2010 European Car of the Year is VW Polo

VW Polo has been crowned as the "European Car of the Year 2010". The supermini from Volkswagen, Europe's largest and most successful carmaker, narrowly beat the Toyota iQ in the final round of voting.

The result was determined from a group of 33 new cars launched in Europe in 2009 which were tested and voted on by European automotive journalists. The list of contenders included cars such as Suzuki Alto, Hyundai i20 and Kia Soul at one end to Porsche Panamera and Nissan 370Z at the other. A final shortlist of 7 cars was then determined before picking up the decisive winner. The jury for "Car of the Year 2010" consisted of 59 members, representing 23 European countries. The seven organizers of European Car of the Year are prominent automotive publications such as Auto(Italy), Autocar(UK), Autopista(Spain), Autovisie(Holland), L'Automobile Magazine(France), Stern(Germany) and Vi Bilagare(Sweden).

2010 ECOTY Results:

1. Volkswagen Polo (347)
2. Toyota iQ (337)
3. Opel/Vauxhall Astra (221)
4. Skoda Yeti (158)
5. Mercedes-Benz E-Class (155)
6. Peugeot 3008 (144)
7. Citroen C3 Picasso (113)

Previous ECOTY Winners:

• 2009 Opel/Vauxhall Insignia
• 2008 Fiat 500
• 2007 Ford S-Max
• 2006 Renault Clio
• 2005 Toyota Prius

By the way, VW Polo is one of the most awaited cars in India and is expected to be launched in the first quarter of 2010. As if the marketing blitzkrieg of 13-page adverts in Times of India is not enough, here is yet another thing which could be used as a tool to be unleashed in the Indian media. VW. Das Auto.

2010 Ward's 10 Best Engines Announced

It's that time of the year when almost every automotive publication across the globe has an award to announce. Unlike other auto publications which crowns Cars, Trucks and Automobiles of the Year, Ward's 10 Best Engines is the only award in North America which honors "Engine Excellence". The list of 10 Best Engines for the year 2010 has been announced and all the winners will be crowned at the 2010 North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January.

The Volkswagen Group is the clear winner taking home 3 awards including 2 for it's premium brand Audi. Ford also chips in with 2 awards including one for it's famed 2.5L Hybrid engine in the hot-selling Fusion model. While Subaru and Hyundai are getting this honor for the second time, the biggest loser this year seems to be Honda with no representation in the Top 10. Each engines were scored based on horsepower, torque, refinement, technical relevance and comparative data. The engines evaluated should be either all-new and should offer significant technological upgrades or was a returning winner from last year.

The following are the list of winners for the year 2010 along with the models in which the engines were tested.

• 2.0L TFSI Turbocharged DOHC I-4 (Audi A4) 
• 3.0L TFSI Supercharged DOHC V-6 (Audi S4)
• 3.0L DOHC I-6 Turbodiesel (BMW 335d)
• 2.5L DOHC I-4 Hybrid (Ford Fusion Hybrid)
• 3.5L EcoBoost Turbocharged DOHC V-6 (Ford Taurus SHO)
• 2.4L Ecotec DOHC I-4 (Chevrolet Equinox)
• 4.6L Tau DOHC V-8 (Hyundai Genesis)
• 2.5L Turbocharged DOHC H-4 (Subaru Legacy 2.5GT)
• 1.8L DOHC I-4 Hybrid (Toyota Prius) 
• 2.0L SOHC I-4 Turbodiesel (Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen TDI)
  

Hyundai crosses 25 Lakh Car Production in India

Let me settle things first. This blog is not a Hyundai PR Website. Now that things are clear, let me also state that I wish that there are some other automobile companies to rival Hyundai in constantly attracting media attention and being in spotlight. Seriously, this Korean company is not only growing globally in terms of sales, models, profits and brand image but is also setting milestones across the globe. Following my previous post of Hyundai's milestone in Alabama (USA), it is now the turn of it's Indian subsidiary Hyundai Motor India (HMI) to achieve a significant milestone.

The cumulative production of cars in it's plant at Sriperumbudur, 35 kms from the auto hub of Chennai, crossed 25 Lakh units today (08-Dec-2009). Hyundai started operations in India in the year 1998 after completing the construction of the greenfield facility in a record time of 17 months. The first car "Santro" was launched in September 1998 and it went off to become one of the most popular cars to be made in India with a total cumulative sales of 15 Lakh units till date. Cars like the Accent, Sonata, Getz, Elantra, i10 & the recent i20 have followed the Santro and continued the legacy of Hyundai in India. Of the total 25 Lakh units produced, approximately 16 Lakh units were sold in India and 9 Lakh units were exported.

Hyundai Motor India has always been a trendsetter of sorts in our country and this event is no exception. Hyundai has achieved this milestone in just a little over 10 years - the fastest in India and only the second auto manufacturer after Maruti to achieve this milestone.

One Millionth Vehicle rolls off Hyundai's Alabama Plant

November-30-2009 will go in books as a red-letter day for South Korean auto-major Hyundai's American subsidiary - Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama (HMMA). The day marked the "Roll-Out of 1 Millionth Vehicle" from the plant which started operations in 2005 with the mid-size Sonata sedan and henceforth added the crossover Santa Fe to it's lineup. In a short span of a little over four and a half years, a total of 655,496 Sonatas and 344,504 Santa Fes were built to achieve this landmark.

Speaking on the occasion, HMMA President & CEO, Mr.H.I.Kim said, "Our guests of honor today are without a doubt the team members wearing the Hyundai logo on their chest. We've overcome many challenges since production began in 2005 and through it all our Team Members never turned away from those challenges. It is because of them that we were able to accomplish this tremendous milestone."

It seems that Hyundai is on a spree of achieving milestones across the globe. On November-03-2009, Hyundai reported that the worldwide cumulative sales of it's Santa Fe SUV has touched 2 Million units. This included 500,000 unit sales in the Korean domestic market. This multiple award-winning and successful model was launched by Hyundai in June 2000 and it has steadily gained in popularity in most of the markets it was launched in. The Santa Fe is in it's second generation now and it was given a mid-cycle facelift very recently.

The Much (Un)Loved Concorde

Watching a big-ticket Hollywood movie is always a spectacle in itself with breathtaking CGI scenes, stunning animations, amazing (though often repeated) storyline, bold themes and the devil-may-care attitude of it's makers. Truly, the Hollywood filmmakers are not bound by so many social laws and rules that their Indian counterparts are bombarded with. At the end of the day, you also get a feeling that it's worth for the money that you have spent. Two of the recent movies that I have watched have been G.I.Joe and 2012. Both these movies had their fair share of completely illogical and ridiculous things happening in them but the fact is that they were packaged in a stunning and convincing way that you will not be able to completely refuse it either. While the former had menacing sci-fi machines looking straight out of an alien land and super spacecrafts that could go around and destroy missiles as far as over NewYork and Moscow in seconds, the latter had extravagant ships that could even withstand "end of the world"!

These things place a very obvious question in front of our mind - Are these going to be the machines of the future? Are we going to see and experience machines like these any time soon in our life? Though our heart will start beating faster thinking about the prospects of seeing things like these and will give a "Yes", our mind would say a definite "No no". Case in point, the sad demise of the "Concorde". Having let go off the closest machine that the public had access to like the one we see on these sci-fi movies, we don't really have a chance to see or experience machines like these in the near future.

The only real supersonic travel experience within the reach of the public deserved a much better run and more love from the public than what it actually garnered. Just imagine the feeling of traveling faster than sound which is just what this sleek monster provided. Though one can't deny the associated "Sonic Boom" that almost deafened the people directly under it's path and the gas-guzzling nature of it's turbojet engine, the universal truth is that "All things good come at a cost". For reasons not related to it directly, the most significant of them being the crash of the Air France Concorde in 2000 because of a chunk of metal in the runway from an aircraft which took off earlier and the economic depression, the flying of Concorde became nonviable for the associated airlines and the last flight happened in November 2003. I remember being very upset on seeing the last flight in news channels as it not only marked the end of an icon in aviation history but also ended one of my dreams of traveling in the Concorde one fine day. I had it on top of my Things To Do Before I Die list.

Personal feelings apart, I really wish there is a true successor to the Concorde lurking underground somewhere and is unveiled one day much to the surprise and excitement of the public and once again giving us the chance of traveling supersonic!