rediff.com
News APP

NewsApp (Free)

Read news as it happens
Download NewsApp

Available on  gplay

Rediff.com  » Business » 6 upcoming cars for the big Indian families
This article was first published 10 years ago

6 upcoming cars for the big Indian families

Last updated on: March 03, 2014 17:00 IST

Image: Honda Mobilio
Photographs: Courtesy, Indian Autos Blog

The utility vehicle market has the fancy of every automaker in India. Renault India has made a living by selling the Duster and enjoys an 8 per cent share in the utility vehicle segment. And, it managed this fear within 18 months.

Ford managed a comeback with the EcoSport which now makes up for over 50 per cent of the company’s sales.

Meanwhile, market leader Maruti Suzuki is using the MPV segment to make up for the lost volumes in its smaller cars. Maruti is also using this segment to shed its image as a small car expert and catapult itself in a premium segment.

Powered by
IndianAutosBlog.com sizzles with spyshots, news, renderings and reviews of your favorite cars everyday. Are you updated?

6 upcoming cars for the big Indian families

Image: Chevrolet Enjoy.
Photographs: Courtesy, Chevrolet

Growth in the MPV segment hasn’t proved to be as good as the SUV segment.

Vehicles like the Tata Aria, Chevrolet Enjoy and the Nissan Evalia that broke new ground in technology, value or affordability, faded quickly.

Manufacturers, however, are not deterred by the failures in the multi-purpose vehicle segment. Rather they are betting big on these cars as future high growth are, as the big Indian families that graduate from a hatchback would lie to shift to a bigger car with three-row sitting.

Having a people mover is a top priority for every car manufacturer in India.

Powered by
IndianAutosBlog.com sizzles with spyshots, news, renderings and reviews of your favorite cars everyday. Are you updated?

6 upcoming cars for the big Indian families

Image: Honda Mobilio
Photographs: Courtesy, Indian Autos Blog

Honda Mobilio

The Mobilio was unveiled in India at the 2014 Auto Expo earlier this month.

Based on the Honda Brio/Amaze platform, the car’s wheelbase is stretched to accommodate three rows of seats.

Powered by
IndianAutosBlog.com sizzles with spyshots, news, renderings and reviews of your favorite cars everyday. Are you updated?

6 upcoming cars for the big Indian families

Image: Honda Mobilio.
Photographs: Courtesy, Indian Autos Blog

Honda Mobilio

In India, the car would be powered by a 1.5L diesel engine which develops 100PS/200 Nm on the City and Amaze.

Meanwhile the petrol option that would understandably not attract too much attention, would have to be the 1.5L petrol engine from the new City, pairing with either a 5-speed or 6-speed manual or a seven-speed stepped CVT.

Powered by
IndianAutosBlog.com sizzles with spyshots, news, renderings and reviews of your favorite cars everyday. Are you updated?

6 upcoming cars for the big Indian families

Image: Honda Mobilio.
Photographs: Courtesy, Indian Autos Blog

Honda Mobilio

We sense Honda will gun for record fuel economy, if not for the total car market, at least for the MPV class.

The Mobilio will be priced to compete with the Maruti Ertiga, and will launch between July-September this year.

Powered by
IndianAutosBlog.com sizzles with spyshots, news, renderings and reviews of your favorite cars everyday. Are you updated?

6 upcoming cars for the big Indian families

Image: Dacia Lodgy.
Photographs: Courtesy, Dacia

Renault Lodgy

Launched as the Dacia Lodgy in 2011 it was a sister model to the Duster. The Lodgy, with seats for 8 passengers, shares its foundation with the hugely popular SUV.

It is for this reason that Renault would find manufacturing the car not as difficult as bringing in another new product.

Powered by
IndianAutosBlog.com sizzles with spyshots, news, renderings and reviews of your favorite cars everyday. Are you updated?

6 upcoming cars for the big Indian families

Image: Dacia Lodgy.
Photographs: Courtesy, Dacia

Renault Lodgy

The Duster is localised to the tune of 80 per cent. Critical components, including the 1.5-liter K9K diesel engine and the 6-speed gearbox, the dashboard, seats and suspension, that are common to the Lodgy, are procured from local vendors. A competitive price tag hence, is achievable.

We expect the Renault Lodgy to launch before March 2015.

Powered by
IndianAutosBlog.com sizzles with spyshots, news, renderings and reviews of your favorite cars everyday. Are you updated?

6 upcoming cars for the big Indian families

Image: Datsun Go+
Photographs: Courtesy, Datsun

Datsun Go+

Datsun have announced the Go+ for the Indian market in the second half of the year.

Essentially a stretched Go hatchback with a small third row bench, the Go+ would be one of India’s least expensive family vehicles as it manages to stay within the 4-metre barrier, firing a 1.2L petrol engine which also qualifies for lower subsidies.

Powered by
IndianAutosBlog.com sizzles with spyshots, news, renderings and reviews of your favorite cars everyday. Are you updated?

6 upcoming cars for the big Indian families

Image: Datsun Go+
Photographs: Courtesy, Datsun

Datsun Go+

Datsun have announced the Go+ for the Indian market in the second half of the year. Essentially a stretched Go hatchback with a small third row bench, the Go+ would be one of India’s least expensive family vehicles as it manages to stay within the 4m barrier, firing a 1.2L petrol engine which also qualifies for lower subsidies.

Powered by
IndianAutosBlog.com sizzles with spyshots, news, renderings and reviews of your favorite cars everyday. Are you updated?

6 upcoming cars for the big Indian families

Image: interior of Datsun Go+
Photographs: Courtesy, Datsun

Datsun Go+

Setting it between the poles that are the Wagon R and the Swift is one way to position this product.

The mechanical aspect remains unchanged from the Go - using a 1.2L three-cylinder petrol engine to produce 68 PS and 104 Nm of torque.

Powered by
IndianAutosBlog.com sizzles with spyshots, news, renderings and reviews of your favorite cars everyday. Are you updated?

6 upcoming cars for the big Indian families

Image: Datsun Go+
Photographs: Courtesy, Indian Autos Blog

Datsun Go+

Measuring 3,995 mm long, 1,635 mm wide and 1,485 mm tall, with a wheelbase of 2,450 mm, the 794 kg MPV would easily fit into your existing parking space.

The Go+ received its Indian premiere at the Auto Expo, but was shown first at the Indonesian International Motor Show last year where it launches the brand this year.

Powered by
IndianAutosBlog.com sizzles with spyshots, news, renderings and reviews of your favorite cars everyday. Are you updated?

6 upcoming cars for the big Indian families

Image: Hyundai Hexa Space.
Photographs: Courtesy, Hyundai

Hyundai MPV

Hyundai’s second India-intensive product program after the Eon would be an affordable three-row family vehicle.

Very few details are available on this project today which would launch somewhere in 2016.

Image for representation purpose only.

Powered by
IndianAutosBlog.com sizzles with spyshots, news, renderings and reviews of your favorite cars everyday. Are you updated?

Tags: Hyundai , MPV

6 upcoming cars for the big Indian families

Image: Hyundai Hexa Space.
Photographs: Courtesy, Hyundai

Hyundai MPV

Likely to share its platform with the Grand i10 or the new i20, we expect the MPV to have segment-first equipments, a good variety of variants and trims, and sport the Fluidic Design 2.0.

Image for representation purpose only.

Powered by
IndianAutosBlog.com sizzles with spyshots, news, renderings and reviews of your favorite cars everyday. Are you updated?

6 upcoming cars for the big Indian families

Image: Chevrolet Enjoy.
Photographs: Courtesy, Chevrolet.

Chevrolet Enjoy facelift

Introduced in India early last year, the Chevrolet Enjoy is China’s best selling MPV.

But in India, the reception to the Chinese-developed vehicle could have been a lot better.

The 1.3-liter engined rear-wheel drive MPV offered at rock-bottom prices with better space than the Ertiga sold just 15,679 units last year, a fraction that rivals Maruti and Toyota managed with their family vans.

Powered by
IndianAutosBlog.com sizzles with spyshots, news, renderings and reviews of your favorite cars everyday. Are you updated?

6 upcoming cars for the big Indian families

Image: Interior of Chevrolet Enjoy.
Photographs: Courtesy, Chevrolet.

Chevrolet Enjoy facelift

One aspect that generally is regarded as an area that begs for improvement is the aesthetics.

In China, Wuling (the sub-brand that sells light commercial vehicles including the Enjoy) introduced an upgraded Enjoy in August last year featuring a new face and a revamped dashboard with modern amenities like a 7-inch touchscreen multimedia system, steering-mounted audio controls, stepped-up switchgear and a reworked NVH package.

Powered by
IndianAutosBlog.com sizzles with spyshots, news, renderings and reviews of your favorite cars everyday. Are you updated?

6 upcoming cars for the big Indian families

Image: Interior of Chevrolet Enjoy.
Photographs: Courtesy, Chevrolet.

Chevrolet Enjoy facelift

The 1.4-litre petrol engine was phased out and in came a new and more powerful 1.5-litre motor.

At some point in the lifecycle of the Indian car, these updates would have to be downloaded to the Enjoy for it to contend with new competitors as well as hold on to its current market share.

Powered by
IndianAutosBlog.com sizzles with spyshots, news, renderings and reviews of your favorite cars everyday. Are you updated?

6 upcoming cars for the big Indian families

Image: Tata Sumo Gold.
Photographs: Courtesy, Tata Motors.

Tata Movus

The Tata Movus is expected on the market in a short while from now in 7-, 8- and 9-seater variants.

Replacing the Sumo Grande, the Movus borrows the Safari Storme’s 2.2-liter four-cylinder VariCOR engine which produces 140 PS of power and 320 Nm of torque in the Storme and comes mated to a 5-speed manual transmission.

These figures are likely to be downgraded in the interest of fuel efficiency.

Image for representation purpose only.

Powered by
IndianAutosBlog.com sizzles with spyshots, news, renderings and reviews of your favorite cars everyday. Are you updated?

6 upcoming cars for the big Indian families

Image: Tata Sumo Extreme.
Photographs: Courtesy, Tata Motors.

Tata Movus

Targeted at the commercial segment, the Movus carries a host of improvements on the back of customer input.

Improvements on the Movus include thicker brake linings, revised body mounts for improving NVH, cable type door latch, new clutch which reduces operating effort, longer lasting fuel filter, timing belt with extra durability and an adjusted rack and pinion steering system.

Image for representation purpose only.

Powered by
IndianAutosBlog.com sizzles with spyshots, news, renderings and reviews of your favorite cars everyday. Are you updated?

Tags: NVH

6 upcoming cars for the big Indian families

Image: Tata Movus.
Photographs: Courtesy, Indian Autos Blog

Tata Movus

The Movus achieves a higher ARAI-certified fuel efficiency in the region of 15.2 kmpl (up from the current 13.55 kmpl) and would launch with the same basic looks.

Image for representation purpose only.

Tags: ARAI