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Showing posts with label CarBlog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CarBlog. Show all posts

June 25, 2012

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Survey : Honda tops Ford as America's favorite auto brand


Market research firm Harris Interactive has revealed that Mercedes-Benz and Honda are the two strongest auto brands in America according to its survey of more than 38,000 people.

The survey, known as the 2012 Harris EquiTrend study, puts a number to all of those warm and fuzzy feelings people have toward a particular brand as a way to measure its equity. Broken down a different way, the survey points out that American's favorite automotive brands are German and Japanese.

Mercedes took top honors in the Luxury Automotive Brand of the Year for the second year in a row. It was followed by BMWLexusCadillac and Acura.



In the Full Line Automotive Brand of the Year category, Honda grabbed the top spot, beating out Toyota,Ford (last year's winner), Chevrolet and Nissan. (Apparently Harris' definition of "full line" differs a bit from ours, as brands like Subaru and Hyundai were also included).

Harris doesn't provide much guidance about what sort of questions it asked to survey takers, but the final results seems to closely resemble America's sales totals as well. This suggests people tend to like what they buy, or at least like what they've bought. Scroll down to read the press release to see what Harris says are America's favorite in-car audio brands, motorcycle marques, tire companies and so on.


June 03, 2012

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LeMons Colorado Day 1: RX-7 Leads, Hyundai Accent Tops In Class C

Even with a long delay for an apocalyptic afternoon hail-and-lightning storm, the racing went on and on and on at High Plains Raceway today. The Ghetto Motorsports Mazda RX-7, winner of the 2010 and 2011 Colorado 24 Hours of LeMons races, took a two-lap lead early in the session and held onto it for the entire day. This team is quick (though by no means the quickest car at this race) and they just don’t seem to make mistakes. While most of the other teams screwed up at least a couple of times and had to visit the Penalty Box, Ghetto Motorsports just kept going around the track. While other teams took 20 minutes to refuel and change drivers, Ghetto Motorsports did the job in several minutes. And so on.

Normally, a performance like that would open up an impossible-to-close gap between the leader and the P2 car, but such has not been the case this time; the Jetti Knights Volkswagen Jetta just won’t disappear from the RX-7′s rear-view mirror. This car is actually a second or two per lap quicker than the Mazda, but a few minutes must have been squandered by the Jetti Knights at some point during the day. If a Ghetto Motorsports driver loses focus just for a moment, this team is poised to grab the lead and never let go. Of course, both the Jetta and the RX-7 are quite fragile as LeMons cars go, so either or both could blow up and hand the lead to any one of the BMW E28s and Ford Escorts baying at their heels.

That’s enough talk of the fast cars; true LeMons insiders know that the Class C race is the one to follow, because Class C cars tend to get the important trophies. Leading Class C at the end of Saturday’s session is this refrigerator-white Hyundai Accent with a tricycle bolted to the roof. You’re looking at a dead-stock, worn-out Korean commuter car with a roll cage, and it’s just as slow as you’d think it would be. In fact, it’s one of the slowest cars on the track… but staying on the track counts for a lot more than going around the track quickly when you’re in an endurance race, and this Accent has built up a pretty solid 8-lap lead in its class.

The thing about Class C, however, is that no lead is safe; these cars tend to break down early and often, and the Hyundai is due. If that happens, the —ing With Bad Ideas “Scrubbing Bubble” Beetle, which took a decisive Class C victory at last week’s North Dallas Hooptie race, will move right into the top spot in the most important LeMons class. In fact, the Beetle is so much faster than the Accent that it might take the lead in any case.

Don’t rule out the Speed Holes AMC Marlin, because holding on to a Class C lead is like trying to bail out a leaky canoe in sewage-treatment plant’s holding pond: dirty, exhausting, and difficult. This car, with its big Chevy truck engine, shows occasional flashes of serious passing ability and might just eat up all the laps between it and the Hyundai before the checkered flag waves Sunday evening.A single lap behind the Marlin sits another AMC machine: the Blue Flag Special Pacer. This car manages to be even slower than the Accent (which is quite an accomplishment) but it just doesn’t break. Perhaps this race will go to the tortoise instead of… the slightly speedier tortoise?Meanwhile, rods are being thrown, brakes are being cooked, head gaskets are popping, and drivers are crashing into each other. Some teams will be pulling all-night repair marathons, while others eat good barbecue dinners and catch a full night’s sleep. Check in Sunday night to see who wins what!

Source : Car and Driver


May 03, 2012

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Exploring India in a Tata Nano


Mumbai: Mr. Thomas Chacko, a Kochi-based, 62-year old, motoring enthusiast, today set on a 25,000, 80-day driving expedition in the Tata Nano 2012. Mr. Chacko has mapped this expedition and will not only drive across all state capitals and union territories, but also to India’s farthest reach like Kanyakumari in the south, Dwarka in the west, Kargil in the north, Khardung La, the highest motorable road in the world, further most motorable point in the east, to Kibithoo, and Nagpur, the geographical centre of India. This drive will be a testimony of endurance of the man and the machine.  Embarking on this journey, Mr. Thomas Chacko says, “I have chosen the Tata Nano for this journey because it is a car that has put India on the world motoring map. Despite being the lightest car, and having the smallest engine currently in production worldwide, the Nano can take on every kind of road, especially with its clearance of 180 mm. I have driven a Tata Nano for almost 900 kms across cities and towns and also to Munnar, which is 5,000 feet above sea level.I am now convinced that the Tata Nano will go wherever I take it on my trip.” In November 2011, Tata Motors introduced the Tata Nano with a bouquet of features -- of new colours, new interiors, a more powerful gasoline engine and even greater fuel efficiency of 25.4 kmpl, further improving on its record as India’s most fuel efficient petrol car.  Making the Tata Nano even more desirable, the car’s 624cc engine has been made more powerful delivering an impressive 38PS of power (earlier 35 PS) and 51Nm of torque (earlier 48 Nm). Yet fuel efficiency, already a high point with Tata Nano owners, has been taken to a new high of 25.4 kmpl (earlier 23.6 kmpl) as certified by the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI). The high fuel efficiency, with a low kerb weight of 600 kg, ensures that the Tata Nano at 92.7 gm / km has the lowest CO2 emission among cars in India. With a top speed of 105 km and ability to negotiate inclines with a gradeability of 30%, and a class-leading turning radius of just 4 metres, the Tata Nano is a perfect combination of power and performance. The ride and handling, also already highly appreciated by existing owners, now has become even better with a revised suspension set-up, including an anti-roll bar at the front, and a steering mechanism made even easier.

 While the cabin is quiet, a racier sounding exhaust note now gives the Tata Nano a more assertive road presence.Booster-assisted brakes, already available in the Nano CX and the LX, have now been added to the Nano Standard as well. The Nano CX and LX now have tip-tap mirrors on both the driver and passenger sides. For the Nano Standard, which already has a driver side mirror, the passenger side one can be installed as an accessory.  The interiors are completely new with enhanced premiumness in look and feel – luxurious beige in the Nano LX, rich black in the Nano CX and stunning medium graphite in the Standard version. The exteriors are a veritable vibgyor of 10 colours, eight of them new -- Pearl White, Rouge Red, Aqua Blue, Neon Rush, Serene White, Meteor Silver, Mojito Green, Papaya Orange, Sunshine Yellow, and Champagne Gold. Also, the new half or full wheel caps accentuate the distinctiveness. All the variants come with an unmatched warranty of 4 years or 60,000 kms, whichever is earlier. The Tata Nano has proved its robustness and reliability in many rally’s and expeditions undertaken by Tata Motors and by customers alone. The company will continue to encourage such expeditions as it will enable customers to further understand and experience the brand. Through this drive, Mr. Thomas Chacko plans to cover over 25,000 kms, in 80 days, traversing through diverse terrains and hopes to finish this expedition around July 20, 2012. 

 About Mr. Thomas Chacko: 



A 62-year-old, Kochi-based, motoring enthusiast, Mr. Thomas Chacko, is a FCS, from the Institute of Company Secretaries of India. His professional career includes a long stint in company secretarial roles.  A motoring buff, Mr. Chacko has participated in several motorsport events. He is also a Formula One car racing aficionado, and has watched races in Sepang in Malaysia, Singapore, and Monaco. He likes traveling and has visited over 26 countries. He has also driven cars in Canada, Malaysia, Oman, Singapore, Sri Lanka, the UAE, the UK & the USA. Mr. Chacko has written many published articles on motor sports. He has authored a novel – ‘Without a City Wall’, a historical set in 16th century, Europe and South India. He has co-authored and published a 200-page coffee-table book, ‘Forest Gold - The story of South Indian Tea’. Mr. Chacko owns a publishing company, Panthera Imprint.


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Volkswagen sets to rule the auto world with MQB, MLB and MSB Platform


Volkswagen Group wants to become the unquestionable king of the auto market by the year 2018, to make this dream come true, the company has set out the guidelines, Volkswagen is a huge group and encompasses the high profile brands like Skoda, Seat, Audi, Lamborghini, Porsche, Bentley and Buggati.  The group has three key platforms that will spawn the future products, also these platforms will allow the brands under Volkswagen group to share the artillery and facilities to cut down the cost and escalate profits, and this help to complete the bigger picture of Volkswagen becoming the biggest automaker .MQB Platform:- The name has come up recently with almost all the vehicles of Volkswagen, an Volkswagen is also going to use it in future with both the front wheel drive and all wheel drive options; the exceptions being Phaeton luxury saloon and Tourareg SUV. The engine will be placed diagonally in the cars built on MQB platform. Volkswagen is going to milk the platform to the utmost; and Audi is also going to build the A3 and the next gen TT sports coupe on the same. The Audi A3 will be launched in India, in a sedan version in the year 2013. Audi has already rolled out TT in India and the new version of it also expected to drive in as soon as it is globally released.

MLB Platform: - The cars built under this platform will be both front wheel drive and all wheel drive modes with the engine going to be placed longitudinally. The entire Audi A family from A4 to A8 will be spawned from the MLB architecture, also the recent even additions of the Q family Q2, Q4 , Q6 and Q8 will all be built on this platform only. Volkswagen Passat and Phaeton and the dream crossovers built by Lamborghini, Porsche and Audi will all have one thing same and i.e. the MLB platform.  MSB Platform: - The MSB platform based cars will have the engine in the front, or middle or at the rear; this makes the platform one of the most versatile platform which will be used for the top end variant like supercars from Audi, Lamborghini and Porsche. Although, Bugatti is going to use a separate line of high performance cars.


June 24, 2011

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New BMW 7 series likely to hit Indian Roads in early 2012

The current BMW 7 Series or F01 that is running on the Indian streets was launched in 2009 and since then there has been no upgradation of the model. During this time, Jaguar and Audi  have kicked  their elegant and highly luxurious sedans in the Indian market that have surely fascinated large masses.


June 21, 2011

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Renualt Duster expected to launch in India soon

As seen from the past results, Indian car market is growing at a very high rate. So in order to keep a pace with the growth in the automobile sector Renault has acquired manufacturing facilities with the Renault-Nissan plant in Chennai.


June 06, 2011

June 04, 2011

June 02, 2011

May 30, 2011

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Tata Nano enters Sri Lanka Auto Market

Tata Motors launched Tata Nano petrol in Sri Lankan auto market on Sunday. This international export of Tata Nano will be termed as Nano’s first structural export post its launch in March 2009.


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