Auto Mobile

Last year consumers faced increase in car prices several times due to a number of reasons of which the most significant one the burden of rising input costs.

Some carmakers increased the prices of their products this January and once again it’s likely that the prices of some cars will see a hike this April. The first among the carmakers to increase its prices from April 1 is Honda. The carmaker will raise the prices by 2-3 per cent from April 1. The price hike would reflect on all cars except luxury sedan Honda Accord on account of rising input costs.

Those who are looking forward to bring home a brand new car, here is a good deal awaited for you by car-makers operating in Indian auto market. All car majors including the Indian biggest manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki along with big names like Hyundai and Honda, have come up with real lucrative discounts on their offerings and incentives for the month o March 2011. These discounts and offers are even better than those offered in the month of December last year. The major reason behind these offers is to clear out the inventories lying in the dealerships.

Earlier this month we saw that the car manufacturers pushed their goods to the dealerships in order to escape from post budget hike to the fullest. This has resulted in huge inventory logs in companies’ outlets even after reaching remarkable sale of 1.89 lakh cars. Now these inventories will be cleared by offering good discounts on the cars. On the cars of Maruti Suzuki one can get a discount up to Rs 40,000 whereas the Japanese auto giant Hyundai will give a discount up to Rs 45,000. Coming to Honda Motors, the company will give a rebate of Rs 55,000 as per the dealers’ information. if these rebates are compared to those given in the month of December 2010, this time the offers are even better.

The automatic transmission cars in India are in vogue in the domestic auto market but still can't term it popular among the buyers due to various reasons. Way back in 1997 Maruti brought a hatchback Maruti Zen in two different transmission options, manual and automatic with a difference of Rs 85,000. Now Maruti A-Star which comes in two options have a difference Rs 50,000 in the pricing. The automatic transmission were quite expensive and not fuel efficient when compared to the manual variants. The reasons always contributed in not making the automatic transmission cars popular in India. The automatic transmission cars in India could not pick up on the trend as it could only offer three or four gears which always questioned on the performance of the cars. But now with the changing trends and technology, the automatic transmission has improved by rendering the required.

See More Maruti Zen Estilo Pictures                                                                                           Read More on Maruti Zen Estilo

World over the focus is shifting to electric cars – be it the Nissan Leaf or the Chevrolet Volt or other hybrids almost every carmaker across the world is developing newer models for the future.

The Indian government doesn’t want to be left behind and it seems it is working on a policy to boost manufacturing of hybrid cars in India. The government is likely to do this by giving some excise duty concessions.

Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Praful Patel is likely to spearhead the process. The government is likely to use fiscal sops like differential excise to boost research and development on hybrid vehicles. The Department of Heavy Industry would need the Cabinet approval for the formation of a high-level panel on the issue. If all goes as per plan there will be a policy by September.

See More Chevrolet Volt Pictures                                                                                                    Read More on Chevrolet Volt

Soon the diesel cars will be dominating the Indian roads. Thanks to the rise in the petrol prices that has gone through the roof. According to the reports of the survey done by rating agency Care, around 90 per cent of the new car sales in the utility auto mobile segment are in the diesel variant, it is further growing in the passenger car segment also. The difference between diesel and petrol prices is a vital factor leading to the growth of the diesel car segment.
 
The report also revealed that the government will not decontrol diesel prices completely in short term due to the increase in the cost of this primary transportation fuel which will result in stoke inflation.

Indian auto mobile market is the second fastest growing auto market globally. The growing auto industry sales also helped various other supporting industries such as ancillary, finance and others. With the growing sales numbers the major loan providers are also increasing the interest rates. Effective February 3, 2011 Kotak Mahindra and HDFC have also raised the interest rates. It is expected that the interest rate will reach to 13 per cent.

Ashok Khanna, Senior Executive Vice-President, HDFC Bank said that the company has decided to raise the interest by 50 bsp due to the recent hike by RBI. At present the rack rate ranges between 11.5 per cent to 13.5 per cent depending on the auto mobile model and its loan tenure.

The top end of the Indian car market is growing at a fast pace. The number of cars launched by the luxury car segment is growing up and it is even reflected in their sales numbers month after month. However, even the ultra luxury segment with carmakers like Lamborghini, Porsche, Bugatti etc is growing fast.

The Indian consumers are soon going to get another supercar maker among the above stated names. Swedish super sports car maker Koenigsegg Automotive AB along with Rahul Bhatia-promoted InterGlobe Enterprises is all set to launch a number of high-end models in the country.

See More Lamborghini Murcielago Pictures                                                              Read More on Lamborghini Murcielago

Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motors and General Motors (GM) have announced the first price hike of the year 2011. The three companies have pegged the hike between 0.5 per cent to 2.2 per cent starting this month. The rising cost of basic input commodities like rubber, copper etc has been troubling carmakers since the last year and with the continuing rise in prices of these commodities the carmakers have hiked the prices of their products.

Maruti Suzuki that offers some of the country’s bestselling models like Maruti Alto, Maruti Swift, Maruti Swift Dzire, Maruti Wagon R etc has hiked its prices by from 17 January, ranging between 0.5 per cent and 2.2 per cent for all models. The only exception to this hike is the new hatchback Alto-K10. This means the customers will now have to pay about Rs1,000 and Rs8,000 more across different models.

See More Maruti Wagon R Pictures                                                                                            Read More on Maruti Wagon R

The Indian automobile industry is growing at a rapid pace quarter after quarter. The industry is posting double digit growth figures for quite some time and it had a rather good third quarter from October to December. Companies like Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra and Mahindra and Tata Motors are doing very well in the Indian market and posting good sales figures month after month.

The combined net profit growth of some of the top auto companies is likely to touch the 50 percent year-on-year market in the December 2010 quarter. The forecast for the net sales growth is at 21 per cent as against last year.

For those, who are fed up with the traffic congestion and parking problems, here's a news for their relief. Scientists in London claim that they have designed an electric car which is capable of overcoming traffic congestion and could be parked by itself.

As per the car developers, the two-seat Electric-Networked Vehicle is crafted in a matter which would provide a solution to common driver problems. The car would be eco-friendly, affordable and low fuel consuming.