You could be forgiven for thinking that Auto Expo was only about powerful cars and humongous bikes. There was so much else that was happening too, says Rajesh Karkera.
Nissan Motor Co has entered into an eight-year sponsorship agreement with the International Cricket Council (ICC), a company executive said, in a bid by the Japanese car maker to boost its small market share in cricket-crazy India.
Force India driver Adrian Sutil is still rankled by the missed opportunity in Montreal where, he reckons, a top five finish was well within the realm of possibility but for the contact with Robert Kubica which left him with a punctured tyre.
Daniel Ricciardo is ready for tears, and maybe a few celebratory beers, as the cheerful Australian gears up for his 100th and last race with Red Bull in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
Adding to its list of Ford, Maruti, Hyundai, Toyota, Tata Steel now boasts of Nissan and Volkswagen as buyers of Tata Steel.
As the curtains fall on another year, Rediff.com brings you all the action from the sports field that defined 2019.
Three models from Maruti Suzuki, as well as models from Mahindra-Renault, Chevrolet, Toyota and Honda have got top rankings in their respective segments in a survey for new-vehicle design and performance in India, according to J D Power Asia Pacific 2007 India Automatic Performance, Execution and Layout Study (APEAL) released on Wednesday.
The small car market of India is booming like never before.
Japanese carmaker Nissan on Tuesday said it is in talks with Hinduja flagship company Ashok Leyland for developing a small car for the global market that could be priced around $4500-5000.
All 10 existing Formula One teams were included on the 2010 entry list on Friday along with two new US-based operations and one from Spain.
Vitantonio Liuzzi rounded off Force India's four-day testing with the fourth fastest time of the day and 80 smooth laps of the Circuit de Jerez in Jerez (Spain).
Formula One's ruling body should have punished Brazilian Nelson Piquet for the Renault race-fixing controversy, former driver David Coulthard says.
The measures government takes next to push economic growth will be the key for automotive sector
The manufacturing facility is being set up at Oragadam, near this city. The company has planned to set up 55 dealerships by 2012. So far, the company has appointed 23 and plans to add seven more by the end of this financial year.
Car makers are trying hard to boost sales in India.
It was only an exterior launch, not the actual car, but what he saw left Rediff.com's Rajesh Karkera hugely impressed.
Manufacturer Nissan plans to get aggressive with brand communication and increase the number of customer touchpoints through showrooms, experience zones and other initiatives.
Vettel, 17 points behind Hamilton after a commanding win in Belgium last Sunday, has previously triumphed at Monza with Toro Rosso and Red Bull and will fancy his chances of the hat-trick at the super-fast track outside Milan.
Force India's Adrian Sutil was demoted to the back row of the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix starting grid on Saturday for impeding Red Bull's Mark Webber in qualifying. Webber qualified 19th of the 20 drivers after being obstructed by the German, who was 16th fastest, in the first part of qualifying at the Sakhir circuit.
Adrian Sutil outshone the likes of Lewis Hamilton to lap ninth quickest in both the practice sessions for Sunday's Australian Grand Prix as Force India's new car promised a turnaround in the fortune of the Vijay Mallya-owned outfit.
Bringing Fernando Alonso to Ferrari to partner world champion Kimi Raikkonen would not be desirable, team president Luca di Montezemolo said on Tuesday. "To line up a Raikkonen-Alonso double act would mean wanting to damage yourself. I want two equal drivers that work together," the president said.
Indian driver Arjun Maini's road to Formula 1 has become tougher with his shock switch to sports car racing.
Nissan, Japan's third largest car maker in which Renault holds 44 per cent stake, will churn out three models based on a single platform from its manufacturing base in Chennai by 2010. The car will be sold in five countries categorised by the company as the leading competitive countries. The car, based on the A platform, will be produced in these countries that include India and Tailand.
Ferrari's world champion and Formula One leader Kimi Raikkonen took his first pole position of the season at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Germany's Daimler AG, known for its luxury cars and high-end commercial vehicles, has pulled out of the race to acquire a strategic stake in the Delhi-based commercial vehicles maker Eicher Motors.
"It is a recognition of your remarkable career in the business community in Mumbai and on the part you took in the establishment of the partnership between Mahindra and Renault," French Ambassador to India Jerome Bonnafont said in a letter informing Nanda of the award.
India's Karun Chandhok soaked tremendous pressure to score his first race win of the 2008 GP2 Series in Hockenheim on Sunday. Chandhok came under intense pressure from Andi Zuber of Piquet Sports for the last 20 laps of the race, but Karun kept his cool for a fantastic victory for the iSport International team.
Renault boss Flavio Briatore dismissed rumours of Fernando Alonso moving out of the French team at the end of the 2008 season.
The new tax regime has also been fuelling sale of SUVs, particularly the compact SUVs
Fernando Alonso did his best to put a positive spin on his disappointing return to Renault at the Australian Grand Prix on Saturday. He qualified 12th fastest for Sunday's season-opening race but will start from 11th after Toyota's Timo Glock dropped back five places for changing a gearbox.
Car makers are cautiously optimistic, even as two-wheeler firms are clearly upbeat.
Terming as "impossible" the Rs 1 lakh car that Tatas propose to roll out, particularly on safety aspects, Hyundai on Friday said it would like to bring an entry level car with a minimum price tag of $3000 like the one Renault is planning.
Carmaker Skoda India has decided to price Fabia, the hatchback it plans to launch at the Auto Expo in January, in the range of Rs 5-6 lakh.
Finnish team mate Kimi Raikkonen, who started on pole for the first time in nine years but lost the lead in the pitstops, made sure of a Ferrari one-two with Hamilton finishing seventh for Mercedes after starting 13th.
TUV300 will take on the likes of Ford EcoSport and Renault Duster that are priced between Rs 7.88 lakh and Rs 13.54 lakh.
The France-Austria-Britain sequence of races poses a fresh logistical challenge for teams hitherto committed only to back-to-back weekends, with the 21-round season hurrying to the halfway point.
Lewis Hamilton won a thrilling Italian Grand Prix for Mercedes on Sunday to stretch his championship lead to 30 points over Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, who fought back to fourth after a first lap spin.
Lewis Hamilton took a big step towards clinching his fifth Formula One title after putting his Mercedes on pole position at the U.S. Grand Prix on Saturday with Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel starting fifth.
Narain Karthikeyan finished 15th for Jordan as the highest-ranked of the four men making their Grands Prix debuts in Australia.
The 23-year-old Chennai racer will drive for Italy-based former race winners Durango in the 11-race event.
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