All-New BMW 1-Series India Bound

BMW has revealed its all new 1-series hatchback (codename: F20) which goes on sale in the international market in September this year.  The India launch is expected a year later in the second half of 2012. The 1-series is the smallest (and cheapest) BMW in the range which is why the company sees great potential for its all-new five-door hatchback in the Indian market. 

Encouraged by the sales of the X1, BMW feels confident that a sub-Rs 20 lakh BMW could further boost sales and it is for this reason that the company has increased capacity in its plant outside Chennai from 8,000 to 10,000 units per year. BMW hopes the 1-series will carve out a new niche for itself here as a powerful, premium rear-drive hatchback, so expect prices to be in the range of around Rs 15-18 lakh.

With its striking design — the shark-nose treatment up front, the kidney grille that leans forward, clamshell bonnet and recessed headlights — it certainly looks the part of a premium hatch. The surface treatment along the sides isn’t as conflicting as the current 1-series and to allow for a large tail-gate aperture, the tail-lamps have been pushed, VW Polo-style, to the extremities of the rear.

Based on the same platform architecture as the 3-series, it shares some major components with the ‘3’ including its front MacPherson struts and multi-link rear suspension.

It’s not as small as it looks in the pictures though. At 4.2 metres long and with a wheelbase that has been stretched by 30mm over the current 1-series, this car is more midsize saloon than small hatch. These dimensions promise a roomy, comfortable cabin. Expect cabin quality to be closer to the X3 and 3-series as well.

Helping distance the 1-series from ‘junta’ hatchbacks is a BMW’s rear-wheel-drive layout and previously unheard of power for a hatchback here. Internationally, BMW is offering a 1.6-litre petrol engine in two states of tune and a 2.0-litre diesel with three different power outputs, but Indian cars might share engines with the X1 in the interests of costs. This means a 2.0-litre, 181bhp diesel and a 150bhp, 2.0-litre petrol with a distant possibility of a hot 168bhp direct-injection petrol.

The 1-series could be an inviting proposition for someone who already owns a BMW and wants a small, yet premium hatchback, to punt around town. If BMW prices it right, the 1-series has the potential to dispel the misconception that premium cars have to be premium-sized and could propel the German carmaker’s sales to another level. 

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Land Rover Plans Evoque XL

Land Rover’s Design and marketing departments are close to deciding whether to add a fourth model to the Range Rover line-up, according to insiders. The aim is to bridge the gap between the compact Evoque and the Range Rover Sport.

One of the conceptual front-runners to fill this role is said to be a ‘Grand Evoque’, which takes the new baby Range Rover’s dramatic and sporting looks and scales them up into a bigger model. Its thought Land Rover’s designers think there could be a big demand for a family-size ‘coupé SUV’ that’s less domineering and aggressive than BMW’s X6.

Aside from the medium-size SUV now being a staple of the US new car market, there’s increasing evidence that Chinese car buyers are beginning to embrace SUVs, with sales recently taking off, especially in Beijing and Shanghai.

The five-door machine would take advantage of the considerable packaging advantages of Land Rover’s new LR-MS platform (which is loosely based on the Ford EuCD platform used on the Freelander), which underpins the Evoque. Advocates of the model say the Grand Evoque could benefit from an aggressively sporting appearance and still offer considerable interior space, especially in the rear.

The LR-MS platform could be stretched by around 300mm, with half fed into rear legroom and the rest into creating a longer rear overhang and a bigger boot. The platform’s flexibility would also allow the use of a taller bulkhead and higher seating positions for the front passengers, making the final model around 100mm taller than the Evoque.

Building the fourth model on a version of JLR’s new corporate aluminum platform — which will underpin the new Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Jaguar XJ — is thought to be a non-runner as it’s too big and too expensive for the niche that is being explored by Land Rover. Like its smaller sister model, a Grand Evoque would get the option of front-wheel drive and have a similar line-up of 2.2-litre diesel and 2.0-litre petrol engines.

This proposal to scale up the Evoque platform also makes sense from another angle. Jaguar is keen to enter the SUV market with a sporty, design-led crossover and this could also use the Grand Evoque platform to create a new model.

Bundling the fourth Range Rover and the first Jaguar SUV onto this platform, and making both cars at Halewood, in the UK, would make considerable financial sense.

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Last Bugatti Veyron Sold

Bugatti has sold the last example of its 300-strong Bugatti Veyron 16.4 line-up. The Veyron was introduced seven years ago.

The Veyron produces 987bhp and accelerates to 100kph in a jaw-dropping 2.5sec thanks to its 8.0-litre W16 quad-turbocharged engine.

According to Bugatti, sales of the world’s fastest convertible - the Bugatti Grand Sport – "remains available to automotive connoisseurs,"

Delivery of the final Bugatti Veyron car will go to the unknown European buyer later this year. 

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Fortuner Facelift Spy Pics

Toyota’s very successful SUV the Fortuner, has been comfortably leading the Indian SUV market since its launch two years ago. The Japanese manufacturer however is planning to give it a facelift, as is evident from these leaked brochure pictures.

The nose is now all-new and is designed to appear wider and more aggressive. It features new headlamps that are slightly stretched, a restyled and sculpted bonnet with a larger scoop for the air-intake, a re-profiled bumper and a wider redesigned chrome grille that makes it resemble the Toyota Land Cruiser.

Toyota hasn’t changed the side profile of the Fortuner, but the rear now gets new clear-lens tail-lamps that have a different profile from the current ones. The roof-rack and scuff plate, as seen in the picture, however are likely to be optional extras, which may or may not come with this updated version of the car.

The current Fortuner is powered by a 3.0-litre common rail diesel motor that churns out a respectable 169bhp. This is the same motor that does duty in the larger Land Cruiser Prado as well, although the Prado gets more torque, and the Fortuner may be given this step up as well as an automatic version could be on the cards too, along with imporved interiors.

Toyota has been planning to increase the local content on the Fortuner for some time now and this facelift may provide the perfect opportunity.  And this could be accompanied by a correction in price that would make it more affordable.  But its not clear when this is likely to happen.

Expect the updated Fortuner to reach our shores by early 2012.  

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Skoda Unveils Open-Top Fabia

Skoda has unveiled a dramatic open-top roadster version of its Fabia vRS S2000 rally car at Volkswagen Group’s GTI-Treffen tuning event in Worthersee.

 

The one-off Skoda Fabia vRS S2000 design concept car has been designed and built specifically for the annual show. Skoda CEO Winfried Vahland told Autocar that the hand-built roadster had been created to “show what the company can do with a Fabia”.

 

Designers were briefed to “create an original roadster pursuing a single goal – dynamism and the joy of sporting driving”.

 

Power for the all-wheel drive roadster comes from a twin-turbocharged four-cylinder 2.0-litre petrol engine that produces “over 200bhp”. It weighs around 1200kg and the tracks have been widened in excess of 120mm.

 

The concept gets a shallow-raked windscreen, which Skoda says allows the occupants of the car “to be at one with nature”. Despite losing its roof, there is room for four inside the Fabia vRS S2000.

 

It is finished in the same green colour as the road-going Fabia vRS. Design modifications include new bonnet scoops for extra cooling, flared wheel arches with cooling ducts, 18-inch white allow wheels, a rear diffuser and side skirts.

 

Inside, the dashboard is trimmed with carbonfibre and the material is also used for the door inserts. Front passengers sit in green-piped sports bucket seats with four-point harnesses.

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