Skoda retune fabia for Indian road conditions

Apparently skoda guys did not do their homework in India when they launched the Fabia.Sales have certainly not met expectations even if Skoda disagree.Now it seems they had not even tested their petrol engines properly before launching them,however to be fair to them even toyota had to retune their engines for their innova.


All petrol fabia's are being recalled[though skoda calls this differently] and say you can come to the dealership at your own convinience.They shall retune the softwares to optimise the engines for fuel efficiency.Makes you wonder what the guys at Bosch and Skoda were doing for more than two years since the cars was announced to be launched in the Indian market.

With the fabia[and the whole skoda brand] I think diesel shall remain king and petrol shall always remain the lesser sibling.

Hyundai launches the 1.2L i10

Once again India gets it first the rest of the world will follow as far as Hyundai is concerned.Hyundai have launched the made in India 1.2L kappa engine which produces power of approx. 80bhp@5200rpm and Torque of 114Nm@4000rpm.Fuel efficiency is expected to remain the same as in case of the previous 1.1L engine.This new engine conforms to euro 5 standards.

Hyundai have also added the option of a four speed automatic[you don't have to wait until december now].The 1.2L i10 is available in three variants and befittingly one of them is a sportz vehicle[Finally a vehicle in India with a sport tag gets an engine upgrade as well].

The new engine option is available on the i10 with a price range ranging from Rs.4 to Rs5.50 lakhs[approx] which mean it will directly compete with the Maruti swift.

This also means the new i20 will most probably priced higher and would take on the skoda fabia and the Honda jazz[when launched].

Fiat to launch the Grande Punto in 2009

As predicted earlier fiat are all set to launch the Grande punto in India only after the Linea launch.The linea should be available in the Indian markets by September 2008 while the Grande punto would be out in the early part of 2009.

The grande punto would be competing in the premium hatchback category and would be priced on the lines of the Skoda fabia if not a notch higher.Maruti swift should continue to remain the cheapest offering in the segment for some time to come.

What this also means is that just like NDTV predicted the Linea would be competing more with D-segment sedans in terms of pricing atleast since Fiat will not price the Grande Punto and the Linea at around the same price tag otherwise nobody would head towards the Grande Punto.

It would be interesting to note how people accept Fiat as a premium brand in India but whatever happens its Tata who shall be the winner once again with Fiat cars not competing with Tata in the economy segment and Tata ensuring a presence in the premium segment with the help of Fiat.

For people interested in the future of the Palio,the Palio is going to be around atleast for a year or two and fiat plan to launch a CNG version by next year.

[Source:Sify]

Skoda to launch Roomster/ Fabia combi later this year

Skoda are now looking to target more customers with its fabia platform.Given the higher pricing strategy of the fabia expect these derivatives too to be priced on those lines as well.

Given the pricing of the fabia it clearly is not aimed at bringing in volumes for Skoda like the other hatchbacks from rivals.Is the present strategy with the fabia a successful one is highly debatable after all even BMW say India is not ready to hot hatches yet..But however hard skoda tries I am skeptical they would be able to sell the Fabia combi or the roomster at prices close to D-segment sedans.

Try as much as Skoda can to project it as an SUV,the roomster is no suv and if all you need is a utility vehicle there are more choices available and at relatively cheaper price tags.Its the same with the fabia combi as well and what either of the two will manage to do at the most is cannibalise sales of the skoda fabia to some extent.

Skoda plan to launch either of the fabia combi or the roomster by the end of the year and are conducting trial runs across the country.The most probable of the two is the Fabia combi though why skoda are not thinking about a sedan instead is baffling.However to be fair Skoda have plans to launch different derivatives of the platform every year so the sedan too may be here.

Preferably don't buy these cars in 2008

If you have any plans to buy the Skoda fabia this year I suggest you wait for a year if resale value is important to you.VW [skoda's Parent company] say that they will lower costs of the Fabia by manufacturing the fabia at the chakan plan [while VW plan to delay their debut vehicle in India to 2010].Skoda have already done this with the Laura where later on they launched cheaper models which severely affected resale value of the cars which were already sold.I came across one such Laura owner who says he lost close to 6-7 Lakhs in resale value in just an 8 month old car.

However I must add that nothing wrong with Skoda cars,infact the Octavia[Laura as we know it here] has just been voted the best car in the UK for the second consecutive year.Octavia[Laura in India] drivers are the most satisfied lot in terms of reliability,build quality,running costs and ease of driving.Skoda beat rivals like Honda,Toyota,BMW,Mercedes for the second consecutive year.The Fabia too should be more or less on these lines and will definitely not disappoint you. If the car is going to be with you for a long time or you are not bothered about resale value please do go ahead with your purchase decision.

But the case with the cars I discuss next is a bit different.In these cars you will see a major revamp pretty soon.

1>.The first car in the list is the present Toyota corolla which is currently one generation behind its main rival the Honda civic.It is confirmed that you will get the next generation in India in 2008[maybe a diesel option as well].

2>.The next car in the list is the Honda city.You can see pretty much the push both the company as well as dealers are giving to increase sales since a major revamp of the Honda city is expected by the end of the year[2008].You will be left with a model which would be one generation behind in just a matter of few months.

Now I go back to the title I say preferably because you could also take advantage of this situation since all the above mentioned cars are great cars as well and dealers would be pushing for sales by adding incentives for you to buy these cars.But yes you must be ready to accept the fact that you will be driving an outdated model soon.

If you ask me what is the best alternative at this moment ,well I suggest the Hyundai Verna CRDi.It is a relatively safe bet and a good car with good mileage[FE.].In case of a petrol car I suggest the Maruti SX4.I don't expect any drastic change very soon to either of the two.The Toyota Corolla is not in the C segment and its alternative would be the Honda Civic which too should not see anything drastic soon.

Update 1:
In the don't buy list I am adding the Skoda octavia,for reasons please refer to this post,Next generation Skoda Octavia due in 2009 .Also the more modern VW jetta is expected soon.I would avoid the Laura too for the moment since a price correction could be possible but I am not 100% sure and hence am not placing it in the don't buy list.Alternatives I suggest the Optra Magnum.


Update 2:
NDTV confirms launch of the next generation honda city by the end of the year[2008].

Update 3:
The hyundai getz is a car in the don't buy list since the all new I20 is expected by the year end.Search the post for more details.Alternative ford fusion diesel.

Update 4:
With competition expected to catch up with Toyota in the form of the mahindra ingenio and the tata Xover expect something drastic from Toyota,from talks of launching a cheaper UV to even discontinuing the present innova doing the rounds I suggest you go slow and postpone your buy.No alternative buys suggested for the moment.

Update5:
Mahindra Renault Logan is a new addition to the list,a Facelifted model is expected soon.

Update6:
Maruti to replace the alto with the A-star.

The don't buy cars list for 2008:
1>.Honda City
2>.Toyota Corolla
3>.Hyundai Getz
4>.Skoda Octavia
5>.Skoda Fabia
6>.Toyota Innova
7>.Mahindra Renaul Logan
8>.Maruti Suzuki Alto


Also read:
Honda confirms all new Honda city launch by end of this year

Also read:
Team-bhpian Spots possible new Honda City.

Would the Honda Jazz be actually priced at 4.5 lakhs

After the Fabia its now the Honda Jazz which is the talk of the town .There was a lot of expectation from the Fabia somehow the pricing has left most disappointed[Mind you it would be foolish to write of the Fabia just yet, not because its a Skoda with legendary build quality but because it is supposed to take you from Delhi to Mumbai on a single tank of fuel[ok a bit exaggerated]]

Now after some reports that the Honda jazz would be available for a price tag of Rs. 4.5lakhs a lot of attention has shifted towards the Jazz but is that actually possible.For starters if any company enjoys a better image than Skoda its Honda so by that logic Honda should move a bit more further ahead as far as the pricing is concerned.But don't think you need to be worried Honda know the importance of numbers in the Indian market and I really doubt the Jazz would be more expensive than the Skoda especially since Honda does not have the diesel engine advantage.

With each passing generation Honda and Toyota vehicles keep getting expensive.With a newer generation Honda city we can surely expect a rise in prices about Rs 25,000-50,000 more than the present generation.What this means is that leaves a significant gap for Honda in the Rs. 5-7 lakh category and this is precisely where the Honda jazz will come into play in the Indian market Hopefully for this price range the Jazz comes loaded with all the bells and whistles and hopefully that includes its famous ingenious luggage carrying abilities.

So don't look at the new Jazz as a cheaper alternative to a Skoda Fabia but more as a cheaper alternative to the Honda city[next generation one].

Wake up from your slumber Skoda India

Has the Skoda Fabia been launched in India.Yes you see a dozen odd ads TV but if you have a look at the Fabia website you would be asking this question.

The Fabia website still has the special preview request on it.From the beginning Skoda india website has not been great but this one really takes the cake.Skoda also take great pride in the premium tag by not putting a price tag to their cars on their Indian websites,you need to call their dealers for that.Guess thats their idea of making you feel special.

Come on Skoda outsource your website development stuff to someone else.And yes so far Skoda don't seem to think the Fabia is part of the Skoda family cause there is no real mention of it at the car showroom in the Skoda india website.Now is that intentional,that's for you to decide.