Honda’s landmark Brio small car for India and other emerging markets will debut sooner than expected.

In fact the trial production was supposed to start as soon as 15th January and by April, Honda could have produced some 2,500 cars. Sources tell us that changes in parts and features based on an important consumer survey could have been among the reasons for a slight delay.

Honda Brio Prototype

The Brio should make its debut in July-August with series production beginning by mid June

Honda recently showcased the near production ready prototype at the Bangkok Motor show. Being just 3.6 m in length Brio looks to set new benchmarks with intelligent space utilization just like its elder sibling Jazz. Honda engineers have been working hard to squeeze out every iota of space while maintaining compact outer dimensions.

A rev-happy engine as in the case of any Honda will sit under the Brio’s bonnet. Initially the car will debut with Jazz’s 1.2-liter motor and later followed by a more affordable 3 cylinder 1.0-liter motor lacking i-VTEC technology. With 1.2-liter already setting new the benchmark of being the most powerful engine in its class, the engine serving on the Brio will be tuned for higher fuel economy.

Make it VFM, Honda has witnessed with Jazz that a badge alone won’t justify the hefty priceLoad it with goodies, Honda is known to starve cars of goodies and later offer them charging an additional cost

Along with the tank like Honda reliability, a fuel efficient and fun to drive Honda would kick off aspirations among small car buyers.

Tagged as: Honda Brio, Honda Brio India

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In 2010, Aston Martin celebrated its product line-up demonstrating its ability to react quickly to customer demands and to create tailor-fit sports cars. Aston Martin is agile as a small volume manufacturer and this year has created: V12 Vantage Carbon Black, DBS Carbon Black, DBS UB2010, V8 Vantage N420 and now new DB9 offerings will cater for individual tastes across the world.

This attention to individual tailoring began in February when production of the Carbon Black editions began, followed in March with a Works Tailored commission made by Aston Martin to celebrate CEO, Dr. Ulrich Bez’s tenth anniversary at the helm of the marque in creating 40 limited edition UB-2010 DBSs. The unique specification includes metallic leather with a woven leather seat insert. The car bears the signature of Dr. Bez, who is personally signing-off each example.

In July, Aston Martin announced the V8 Vantage N420 limited edition; a race inspired version of the V8 Vantage celebrating the marque’s close links with the famous Nürburgring Nordschleife where the development of all Aston Martins takes place, and where each year, multiple Vantage entries compete at the Nürburgring 24 hour race.

The new DB9 editions offer three juxtaposed options; the Morning Frost luxury specification gives the DB9 an extra sense of sophistication resplendent in a pearlescent white exterior with a befitting metallic bronze leather interior. In contrast, the two menacing sport specifications take advantage of the special edition Carbon Black paint and Quantum Silver made famous by the DBS featured in the last James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace. The exterior finishes perfectly compliment the Obsidian Black interior along with a highly polished Piano Black centre console and interior door handles.

Both the DB9 Carbon Black and Quantum Silver also feature the six-speed Touchtronic II automatic transmission, a re-mapped sports exhaust providing an even more evocative sound when driving spiritedly and unique 19? 10 spoke forged gloss black painted diamond-turned wheels. Black grilles, graphite tail pipes, perforated seat inners, semi-aniline leather roof lining, coarse silver stitching and real polished glass switchgear complete the sport specification.

The DB9 Morning Frost also benefits from the Touchtronic II transmission mounted on the transaxle giving the car perfect 50:50 weight balance. 19? 10 spoke silver diamond-turned wheels, silver brake calipers, magnum silver grilles, and metallic bronze leather headlining with perforated seat inners along with Piano Black centre console and door grabs create a sophisticated ambiance.

The three editions are bestowed with a unique laser etched sill plaque depicting the famous wings insignia along with “Morning Frost”, “Carbon Black” or “Quantum Silver.”

These special editions are available to order now from Aston Martin’s global dealership network.

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To all the Jeepers in India, I am sure you are much chuffed about what happened this week. Your dreams have been fulfilled. The Mahindra Santa has finally delivered The Thar as a Christmas present. No longer do you have to search for Mahindra Classics in the used car market and then spend a fortune on re-doing them.

If you are a true-blue Jeeper, you must have tuned in to the live webcast of the launch (which BTW get a thumbs up from us, we believe that more manufactures should join the fray). There were a few hiccups during the presentation; nonetheless, the Mahindra boys managed it decently.

Displayed at the Auto Expo 2010, The Mahindra Thar is an evolved version of the Mahindra Legend that was launched to celebrate Mahindra’s 60th year anniversary way back in 2005. Since then it was only limited to the export markets for Europe and Africa.

Back in India, this car (oh sorry, Jeep) is launched as a successor to the Mahindra CJ340 (a.k.a the Classic). The design of the car is almost unchanged from the Classic, the only difference being the Classic had a seating of 2 people in the back and the Thar can manage 4 (although only barely).

The Thar comes with 2 engine options.

2.5L CRDe engine 77 kw (105 BHP) – BS IV compliant2.5L DI engine 77 kw (105 BHP) – BS III compliant

The engine is very smooth and very torqy, just what one requires in an off-roading machine. The whole jeep is built on the ladder frame chassis with independent front suspension and leaf springs at the rear. The ground clearance is massive and the car can manage anything in its stride. Mahindra says the Thar can manage 46 degree approach angles and 30 degree departure angles (and judging by the test drive, we trust them on this one).

Step into the car (and one really ‘steps into the car’ because the floor is very low than the doorline) and there is a familiar bolero 3-spoke steering that welcomes you. Once you are in the car, you are immediately reminded that this is a Man’s car because everything is very hard and everything is inaccessible. Even simple task like adjusting your seats, requires brute force.

Because Mahindra has pitted it as an ‘ultimate off road vehicle’, the Thar comes well equipped with a 2.48 low ratio transfer box. But it is not next to the main gear lever like an Endy or a Fortuner. It is very inaccessible as one needs to really bend down with neck below the steering wheel to check whether you are in high or low. Same goes for the handbrake which is flat-leveled to the floor.

The Thar is ‘AC ready’ and not ‘AC equipped’, so you can install an AC later if you want but don’t expect it as default. The interior quality is nothing to harp about (although if you get the ‘point’ of this vehicle, that’s not really a bummer as such). The jeep does come with simple vanities like bucket seats and power steering.

The ride quality is plain old jeep – everything rattles and everything creeks. And because the suspension set up is soft to make it off road worthy, on the road it wallows a lot. But if you feel like you will be thrown out of the car, there are a lot of handles and bars that you can hold on to

The Mahindra Thar is clearly not your first car, trust me you are better off in any public transport whatsoever. But it can be your weekend ‘fun’ vehicle if you are an off-roading enthusiast. However, we highly recommend you get the ‘Adventure’ model from Mahindra Customs. The standard Thar is more agrarian than lifestyle, but the Adventure model is properly ‘Cool’. A fully prepped up Adventure can be endless customized and will cost you 2-3 lakhs over and above the price of your Thar.

Of course we are not going to leave you at that.  There is an extensive gallery that you can browse through for a detailed look at the jeep. Your comments are welcomed and expected as always

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Here is a small exercise that you can do just for fun. Walk up to your friend or colleague and appreciate something that he/she is wearing. It can be anything – clothes, shoes, watch etc. The instant reply will be – “Oh! This is ‘X’ brand and I bought it from ‘Y’ place”. This is called ‘the Badge game’ which is based on a simple principle – People (me included) love to flaunt. Pricey badges are totally ‘IN’. Offices, Colleges, Parties etc are the arenas and if you can’t play the ‘Badge Game’ you are nobody.

BMW obviously recognizes this need of the hour. India is shining; per capita income is on the rise; young executives (a.k.a BMW’s target market) are full of aspirations but their salaries aren’t that high to actually sign the dotted line. In comes the X1 – The cheapest BMW in India. Their dreams of saying “Hey babe, should I drop you in ma Bimmer” have finally been fulfilled.

In essence, the BMW X1 is a jacked up 3 series which is slightly roomier and looks a bit different. Launched in 2008 at the Paris motor show, this car comes to India two years later with slight changes to suit to the Indian Market. The ground clearance is increased, the air filter is modified to suit our dusty roads and the suspension is set up differently.

Design wise, this car is very true to BMW’s ‘Love it or Hate it’ philosophy with very sharp angles and lines throughout the body. We love the design as it makes the car look very interesting and better than the donor car – The 3 Series which, if you remove the BMW badge, fails to attract any attention. The rear profile of the car is even better than the front with the tail lamps looking like the eyes of an angry robot.

The roof railings make the car look very outdoorsy. Obviously, this is not a recent styling attempt; this car is 2 years old remember. The recent styling attempts on the 5 series and 7 series are a bit dull to say the least.

The performance duties are performed by two 2L, 4 cylinder petrol and diesel engines with the diesel engine being performance oriented with more HP and more torque than the petrol one. The petrol one produce 150 HP and 200 NM of torque @3600 rpm. The diesel one is more generous with 177 HP and 350 NM of torque @ 3000 rpm. Both are mated to a six speed automatic transmission (yes no manual option for stick lovers). Although the international model is an all wheeled drive, we only get a rear wheel option. BMW claims the petrol gives 11.25 km/l and the diesel goes up to 15.24km/l

Get inside the car and it is exactly a 3 series, not a button has been shifted from here to there. Despite of being a tall car, getting in and out is a bit difficult (again just like the 3 series). The panoramic glass roof makes the car feel very roomy and airy but it is only available in top model and so is the iDrive system.

There are only 3 variants available of the car. The base one starts at Rs 22 lakhs and the top one goes to Rs 29.9 Lakhs. But there is a fair bit of customization equipment that the prospective owner can choose from.

All of this brings us to our Main Question: Would one buy one?

Let’ keep the 1000 pre orders aside and also the fact that BMW is sold out for the next 3 months and look at how many market segment BMW has stepped into at the same time:

There are those who wanted a soft roader and are contemplating on a CRV, Captiva or an X-Trail. They obviously wouldn’t mind a BMW in and around their same budget.

There are those who have booked a Fortuner or a Santa Fe and are awaiting deliveries. Now, a through off-roading fan would say “Hey, this car is not an off road machine; it’s not an all-wheeled drive neither does it have a low ratio gear box. It is just a poser” This is true, no arguments at all. But Toyota and Hyundai are clogged with booking orders so wouldn’t you mind a BMW in lesser time at your doorstep? You also get to go through the ‘Premium Car buying Experience’ in the same budget.

Plus I have seen so many Fortuners with not a speck of dust, doing the daily office run. And at the end of day, what sounds better? I drive a Toyota OR I drive a Beemer.

Then there are those who wanted a luxury sedan like a Camry or a Superb. They wouldn’t mind switching to a car with better ground clearance and over all better driveability. Yes, I know the base model is in petrol which will shoot up your monthly fuel budget. But you don’t drive this car remember, you show off in it. Plus, people who go for such cars generally have a company sponsored petrol card.

And now comes the final argument – There is no competition to this car from the German rivals at all. Audi has no plans to jack up the A4 at least not that we know of. Mercedes is working on a crossover but that will take more than two years to complete. Till then, BMW has the floor to itself.

At the end of the day, BMW has played its cards well. Instead of competing with others, they have created a segment for themselves. The X1 will extend the lead over other German rivals by a long margin.

But this is not the first time BMW has played this game. The cheaper Rolls Royce Ghost (a prepped up 7 series) is also a fine example of the same badge game. And with the talks of bringing in a smaller, cheaper MINI, we can expect more such ‘Badge’ strategies from BMW.

Well played BMW!

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Imthishan Giado
06 January 2011

More ways to dress up your Jag, as the popular 'Black pack' makes its way down the line to the XF saloon.

Formerly available on the XK GT, the Black Pack brings new 20-inch 'Draco' wheels and lots of gloss black highlights including on the grille and window surrounds.

Naturally, exclusivity has its price and in this instance, you can only get the Black Pack with certain colours, all of which are suprisingly not black. These include Polaris White, Spectrum Blue, Ultimate Black, Stratus Grey and Liquid Silver, in addition to the XFR-exlusive Kyanite Blue and Salsa Red.

There's also an Aerodynamic Pack available, which essentially boils down to a bodykit: more aggressive front bumper and grill, and bigger sills.

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was driven by Sig Haugdahl to over 180 mph on a one-way run at the Daytona Beach racing oval. This was a tremendous accomplishment as the car had reached speeds a full 24 mph father than the previous record holder.

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