Vitara Brezza is a Strong Wind

Maruti Suzuki has finally launched its first compact urban SUV, Vitara Brezza, at a mouth- watering price... and it received 2500+ bookings in 24 hours!

But the cat was already among the pigeons when Maruti Suzuki had unveiled the Vitara Brezza at the Auto Expo 2016. The Vitara Brezza is the car maker's answer to the Ford EcoSport and Mahindra TUV300. 

The Vitara Brezza has clearly been one of the most awaited sub-compacts in 2016 and as seen in the spy shots and teaser images. Racy leaked images of the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza suggested a box-like profile with wide chrome grille, and black cladding on bumpers, wheel arches and belt line get black cladding for a rugged appeal. So naturally it had onlookers salivating, esp. when it was announced that this was the same car that would be sold and at a price between Rs 7-9 lakhs.

Ford dropped the price of their Ecosport by close to Rs 1 Lakh in anticipation of consumers flocking to the Brezza. Nothing like this happened with the launch of the TUV by Mahindra. Looks like the market leader in the compact SUV segment was clearly outflanked this time. 

Suzuki Brezza is not sold at Maruti's Nexa showrooms and may seem to onlookers that it is not "premium". Yet the Vitara Brezza has clocked 20,000 bookings as of now... and counting! Clearly Indians love the youthfulness of the Brezza. 

The consumer today is really the king and the automakers are going all out to spoil him/her further. This segment is only going to grow!

Luxury Car Ad Pot Shots

Mercedes wishing BMW on its 100 Year Anniversary was a good show in camaraderie. This is heartening considering that the Big 3 of Germany BMW, Audi & Mercedes have tried to be one-up on their rivals not only on the race track and market place but also in the media. 

These media confrontations have been going on since 1987 but the ones that got coverage began in 2006 when BMW released an ad congratulating Audi for winning South African Car of the Year 2006.

Audi could not resist and congratulates BMW for Winning World Car of the Year 2006 award, albeit sarcastically.

Subaru joins the fun with an ad of its own congratulating BMW and Audi.

Another supercar maker also joins the party. It purposely does not mention its brand in the ad to show itself above this din.

The finale in this party is taken by Bentley which does not show its car.

Insane!

Mercedes Joins in BMW's 100-Year Celebrations

Many of you will remember the cola wars which spilled onto the media, TV and press. Those must have created more engagement that the garden variety ad campaigns.

You've also heard about the rivalry between luxury car manufacturers. This rivalry in fact goes beyond who trumps who in the automobile market, but you see them want to grab the top spot when it comes to racing too. Mind you, they acknowledge it too. We've seen them taking jabs at each other every time and the proof is in the billboards.

But one thing that all these manufacturers have for each other is respect. Respect for the rich history they share which is where we see the camaraderie between them. On BMW's 100th anniversary this year, the Mercedes-Benz offered its congratulations in a very cheeky manner.

Mercedes-Benz Museum did something even better. They've gone to the extent of inviting BMW employees to visit the museum in Stuttgart - with no admission charges between March 8 and 13, 2016. In fact has gone to the extent of saying that those who arrive in a BMW will be allowed to park and there will be no parking fees charged either and will get a prominent position directly outside the entrance on the hill. 

The museum has issued a special invitation to the first 50 BMW employees who arrive: following their tour of the exhibition, they are invited to enjoy a Swabian speciality citing the double kidney shape of the signature BMW radiator grille.

Carl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler invented the automobile independently of one another in 1886 and it's nice to see Mercedes-Benz join in to celebrate this milestone of a year with a rival. Way to go!

Budget 2016 - Your New Car Gets Costlier

Car makers normally hike the prices of new models as the year begins. This time it was involuntary, following the various taxes levied in the Union Budget 2016. 

The country's premier car maker, Maruti, announced in a press release that "Following the infrastructure cess on automobiles in the Union Budget 2016-17, prices of its models would go up in the range of Rs 1,441 to Rs 34,494 across its models." Maruti's portfolio includes entry-level car Alto 800 to premium crossover S-Cross which are priced between Rs 2.54 lakh and Rs 11.69 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

It goes without saying that all other automakers from Tata to Mercedes will do the same. 

The Finance Minister proposed that petrol/LPG/CNG driven motor vehicles of length not exceeding 4 meter and engine capacity not exceeding 1200cc would attract a cess of 1 per cent. He proposed to levy a cess of 2.5 per cent on diesel driven motor vehicles of length not exceeding 4 meter and engine capacity not exceeding 1500cc. Engines with a higher engine capacity and SUVs and bigger sedans would, attract a higher cess of 4 per cent.

The FM, however, gave some relief to the environment friendly vehicles. 

However, the cess was a bad surprise to automakers as they felt that they past couple of years have been challenging and signs of recovery were barely showing. The automakers were actually looking for reduction of excise duties so as to boost the industry. The various new cesses would result in price rise that would result in lower customer sentiment, impacting the car industry. The TDS on luxury vehicles with more than Rs 10 lakh would also dampen demand of luxury vehicles in the short term.

All those who plan to buy cars may possibly make a beeline for environment friendly vehicles that have been spared the cess.

BMW's Vision... The Next 100 Years

BMW celebrated the 100th anniversary of its 1st ever factory and how!

It unveiled the Vision Next 100, a car conceived to anticipate future mobility needs a century after the German car maker was originally established as the Bavarian Motor Works. While unveiling the car, BMW chairman, Harald Kruger, said that this was the first of a series of four similarly-themed concept cars under construction and planned to be unveiled during its centennial year.

The latest concept car provides an insight into the German car maker’s vision of autonomous driving and how it proposes to integrate it with the traditional manual driving that epitomises BMW cars with the driver at the centre. It showcases new construction and design techniques, as well as digital based interaction methods and autonomous driving technology that is already under development for inclusion on future BMW models. 

In anticipation of a shift away from conventional steel structures and the associated assembly process used today, the body uses a combination of carbon fibre and plastic. Many elements are made of residues collected during the production of other carbon fibre structures. For those who are not technically-inclined, Carbon fibre is the short form for Carbon-fiber–reinforced polymer, an extremely strong and light fiber-reinforced plastic which contains carbon fibers. 

The ultra-modern design provides a hint of things to come especially visual ties to the i brand lineup. The surfacing treatment points to the influence of design boss, Adrian von Hooydonk, and is similar to that of the i8. It also ties it to some elements that are intricately linked to BMW cars like the kidney grille and the Hofmeister kink. With flexible bodywork covering the wheels, allowing them to turn without interruption, a process called Alive Geometry by BMW design given the Vision Next concept an unbelievable drag co-efficient of 0.18! With a length of 4900 mm and height of 1370 mm, the Vision Next 100 is 10 mm shorter and 100 mm lower than the existing 5 Series.

Continuing the theme of keeping the driver at the centre, access to the inside is via wing-style doors that open automatically as the driver approaches with a smart key. The steering wheel retracts and sits next to the dashboard when the Vision Next 100 is parked so that there is ease of entry. The interior also uses more sustainable materials, including recyclable mono-materials, instead of wood and leather.

BMW vision of driving modes are two: manual and autonomous. 

Boost is the manual mode where the seat and steering wheel change position and the centre console turns towards the driver. As per BMW, the driver also gets a so-called Artificial Intelligence (AI) Companion that provides the driver with a host of support when required, such as proposing the best possible turn in points for a particular corner, advising on traffic jams or warning when a speed limit is exceeded. The Companion gathers information about the person at the wheel during a drive.

Ease is the autonomous mode where the Vision Next becomes a place to unwind: the seat, steering wheel and centre console self-adjust to provide extra space, and ambient lighting is used to create a more relaxing atmosphere while the autonomous driving technology takes you to your destination.

Alive Geometry is also used inside the cabin and consists of some 800 moving triangles set into the instrument panel and side panels. BMW says that the aim of Alive Geometry is to enhance the interaction between the car and the driver by communicating information with intuitive signals to deliver “a form of pre-conscious communication that predicts an imminent real-time event”. 

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This may sound like science fiction today but BMW is convinced that manufacturing methods will become sophisticated and in the future it will be feasable to produce more complex & flexible forms. Transformers 4 anyone?

The new Bugatti Chiron: 1479 horsepower for the Road

Chiron, the successor to the fastest car on the road, Veyron, was unveiled at Geneva. The International Geneva Motor Show (Salon international de l'auto) is an important auto show held in March in the Swiss city of Geneva. Its an important pit stop in the annual calendar of all the auto companies where many iconic cars have had their debut in the past.

If you thought that 1000 horsepower is a tad too much for street car then the new Chiron turns the Veyron's extreme specs up another notch: 0 to 100km/h in less than 2.5 seconds. The 8.0-liter, quad-turbo W16 motor that still sits behind the two-seat cabin now churns out a total power output of 1479 hp!

Maximum speed is limited to 420km/h for road use and the tires have been specially developed by a Bugatti-Michelin partnership. Only 500 Chirons will be produced, and a third of them have already been sold for €2.4 million ($2.6 million) apiece.

This new Bugatti still uses the aerodynamic tricks of having separate top-speed and handling modes, reaching out to 261 mph at the peak of its powers and 236 mph with the hydraulically raised rear wing set for maximum driving security. It also still uses the drag to its advantage, by sticking an airbrake up to help it slow down from very high speeds.

The Chiron's new adaptive chassis can be adjusted for different levels of ground clearance. Actually, most of the adaptive stuff is automated and adjusts as per how you are driving which brings us to the 5 preset modes that you can drive in. which include Lift (for keeping the nose out of trouble over gutters and speed bumps), Auto, Autobahn, Handling, and Top Speed. You need to use the separate ignition switch for top speed, which gives access to that formidable 261 mph (420km/h) max speed. And yeah, this car also has a "drift" feature!

The new Chiron was built with speed and driving pleasure as its foremost considerations but its no 'stripped-down racer'. Its interior continues the Veyron's promise of authentic materials, including leather, carbon fiber, and brushed aluminum. Driver safety is also kept in mind with the first airbag in the world that can deploy through the carbon fiber dash to protect the passenger.

Company president Wolfgang Dürheimer says, "The Chiron is the result of our efforts to make the best even better." I agree... and wait for deliveries to happen.