VW Polo is 2010 World Car of the Year

I think I have what it takes to become a successful automotive journalist in the future. There were quite a few eyebrows raised when, as per my initial forecast, the Ford Fusion became the 2010 North American Car of the Year and the Volkswagen Polo won the 2010 European Car of the Year award. This time again, I have been spot-on in guessing the eventual winner of yet another important title. Personal kudos apart, coming to the big news, as predicted in my earlier post, the just-launched in India Volkswagen Polo has won the 2010 World Car of the Year award. 

The World Car of the Year award aims to combine the attributes of all the regional and individual publication's titles to crown the best car in the world that has been launched the previous year. The Volkswagen Polo took the top honors among the 3 finalists, which included the Mercedes-Benz E Class and the Toyota Prius. The award was announced in the New York International Auto Show that's taking place in New York currently. The other awards announced were as follows:

• World Car of the Year - Volkswagen Polo (Mercedes-Benz E Class, Toyota Prius)
• World Performance Car of the Year - Audi R8 V10 (Porsche 911 GT3, Ferrari California)
• World Design of the Year - Chevrolet Camaro (Kia Soul, Citroen C3 Picasso)
• World Green Car of the Year - Volkswagen Blue Motion Cars (Toyota Prius, Honda Insight)

The cars mentioned in the braces were the ones that made it into the Top 3 Finalists in each of the above categories. Way to go Volkswagen!

Nissan Micra spotted testing in Chennai

Chennai is buzzing with activity in the automotive sector over the past few months. Being home to so many car-makers, Chennai is abound with to-be-launched vehicles criss-crossing it's landscape undergoing various stages of testing. After BMW's new 5 Series, Mahindra's global SUV, Ford's Figo and Fiesta (Europe Spec), joining the long list of cars being frequently spotted testing in the open roads of Chennai is the Nissan's latest offering, the "Micra" compact car. Though I have spotted it twice before, it was either dark or I was there without a camera. Not this time. I bumped on a brand-new Micra yesterday in broad day-light  with a camera on hand. Though most of the people did not mind to have a second look at it, auto-buffs could easily identify the car as the new baby-Nissan, though it had it's badges and logos covered on all sides.

Seeing it out in the open confirmed what I felt on seeing the press release pictures. The Micra looks cute from the front and the sides, while the rear looks somewhat out-of-shape, especially the way in which the C-Pillar merges with the top of the tail lamps. The profile of the car was particularly well designed while the same can't be said for the shape of the tail-lamps. It's only my opinion though and as they say, "Looks are subjective". I had my friend sitting with me who said that the Micra looked so cute and very Beetle-ish from the sides. Girls are sure to love this design though, what with the circular theme of the car not stopping with the exteriors but continuing inside the car as well. The quality and fit and finish of the car was top-notch and if this test car is anything to go by, expect the production Micras to come with superb quality on par with Volkswagen and Hyundai and a notch above Maruti, Tata and Fiat.

The people inside the car gave us curious glances as we followed them from one traffic signal to another and took snaps of the car from both sides. That stopped us from getting closer and taking a snap of the interiors but from what we saw, the interiors seemed to be well put-together with the center console being particularly impressive to look at. The launch of this car along with the Beat, Figo, Polo and the soon-to-be-launched Etios and Honda's small car is sure to spoil the Indian customers for choice. A very nice problem to have indeed, when you are looking out for a new car! Check out the pictures for yourself.

Bajaj strikes Gold at last

Bajaj Auto Ltd., India's second largest two-wheeler maker announced recently that it has created a record of sorts by selling 500000 units of it's smash hit 100cc model, the Discover 100 DTS-Si in 225 days. This, along with the other recent runaway hit, the Pulsar 135LS, has put Bajaj back on the right track after what seemed to be a lull in the company's planning and product portfolio. The Bajaj Discover 100 DTS-Si was launched in July last year and if you remember correctly, I had predicted that this bike would be a mega hit and boost the fortunes of Bajaj.  Before the launch of these models, it was pathetic to see Bajaj losing marketshare and sales month-on-month compared to it's competitors, both big and small, who were growing like anything.

"The twin successes of the 100cc Discover DTS-Si and also the recently-launched Pulsar 135 LS has boosted our marketshare to 27.3 per cent in February. We were unable to meet the demand and there was a stock-out situation in some dealerships," Bajaj Auto's CEO (Two-Wheelers), Mr.S.Sridhar said. 

We can only hope that Bajaj does not lets its customers down this time by discontinuing the new models within months after it's launch and replacing it with something else. Case in point, being the Platina and the XCD. Both these bikes were not duds and sold in quite good numbers before being axed by Bajaj for reasons only known to Bajaj. Hope Bajaj is listening.

Maruti-Suzuki manufactures 1 Millionth Car in 2009-10

Maruti-Suzuki India Ltd. (MSIL), which makes every second car sold in India and which commands a 54% share in the Indian automotive market created history on 23-Mar-2010 (Tuesday), when it manufactured the 1 Millionth Car of the year 2009-2010. By doing so, Maruti-Suzuki has joined an elite group of companies across the world that makes and sells more than a million cars a year. The list of companies doing so include Toyota, General Motors, Volkswagen, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Renault, Suzuki and Nissan. A blazing red Maruti-Suzuki Swift took the honors of being the millionth car of the financial year 2010. The journey of Maruti-Suzuki has been in sync with the growth of Indian Automotive Industry. While the Indian market has grown from a meagre 40,000 units annually when the first "Maruti 800" was rolled out in 1983 to the current 2 million units a year, Maruti-Suzuki has kept pace with a vice-like grip of the market and maintaining it's 50% plus market share even after the advent of global competition.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr.R.C.Bhargava, Chairman of Maruti-Suzuki said, "The landmark attained by Maruti-Suzuki fully establishes the validity of the late Prime Minister Smt.Indira Gandhi's vision when she decided to create Maruti Udyog. This vision has been fulfilled because of outstanding entrepreneurship of Mr.Osamu Suzuki, the excellent cooperation which existed between the Government of India and Suzuki Motor Corporation, and the enormous dedication, hard work and commitment of all Maruti-Suzuki employees over the last more than 26 years. The future beckons and Maruti-Suzuki will not be found wanting. Mr.Osamu Suzuki, Chairman and CEO of Suzuki Motor Corporation was among the dignitaries who graced the occasion.

With this, Maruti-Suzuki has become the first Indian automotive company to join the exclusive million club. Hope Tata and Mahindra follows suit and does India proud in the near future. 

Tata Nano goes up in flames in Mumbai

The little wonder from Tata, called the Nano, which made the entire world sit up and take notice of India is now creating headlines across the world for all the wrong reasons. Seriously, the Tata Nano is "Frugal Engineering" at it's best and it has sent the right notes across the automotive industry, what with many other companies now trying to emulate Tata in making a similar-priced and similar-sized car. At this juncture, it's very unfortunate that a brand new Tata Nano, which was just delivered to the owner and was being driven home (by a company chauffeur as the owner did not know how to drive!) caught fire in the middle of the road in Mumbai. The owner should consider himself extremely lucky for not ending up toasted in the car thanks to a motorbike rider who alerted him and the driver by showing signs to look at the back of the car. Only then it dawned on them that the Nano's engine at the rear was on fire. Minutes after they stopped and got down from the car, the entire car was engulfed in flames as is visible from the picture.

Like all bad factors coming against a good thing, this incident and the previous one of a parked Nano catching fire in Ahmedabad will make doomsayers across the world to start their stupid comments about Tata, it's quality, it's cost-cutting and Indian manufacturing, etc. For all those people, I would just like to say one thing - even Toyota, considered as the God of Quality until very recently was not spared from problems. As a responsible company, I hope Tata comes out with a clear explanation of the incident and put all doubts to rest once and for all. I was telling this before and will continue to say this in future too - Hats off to Tata for coming up with the Nano !!!