In a huge setback for Toyota, the Delhi High Court dismissed Toyota’s petition seeking exclusive rights to the ‘Prius’ name in India. Dismissing the plea seeking an order to restrain Prius Auto Industries from using the similar trademark, Justice Ms Indermeet Kaur held that Toyota failed to produce evidence against the Delhi-based firm.
Tata has revealed its plans for the European market. Initially, Tata will launch 4 models – Indica Vista, Vista EV, Safari and the Xenon Pickup in the UK followed by other countries. Tata’s ‘made for Europe’ Aria will debut in 2011 while the much awaited Nano Europa will enter Europe and USA in 2012. Tata is currently in talks with two probable distributors for the UK market. Tata’s UK plans will be revealed within two weeks.
Production of the Vista EV would start in Coventry later this year and Tata is hoping to build 1500 units in 2010. Tata is later planning to switch Vista EV production to a new facility on the site of Jaguar’s Browns Lane plant and build 5000 Vista EVs per year. Tata is aiming for Vista EV ownership to be comparable over three years to that of a petrol or diesel-powered car. This would be achieved by offering the car for sale and then leasing the batteries.
Click the links below for our complete coverage of Tata and picture galleries from geneva
» Read more: Tata’s European plans revealed at the Geneva Motor Show 2010
Tata’s Aria made its European debut at the Geneva Motor Show. Tata’s flagship was first unveiled at the Auto Expo 2010 with its main destination being Europe. It will go on sale in Europe in the second half of 2010. Tata has spent a lot of time developing the Aria and is the most sophisticated model made by them to date. Tata specially designed the Aria to meet European norms and is aiming for a 4-star Euro NCAP safety rating.
» Read more: Tata Aria’s European debut at the Geneva Motor Show
Tata has been a regular visitor at the Geneva Motor Show, right from the time they displayed their Indica hatchback more than a decade ago. Last year, they amazed the world with their Tata Nano and this time its another variant of the Nano called Nano EV. Yup, Tata was working on the Nano EV and here it is. Looks like Tata wants a new tag – maker of the world’s cheapest Electric vehicle. The EV will first hit markets in Scandinavia and the UK while India might have to wait for few more years to get the same. Lack of proper infrastructure and no help from the government in the form of reduced taxes for electric vehicles seem to be the reason for the delay. The EV might also cost upto two times the cost of a standard Nano, which is still a great price for an EV.
Among all the discussions at Geneva, Nissan has revealed that it is studying the feasibility of a new car that would fit the gap between the upcoming Ultra Low Cost car along with Bajaj and the new Nissan Micra supermini. With the takeover of Suzuki by VW, it is highly probable that Maruti would stop supplying the rebadged A-Star’s to Nissan as the Pixo as a part of their deal. This could be a probable reason for Nissan which is looking at manufacturing their own mode rather than rebadging.
» Read more: Nissan’s new Rs 2.5 lakh (US $5000) car in partnership with Ashok Leyland
India’s largest car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki reported a 33.3% rise in sales in January 2010 compared to the same period last year. Maruti’s January 2010 sales stood at 95,649. Maruti Suzuki’s exports stood at 14,562. For the period April-January, sales saw a healthy growth at 31.8% to 8,26,592 units over the same period last year.
In Jan 2010, Maruti’s once best-seller, the 800 manages to sell just 2494 units which was a 55% fall over the same period last year. Clearly, Maruti’s other models and especially the Alto have taken over from this long time warrior that will be soon put to rest in the metros. Maruti’s rest of the hatchback lineup consisting of Alto, Wagon-R, Zen, Swift, Ritz and A-Star grew 24.8 per cent at 58,540 units over January 2009.
Teana and X-trail deserve to sell in large numbers
Japan’s third largest carmaker Nissan, is in the process of re-devising its import strategy. Though their luxury car Teana and SUV X-trail are widely praised by the media, their high cost has resulted in below-par sales. Price is the main factor working against Nissan right now. With the launch of their small car in India just 5 months away, Nissan would prefer a wider reach for their luxury cars to speak about the brand.
» Read more: Nissan To Start Assembling Teana and X-trail In India
Not to be pushed to the background after Michelin’s ambitious $866Mn plan, Bridgestone India has announced that it is expanding its manufacturing capacity and dealer network in India to achieve its target market share of 33%.
Mahindra & Mahindra, have been given the green light by the TN government to set up a state of the art production facility that will produce SUV’s, Commercial vehicles and tractors. The next generation (monocoque) SUV from Mahindra is expected to be produced here apart from commercial vehicles.
The most famous automotive program in the world, Top Gear is back this Sunday on BBC 2. Into its 14th season now, the excitement has never reduced. From the trailer, we have some exciting action with three drop top supercars driven on the Romanian road Transfagarasan. Also catch their own home made car and lots more! Let me not ruin the suspense! Hit the jump and watch the video!
