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Nissan’s first ever subcompact SUV has landed on Indian shores. The Magnite subcompact SUV has made its global debut in India and it enters a segment which has seen positive growth even in these trying times. The last few months have seen 2 new cars being added to an already long list in the segment and the Nissan Magnite which has just been unveiled globally will be the third new model to be added to that list and yes India will be the first market to get the car. The Magnite is likely to be priced between ₹ 6.5 to ₹ 8.5 lakh (ex-showroom) for this top of the line turbo CVT variant but we’ll get to know once the car launches after Diwali. What works for the Magnite is that its got the stance that is befitting of an SUV. Many things contribute to that which includes square shaped wheel arches with cladding on them and silver skid plates both on the front and the rear. The car also gets roof rails which according to Nissan can carry weights upto 50 kgs. It gets 16 inch alloys as standar

Daimler’s Chief Executive said China will remain Mercedes-Benz’s biggest growth market in the next decade and the German carmaker will adjust production locations to capture shifts in demand as global trade tensions continue to rise. The remarks by Ola Kaellenius come against a backdrop of increasingly strained relations between the United States, China and Europe after almost a decade of growth that has helped Mercedes to emerge as the world’s biggest-selling luxury car brand. “The situation has become much rougher, with a tendency toward rougher talks, right up to and including trade conflicts,” Kaellenius told the Frankfurt-based ICFW Journalists association late on Monday. “We need to look at our production footprint and where it makes sense, shift our production,” he said during the video call meeting. “Last year we sold around 700,000 passenger cars in China. The next biggest market is the U.S. with between 320,000 and 330,000 cars.”

The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Sunday announced special offers for government employees, with benefits up to ₹ 11,000 over and above the ongoing festival consumer offers across its models. The company is seeking to further boost demand with its offer after the recent leave travel concession (LTC) cash voucher scheme announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. “Employees and their spouses of public sector enterprises, central and state government departments, including police and paramilitary personnel can avail these special offers on purchase of new vehicles from Maruti Suzuki. The discounts will vary from one model to another,” the company said. Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) Executive Director (Marketing and Sales) Shashank Srivastava said, “The government has taken several bold steps to revive consumer spending during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is our collaborative duty to support the economy and spread positive sentiments.” Mr Srivastava added, “With o

Euisun Chung has been appointed as the new honorary chairman of the Hyundai Motor Group. His appointment was unanimously endorsed by board members of Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors and Hyundai Mobis. Chung served as the executive vice chairman for the Hyundai Motor Group for the past two years. Chung has been a part of the Hyundai Group for over 20 years now and served as the president of Kia Motors Corporation between 2005 and 2009. From 2009 to 2018, he served as the vice chairman of the Hyundai Motor Company as well. In his inauguration remarks, Euisun Chung presented the future direction of the Group as one focused on ‘customers,’ ‘humanity,’ ‘future,’ and ‘social contribution. “All of our goals and efforts must be customer-centric. The first step to customer happiness is to enable them to focus on their own lives through perfect quality of our products and services,” said the newly inaugurated Chairman Chung.

The Indian auto industry registered nearly 34 per cent decline in passenger vehicle sales in the first half (H1) of the financial year 2020-21, according to the data shared by automotive insights and analytics provider, JATO Dynamics India. The industry, as a whole, sold over 8,78,000 passenger vehicles between April and September 2020, a decline of 33.6 per cent, as against the same period last year. Based on vehicle body types, in H1 FY2021, hatchbacks were at the top, accounting to 39.9 per cent of total sales, followed by SUVs at 33.3 per cent, MPVs at 12 per cent, sedans at 11.2 per cent and micro cars at 6.5 per cent. In H1 FY2021, Maruti Suzuki India sold 4,23,677 vehicles in India, witnessing a Y-o-Y decline of 36 per cent, followed by Hyundai at 1,62,412 units, which saw a drop of 34 per cent, as against the same period in FY2020. Tata Motors, on the other hand, saw a growth of 10 per cent in PV sales, between April and September 2020 at 69,366 units, whereas rival Mahindra so

Audi India is all set for the festive season and has introduced the new Q8 Celebration Edition in the country priced at ₹ 98.98 lakh. The new special edition model undercuts the standard version in pricing by a hefty ₹ 34 lakh, but does miss out on a few features in the process. In comparison, the standard Audi Q8 retails at ₹ 1.33 crore (all prices, ex-showroom India). The new entry-level variant will help the automaker attract more buyers, and even snatch customers from rivals like the BMW X6, Mercedes-AMG GLE 53 4MATIC+ Coupe and the Porsche Cayenne Coupe.

London’s public transport authority stripped ride-hailing company Ola of its London operating licence, saying that the taxi app was not “fit and proper” to hold one, having put passenger safety at risk. Bengaluru-based Ola entered the London taxi market in February this year. The market is dominated by rivals including Uber, Freenow and Bolt, and traditional black cab drivers who previously blocked streets in protest at what they see as a threat to their livelihoods. Transport for London (TfL) said in a statement that it refused to grant Ola, a Softbank-backed operator, a new London private hire vehicle (PHV) operator’s licence as it “cannot find it fit and proper to hold one after discovering a number of failures that could have risked public safety.” TfL’s decision came days after Uber won a legal bid to restore its London operating licence, which was taken away over safety concerns, after a judge ruled that the company was a fit and proper operator despite “historical failings”. TfL

Tesla founder and CEO, Elon Musk has revealed that his company will be launching in India in 2021. In typical fashion, Musk revealed this on Twitter when a twitter handle called the Tesla Club India asked him a question around the entry of the electric car maker in India.  “Next year for sure,” replied the eccentric billionaire. He responded this when he was asked, “Hey Elon, just thought we’d put this out here. We wait and hang on to hope wrt “hopefully soon” for India Tesla entry. Would love to hear of any progress in this regard,” by the Tesla Club India, twitter handle on a thread by famous tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee.

Hyundai Motor Company has introduced the next-generation electrified RM20e sports car to the world at the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition 2020. The RM nomenclature refers to the N prototype model’s “Racing Midship” rear-drive, midship powertrain configuration. This RM platform facilitates an engineering “rolling lab” for testing high performance technologies, with outstanding connection to the tarmac at all speeds and driving conditions. In 2012, Hyundai embarked on project RM to develop and connect new high-performance motorsports technologies with future N models. Since the initiation of project RM, there has been a progressive evolution of the RM series, including: RM14, RM15, RM16 and RM19. In 2019, Hyundai’s first electric race car was developed for the eTCR electric touring car series: ‘Veloster N eTCR’, unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show. RM models have progressively undergone extensive testing to validate advanced technologies, observe their effective increase in

The Toyota Urban Cruiser subcompact SUV is all set to go on sale in India today, and we’ll be bringing you all the live updates from the launch event here. It will be the smallest SUV from the Japanese carmaker in India, and also its first sub-4 metre SUV in the market. Of course, it’s essentially a rebadged Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza with some minor cosmetic updates and new brand badging. We have already told you a fair bit about the SUV and our expectations with regards to its pricing. Keep watching this space for the rest of the updates from the launch event. The new Toyota Urban Cruiser will come in three variants – Mid, High, and Premium, and all three trims will come with the option for an automatic transmission. Under the hood, of course, is the same BS6 compliant, 1.5-litre K-Series petrol engine that is tuned to make 103 bhp and 138 Nm of peak torque. The motor comes mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox and an optional 4-speed automatic torque converter. In terms of features, th

Back in 2015, Tesla’s founder Elon Musk teased that his company will launch its electric cars in India. It has been five years since and we are yet to see the light of day. Now it seems like the world’s most valuable automotive company is finally warming up to India. The Economic Times is reporting that the electric car maker has been in discussions with the industries department in Karnataka to set up a research and development centre in Bengaluru which will leverage the tech ecosystem in the city.  “The first proposal is for an R&D centre and we have already had at least two rounds of discussions,” said one official from the department, requesting not to be named, said the ET report.  Bengaluru is home to some big tech majors. Apple famously has an App accelerator based in Bengaluru which serves developers who develop for its platforms. Microsoft has its R&D centre in the city alongside Google which also has a huge presence in the city. Amazon is headquartered in Bengaluru fo

Toyota Motor Corp. won't expand further in India due to the country's high tax regime, a blow for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who's trying to lure global companies to offset the deep economic malaise brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. The government keeps taxes on cars and motorbikes so high that companies find it hard to build scale, said Shekar Viswanathan, vice chairman of Toyota's local unit, Toyota Kirloskar Motor. The high levies also put owning a car out of reach of many consumers, meaning factories are idled and jobs aren't created, he said. “The message we are getting, after we have come here and invested money, is that we don't want you,” Viswanathan said in an interview. In the absence of any reforms, “we won't exit India, but we won't scale up.” Toyota, one of the world's biggest carmakers, began operating in India in 1997. Its local unit is owned 89% by the Japanese company and has a small market share — just 2.6% in August versu

The Kia Sonet has created much buzz ahead of its market arrival. It is undoubtedly one of 2020's hottest launches. And yes it is driving in to what is a crowded segment with 5 strong players. But Kia has the 'power to surprise', doesn't it? And in keeping with my Seltos review last year I have driven the new Kia Sonet in very rainy weather! So let us get into the drive right away. And I will begin with the one I have been dying to drive – the diesel automatic. Keep in mind that there are two iterations of the 1.5-litre CRDi (common rail diesel) engine viz. the WGT and VGT. The WGT is on the manual, it gives you 99 bhp of maximum power, and the VGT (the one I have been testing) gives you 113 bhp. So it's a little bit more powerful, and also gives you 10 Nm of extra peak torque. This is the same engine that goes into the diesel Seltos. The torque is immediately evident – a character it shares with the turbo petrol, but I will get to that one in a bit. The diesel engin

Audi will launch the entry-level Q2 SUV in India during the second half of October or early November. The luxury automobile manufacturer will open the bookings for the new Audi Q2 towards the end of September. The SUV will be imported to India from Germany as a fully built unit (FBU). “While we were moving from BS4 to BS6, we had only a few models available. The volume model is joining the bandwagon with the Q2 now and there are others to follow as well. We have finally been able to get this product for India, which was launched worldwide quite sometime back,” a PTI report quoted Audi India Head Balbir Singh Dhillon as saying. According to the PTI report, the new Audi Q2 will be powered by a 2.0-litre petrol engine. The SUV will be equipped with the automaker's Quattro all-wheel drive system as well. “Festive season brings cheers to the automotive industry that's why we are bringing this car. We are announcing bookings towards the end of September and deliveries will start some

OSRAM’s promotional campaign being run during prime time between 6pm to 12am features its high-performance automotive lamps in back-to-back L bands. The tagline of the appealing OSRAM campaign is Global No.1 in automotive lighting, Best of Best when it comes to Car light. OSRAM, a leading global brand in the lighting industry, is all set to introduce its latest automotive product range including game-changing automotive lamps in the Indian market. With the aim to grab the attention of discerning consumers for these exclusive car lights, OSRAM has launched an enticing promotional campaign on India’s No.1 news channel Aaj Tak HD. 15080224 H4 LEDriving HL PREMIUM 12V OSRAM Composing In a few years, LEDs will be the predominant light source in car headlights. Their compactness and energy efficiency in particular are major advantages over conventional technologies. LEDs also make it easy to achieve the brightness values required by today’s customers. The campaign also assumes significance i

Hyundai has reversed itself on a recall to fix a defect that could cause engine fires and is now telling owners of more than 200,000 vehicles to park them outdoors until repairs are made. The company, along with affiliated South Korean automaker Kia, on Thursday said they were recalling over 600,000 vehicles in the US and Canada to fix a brake fluid leak that could cause the fires. Hyundai initially said it was OK for its vehicles to be parked indoors. The recalls cover 203,000 Hyundai Santa Fe SUVs from 2013 to 2015. Also included are over 440,000 Kia Optima midsize sedans from 2013 through 2015 and Kia Sorento SUVs from 2014 and 2015. Hyundai spokesman Michael Stewart said the company's North America safety team met on Friday and decided that the Santa Fes should not be parked in garages. After further review, it was determined that out of an abundance of caution, customers should park the vehicles outside until the recall is completed, Stewart said. The recalls cover 203,000 Hyu

The monthly subscription for the car includes Brand new car on subscription at an all-inclusive monthly fee Road tax, registration charges and zero dep insurance coverage included Complete maintenance included 24*7 Roadside assistance and customer support included In a move to offer easy and flexible car ownership to customers, Maruti Suzuki today announced the launch of its subscription programme – Maruti Suzuki Subscribe for individuals. Maruti Suzuki has tied up with Myles Automotive Technologies to launch Maruti Suzuki Subscribe as a pilot project in select Indian cities – Hyderabad and Pune. Subscribe programme offers solutions for everyone who is seeking to experience the benefits of owning a car without purchasing it. Customers can choose to subscribe a new Swift, Dzire, Vitara Brezza and Ertiga from Maruti Suzuki ARENA and a new Baleno, Ciaz and XL6 from NEXA for a period of 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 42 and 48 months. Customers will pay an all-inclusive monthly subscription charge st

› ‘SuperCare’ entails preventive maintenance as well as wear and tear repair work for 4 years / 60,000 km , › Starting at INR 29,999, new ŠKODA customers can opt for Standard, Enhanced, or Comprehensive options › Existing owners may also avail the programme for 2 years / 30,000 km at a starting price of INR 15,777/- › In addition, ŠKODA AUTO introduced ‘Extended Warranty Programme’ for up to 6 years / 1,50,000 km › It can be availed anytime by customers whose ŠKODA AUTO vehicle was purchased after 1 Sept 2016 New Delhi, August 2020 : ŠKODA AUTO India has revamped and re-christened its 'Service Maintenance Package' as the 'ŠKODA SuperCare'. By opting 'SuperCare', with attractive cost benefits, the ŠKODA AUTO customers warrant preventive maintenance as well as wear and tear repair work for a timeframe of up to four years. In doing so, the 'ŠKODA SuperCare' safeguards against spare part price and labour charge inflation, guarantees authentic fitme

Many of us pick up car loans without understanding the long term burden that we may be taking on. If you are struggling with the current car loan due to its heavy rate of interest, it is advisable to refinance your car loan with a loan against your car. A fresh loan to pay off your existing car loan is refinancing, which also provides extra money for other needs. CarDekho offers four key tips on getting the best top-up loan on your car: Original car loan amount The original loan amount is the biggest factor that determines car refinancing. One can get a loan up to ₹25 lakh against the car but it is dependent on the model of the car. A higher original loan amount leads to a higher top-up loan amount. For example, if the original loan amount is ₹6 lakh, then the loan against car amount could be anywhere between ₹7-9 lakh, depending on the loan tenure and number of EMIs already paid. Original Loan Tenure Tenure of the original loan is important to determine the loan amount against your c

With a sole objective to offer safe and hygienic products during COVID-19 Pandemic, Mobis India Limited, a well- known player in manufacturing high-quality automotive parts and accessories for Hyundai Motors in India unveiled a wide array of care, health and hygiene accessories under the name “Kavach” for its customers to act as a protection, prevention and care during the times of COVID-19 Pandemic outbreak. A vast range of products under “Kavach” includes: KN95 Face Mask which is a 4 layered high quality fabric and has a filtration efficiency over 95% Humidifier is a multipurpose product to prevent allergies, dry skin and maintain the optimum air moisture in the car Anti-Bacterial Spray is an aromatic and alcohol based neutralizer that takes minute care of car critical touch points. Vacuum cleaner, which is made of high quality filter and heavy duty motor, helps to keep the car clean and germ-free. Activated Carbon that is made up of 100% organic Bamboo Charcoal to absorb bad odor. F