A Spark To Light Up GM India? Or Will It Immolate? I was at the launch of the Chevrolet Spark yesterday. It's a good car, perhaps the most credible and promising product to have come out of GM India ever. The looks are smart and cute and the specs are promising. GM guys seemed to be gung-ho about the product.So how important is the Spark for GM India? The importance can be gauged from the fact that GM flew in a plane-load of top guys from Detroit...... Similar Editorial : Ignite the Spark by Miranda Restelle. | Source : Smart Car Hire
Logan Tries Hard To Please All “Way above adolescence,Still far from maturity;In the midst of mediocrity, lies my identity.”Not mine but something I remember since long. And these lines summarise the Logan quite well. The Logan is an exciting car for the Indian market. However, Mahindra and Renault do not believe in starting things with a bang. While there is nothing wrong with the specs, everything seems to be walking the safe...... Similar Editorial : Its Too Hard by Susan Dunn, Ma Psychology, Emotional Intelligence Coach. | Source : Smart Car Hire
Logan Enjoys Three Stars I have never been a big fan of PR written releases or website content. The marketing guys are slightly better but not greatly so. While the guys, no doubt, are well-meaning, they are often ignorant about the product and highlight things that should have been swept under the carpet. Take for instance this nugget from the Mahindra-Renault website which brags about the safety aspects of the Logan:...... Similar Editorial : Oregon Dank Stars by Michael Cook. | Source : Smart Car Hire
The Indian Component Industry A few days back I was participating as a panelist in a group discussion jointly organised by Rothschild and SupplierBusiness. The other men around the table were some of the top guys and promoters of leading mid-size auto component manufacturers. Also chipping in with his expert opinion was Thomas Kästele, one of Rothschild's wise global automotive guys. It was a friendly discussion about things –...... Similar Editorial : Indian Summer by LeAnn R. Ralph. | Source : Smart Car Hire
Sleeping With The Enemy And Having Fun All The Way One of the most interesting things about China is the relationship between the western industry and local Chinese suppliers. IP laws are a challenge so anything remotely sophisticated or technologically advanced needs to be guarded well and yet the market is so big that if you are not happy about supplying, your competition will be. So what do you do? Walking a thin wire is what most big suppliers...... Similar Editorial : Our Worst Enemy by Michael Lee. | Source : Car Hire London Airport
Chinas Tryst With The Xerox Machine I was recently in China for the Beijing Auto Show. Having roamed around the New Delhi Auto Expo a number of times, the Beijing show is a pleasant surprise in the sense that it is housed in about one-fourth the area of the New Delhi show. At the same time, Beijing has four times the number of new cars significantly improving the new-cars-per-square-inch score. While Delhi is all about trying to...... Similar Editorial : A Tryst with phentermine by Rob Albert. | Source : Car Hire London Airport
Hyundai Indias New Head Is A Simpleton I am just back from a media event organised by Hyundai. No, it was not the launch of a fancy car. It was, instead the launch of H S Lheem, the new Managing Director and CEO of Hyundai Motors India to the Indian media. It was a necessity as the post-Subbu Hyundai needs someone with whom the media can relate to. It becomes a neccessity also because Mr B V R Subbu, able manager and craftsman that he...... Similar Editorial : Hyundai Getz by Deepesh. | Source : Car Hire London Airport
Back From Chail, The Land Of Dreams Suffering from writer's block, which in common terms is also known as laziness, I had parked myself in Chail for the last few days. The weather there was a welcome relief from smoldering Delhi and surrounded by lush green Pine and Maple trees, I promptly went to sleep only to be awaken now.On my trip to Chail, I really love these kind of places where all you see are monkeys and human presence is...... Similar Editorial : Sit Back by News Canada. | Source : Car Hire London Airport
Aveo Hasnt Made GM Proud In the middle of the steel issue, I really missed this one. Think of it no one in India picked this up either? The Chevrolet Aveo – yes the one recently launched in India and peddled by Saif and Rani for its superlative, mindblowing, etc performance – has received a two star rating in the Euro NCAP vehicle occupant safety tests. That's two-out-of-five, not exactly superlative or mindblowing. Euro...... Similar Editorial : The New Chevrolet Aveo by Cristi. | Source : Car Hire London Airport
Some More Steel Steal In my further conversations with the steel industry executive, I prodded him about various other issues on steel. His company was at that point of time supplying a number of Indian car manufacturers. He divided the car manufacturing fraternity into two parts - the Quality Conscious (QC) and the Quality Unconscious (pun on a bun). While the QC guys had a gazillion tests before they offered a...... Similar Editorial : Benefits of Steel Buildings by infocus. | Source : Car Hire London Airport
Screwing Automakers With A Screw Gauge! On the subject of skin panels and steel, I remember a conversation I once had with a steel industry executive. His company was heavily into supplying automotive steel and were supplying to a number of Indian OEMs. He confided that the thickness of steel sheets supplied for the same models had been coming down over the years. The reduction wasn't huge - not like 26 mm from 28mm, but more like 27...... Similar Editorial : Automakers Amidst the Crisis by Evander Klum. | Source : Cheap Car Hire Orlando
Fiat Enticing Tata So the biggest qualified rumour in the market? That the Fiat Group has initiated discussions with Tata Motors and has offered Fiat Auto to be sold to Tata Motors. So what's new? Considering that Fiat and Tata have been acting as a couple who have found love on the rebound in each other, this was bound to happen. Wait a minute! Holy cow! Its not Fiat India but the whole of Fiat Auto which is being...... Similar Editorial : Tata Nano Online Booking by Adam Boulton. | Source : Cheap Car Hire Orlando
Indian Supplier Industry Needs An Awakening The Indian supplier community presents an interesting paradox in the types of people running the show. On one end are people like the Kalyani-Bharat Forge Group, the TVS Group and maybe TACO who are very open about their company and capabilities while the other side is dominated by small manufacturers who still believe that email is not worth their precious time. So it was no surprise to me when I...... Similar Editorial : Indian Two Wheeler Industry by Deepesh. | Source : Cheap Car Hire Orlando
TVS Apache Is Good I was at the TVS test track recently to try out the new Apache. Yes, all my friends in them enthusiast magazines can smirk as they have already psted the Apache on the test track a onth back but with me just an automotive hack on the fringes, this is all the luxury I often get. Back to the Apache, this is no doubt a very competitive bike as afar as the 150cc class isconsidered. The Apache does...... Similar Editorial : The Good by Sam Vaknin, Ph.D.. | Source : Cheap Car Hire Orlando
The Indian Automotive Media Was at the launch of the Mercedes M- and S-Class. Times surely have changed in the Indian and global markets. A few years back, I remember when Merc entered the Indian market, the first press con had a 'selected media list'. This time the list had significamntly expanded and the company was more open to answering questions.Talking of questions, I am sure that even the Mercedes India top brass wasn...... Similar Editorial : Automotive Q by Brent Lasalle. | Source : Cheap Car Hire Orlando
