some of the speculation surrounding GM Daewoo’s woes centers around the possibility of GM’s Chinese partners buying The General’s Korean division. Whether those rumors hold up remains to be seen, but there’s no doubt that GM’s largest Chinese partner, SAIC, is looking into taking a larger ownership in GM’s Asian operations. Automotive News [sub] reports [...]

Mumbai to Delhi in a TATA Nano (Money Shot at 4:30)

Robert Farago — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 02:03:23 +0000

GM/Ford Falling Getting Their Butt Kicked in India

Robert Farago — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:33:07 +0000

Brook from team-bhp.com sent us this heads-up re: the “other” burgeoning automobile market: India. “Here’s a list of the Top 20 selling cars in India. Ford doesn’t have one car in the top twenty. Chevy has one, thanks to a rebadged Daewoo called the Spark. Suzuki (Maruti) and Hyundai are the clear leaders. Tata could [...]

VW and Suzuki?

Bertel Schmitt — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:43:56 +0000

While Porsche has problems consummating the Volkswagen takeover, Volkswagen covets a smaller, but possibly juicy target: Suzuki. The German Manager Magazine has it on good authority that VW wants to get cozy with the Japanese maker of small cars. Buying, say, 10 percent of Suzuki would not be out of the question. Ulrich Hackenberg, head [...]

New Jag Roadster to Arrive with Snarl, Whine

Edward Niedermeyer — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:12:11 +0000

Motor Trend has “learned” that a version of the oft-rumored Jag “XE” roadster might have more than just a supercharger whine. They say the 2011 (likely XF-based) “new age E-Type” (lots of luck) will include an extended-range electric version. But don’t worry heritage fans . . . there will still be a proper engine. With [...]

Nano Inbound

Edward Niedermeyer — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:59:33 +0000

Automotive News [sub] reports that Tata plans on bringing a version of its Nano subcompact to the US market “in about two years.” About? “Maybe two years and six months,” equivocated Tata chairman Ratan Tata at the Cornell Global Forum on Sustainable Enterprise. But the Indian firm faces at least one major challenge: where to [...]

Nobody Wants the World’s Cheapest Car

Edward Niedermeyer — Tue, 26 May 2009 19:11:03 +0000

Who’d have thunk it? The New York Times reports that despite being designed to become the world’s cheapest car, the Tata Nano isn’t attracting as many budget buyers as you might expect. Only 20 percent of Nano orders (India market only) are currently for the base model, a $2,600 vehicle. Half of all orders are [...]

Hyundai Abandons India For Europe

Bertel Schmitt — Fri, 08 May 2009 17:40:57 +0000

In the WTF dept., “Hyundai Motor India is planning to shift production of one of its premium models to Europe after a strike over unionization at its south India plant that led to the mass arrest of 750 protesters,” reports Financial Times. The move reflects growing skepticism of international automakers about the political climate in what [...]

Tata Nano PR Campaign Takes More Prisoners

Robert Farago — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:11:50 +0000

There’s only one thing worse than realizing you’re a cynical bastard: realizing you’re a cynical bastard and the world really IS that corrupt. Oh well. The truth hurts, both giving and receiving. In this case, I had high hopes for the Tata Nano. As the son of a Romanian immigrant for whom car ownership was [...]

Tata Launches Nano. In Theory.

Robert Farago — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:47:04 +0000

Autocar reports that Indian automaker Tata will spend part of its day launching their NSFA (Not Safe for America) Nano in Mumbai. In case you’d forgotten—what with all the delays—the Nano is slated to be the world’s cheapest car. “The tinny four-door will sell for 100,000 rupees or $1979 (£1366) when the company takes bookings [...]

Tata Motors. Profile of an Indian Car Company in Trouble

John Horner — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 20:44:44 +0000

India’s Tata has gone from darling to dumpling in just a year. The high profile Nano People’s Car project still hasn’t gone into production, and the $2.3b purchase of Jaguar and Land Rover now seems spectacularly ill-timed. Business Week recently covered the story with these great opening notes: “What a difference a year makes.” India is [...]

UK Wants To Bail Out Jaguar. Financial Times Hates It. With A Vengeance

Bertel Schmitt — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 12:04:28 +0000

The Financial Times (sub) is pissed. Pissed at Peter Mandelson, Britain’s business secretary, and his planned bail-out of Jaguar Land Rover. Forgetting the old school of not mixing reporting with opinion, the FT pulls out the flame thrower and blasts away: “It is hard to imagine a less deserving candidate. The luxury carmaker fails the [...]

Mahindra: “We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Jeep Nameplate”

Edward Niedermeyer — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 19:29:21 +0000

..although some US dealers might be nice! Indian firm Mahindra and Mahindra showed this tasty little neo-Willys at the recent Bologna auto show. The the 12-foot long, 1.5 ton off-roader concept sports a 2.5 liter diesel four, making 108 hp and 250 Nm. And since it is just a concept, that’s about all the info [...]

Bailout Watch 252: The Last Refuge Of The Scoundrel

Edward Niedermeyer — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:00:56 +0000

Since the first mutterings of an auto industry bailout, the idea has wrapped itself in unabashedly patriotic rhetoric. Now that the battle for the billions has been joined, this nationalist veneer is reaching near-self-parody levels of earnestness. All the while we’ve been arguing that saving American jobs and saving the Detroit Three in their current [...]

Chinese High-Rollers High On Rollers

Bertel Schmitt — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 14:01:08 +0000

Chinese mothers don’t admonish their one-and-only child to “eat up, there are children starving back in America.” But we’re getting there. Case in point: This weekend, another Rolls-Royce showroom opened in Shenzen, Gasgoo reports. It’s the seventh Rolls Royce retail location in China. Another one, located in China’s industrial center Ningbo, [...]

FIAT to Make Nano of its Own

Cammy Corrigan — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:35:44 +0000

FIAT and Tata have been cosying up to each other for some time. Ratan Tata was elected to the board of Directors at FIAT at Sergio Marchionne’s request, FIAT are looking to supply engines for Land Rover and Jaguar (A Jaguar XK with a Ferrari sourced engine? Fancy that!) and their joint ventures in India. But it [...]

Are Tata Cars Electric?

Cammy Corrigan — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 20:20:23 +0000

While, GM, Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi are getting their electric cars ready within the next few years and new contender has emerged and is aiming to beat them all to the punch. Tata motors, in conjunction with a Norwegian firm, plans to launch an electric car themselves. Reuters reports that the car will be based on the Tata Indica and be launched in Norway within one year. S. Ravishankar, senior general manager at Tata Motors' engineering research centre, says that the car can run for 175 km (110 miles) to 200 km when fully charged with a "two-pack" battery, but mileage could vary according to the battery used. There's little doubt that, if successful, Tata will use the Jaguar/Land Rover global dealer network to sell these cars and wouldn't that be an image? "Could I interest sir in a Jaguar XJ? A Supercharged Range Rover sport? A Tata Nano? or an Electric Tata Indica?"

GM COO: “We do not have a huge amount of optimism for the rest of the year as the pressure on consumer continues”

Cammy Corrigan — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 15:03:26 +0000

Commentators criticize GM’s executives for being “out of touch” and “detached from reality.” Nonsense. Reuters reports that GM’s COO (and CEO in waiting) spoke the truth before jobbing journos at the opening of a $200m production plant in Talegon, India. Yes, after revising its ‘08 sales estimates gently downwards– twice– and talking about an “economic [...]

Mahindra’s US Launch Delayed For More Testing

Edward Niedermeyer — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 20:19:37 +0000

Automotive News (sub) reports that Indian tractor firm Mahindra and Mahindra has delayed the US launch of its Appalachian pickup, built in Chennai, India. M&M's American distributor Global Vehicles was ready to start chasing its goal of 50k annual sales of the diesel four-banger light truck, when its CEO got [...]

Tata Reviving Daimler Brand For Upmarket Ambitions

Edward Niedermeyer — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:29:33 +0000

We reported earlier that new Jag and Landie owners Tata Motors want to take its once-proud luxury brands back upmarket. According to Auto Motor und Sport, boss Ratan Tata has suggested to investors that Jaguar could revive the Daimler brand to take on Bentley and Rolls. Daimler as in Mercedes? Nein. A [...]

The (Fiat?) Nano Report

Edward Niedermeyer — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 16:43:24 +0000

Tata's Nano will officially become the world's cheapest car when it hits the Indian market this October. Sure, Tata blew its 1 Lakh ($2,500) price target, thanks to rising steel costs, but demand is still expected to exceed supply. Or so says Tata Chairman Ratan Tata [via Automotive News, sub]. Judging [...]

Trouble For Tata: Materials Cost Pricing Nano Above $2,500

Jonny Lieberman — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:24:21 +0000

Anyone remember the 1932 film If I Had A Million? Didn't think so. Long story short, a dying rich man picks eight people at random from the phone book and gives each of them $1,000,000. The best sequence (of course) belongs to W.C. Fields. Fed-up with "road hogs" and "Sunday drivers," he buys a phalanx of jalopies and begins to run the offending cars off the road. Then, when both the hog and Fields's jalopy have been totaled in a ditch, he climbs into the next junker (he's paying a a bunch of kids to follow behind him in "fresh "cars) and looks for a new target. I mention this classic scene because the Tata Nano's $2,500 price has given me ideas. I mean, for not that much money I could remove a lot of first gen Dodge Caravans from the road [Ed: Jonny's convinced that all traffic everywhere would improve if still existing K-Car Dodge Caravans were outlawed]. However, like most of my fantasies, this one ain't going to happen. Looks like the rising cost of steel is turning into the rising price of Tata Nanos. For their part, Tata ain't saying nuthin' 'bout nuthin'. But Automotive News [sub] is reporting that the Indian automaker is trying to cut deals with its suppliers to keep raw material costs down. Luckily for Tata, they happen to own Tata Steel Ltd., the largest steel producer in India. However, as John Adams said, facts are stubborn things-- steel prices are up. As for my twisted plans, I should be able to get all the Hummer H2s I need for less than $2,500 real soon.