As part of its marketing plan for the Nano, Tata Motors is offering the mini-car to potential customers for a free 15-day trial. A Tata Motors spokesperson told reporters that customers who come for a test drive are also being invited to keep the car for 15 days to get better acquainted with it. The [...]

Bajaj Auto and Renault-Nissan will be producing their much-talked-about low-cost car under an OEM arrangement and not a joint venture as was earlier believed. Following Bajaj Auto’s recent clarification that the companies did not intend to form a new corporate entity, a Renault-Nissan official confirmed that the partnership was always meant to be based on [...]

Japanese auto company, Nissan Motor, is planning to expand its range of hybrid vehicles. While the company will introduce its much-awaited electric car, the Leaf, later this year, it will also launch a gas-electric version of the Fuga in Japan by December 2010, and in the US by 2011. The hybrid Fuga will be marketed [...]

Most car companies in India posted a double-digit growth in their domestic sales in June 2010, with General Motors and Ford India growing by as much as 112 percent and 267 percent respectively. The two American companies owe their success largely to the popularity of their small cars Chevrolet Beat and Ford Figo. Tata Motors, [...]

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) has contested the lawsuit filed against it by its American distributor, Global Vehicles (GV). The Indian company has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, which it says is without merit. M&M was getting ready to launch its commercial vehicles in the US this year, when GV filed the lawsuit, accusing [...]

According to the JD Power Asia-Pacific 2010 India Vehicle Dependability Study, vehicles sold in the country are performing much better than they did in the past, presumably because of increasing competition from global players. The study says that the number of problems reported per 100 vehicles (PP100) has gone down by 21 units in 2010. [...]

Tata Motors has decided to start assembling selected Land Rover models in India, by the end of 2010. According to media reports, the Freelander 2, which is currently being imported, will soon be available in the country as a completely knocked-down unit (CKD), and will be assembled at Tata Motors’ Pimpri plant. The move will [...]

A number of auto companies in India have decided to hike vehicle prices, with raw material costs unlikely to be contained any time soon. While General Motors India has announced that its cars will be costlier by up to 2 percent from July 5, 2010, commercial vehicle manufacturer, Ashok Leyland, too, has hiked prices by [...]

Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) announced this week that it would reopen bookings for its SUV, Toyota Fortuner, from July 1, 2010. Bookings for the vehicle have been closed since January 31, 2010, because of a prolonged backlog in deliveries. TKM’s Deputy Managing Director (Marketing), Mr Sandeep Singh, said that bookings would be open for a [...]

General Motors India has started working on the development of its new compact car to be positioned under the Chevrolet Spark. The company will use the low-cost manufacturing expertise of its Chinese partner, Shanghai Auto, to develop the car. GM India President and MD, Mr Karl Slym, said that the company would not import components [...]