Toyota announced that the firm would provide employment to over 1,500 people in India by 2013, with intentions to expand its operations and boost its sales in the country. In a joint venture with Kirloskar Group in India, Toyota has invested over Rs 1,650 crores in order to boost their production capacity by 1 lakh units by the year 2014.

“The company is in the process of employing about 1500 employees during the coming year to reach this goal,” said Mr. Shekar Viswanathan, Deputy Managing Director – Commercial of Toyota Kirloskar Motors. He mentioned that the firm is going to employ people on contract basis too, apart from the permanent workers in order to boost production.

The company plans to boost its Bangalore facility’s production capacity from 1.5 lakh units to 2.1 lakh units by the end of next year.

A while earlier, we had reported that Maruti Suzuki had suspended bookings for the new Swift owing to the Manesar plant unrest. The company has now taken a step to bring back the bookings for the car by shifting the production of the new Swift from the Manesar plant to its facility in Gurgaon. Due to the labor unrest at Manesar, the car came attached with a waiting period of as long as 8 months which forced dealers across the country to suspend the bookings for the car.

As another step to continue production, the firm has hired additional temporary workers to speed up the production at Manesar where about 250 cars were manufactured yesterday. There is no clue as to when the strike at Manesar, which is currently at its 11^th day, would end.

A spokesperson for the firm said, “The Company has taken this decision to deliver Swift cars as soon as possible to customers who have booked them and are waiting for the delivery. As the company is working with less manpower at the Manesar plant these days, the decision to make the Swift both at Manesar and Gurgaon will help the company to raise overall volume.”

Tata Motors seems to be getting into deeper trouble after another Tata Nano burst into flames, now in Sri Lanka. The car was being used as a taxi by a cab company in Sri Lanka by the name Budget Taxi. Tata Motors had just started exporting Nanos to Sri Lanka in May, 2011. In just 4 months, the flames have debuted in Sri Lanka too.

Just a while ago, we reported a Tata Nano that caught fire at Anand, Gujarat. these flames have not only been burning the car but also its reputation thus, pushing the sales downwards. It is a fact that Tata Motors had concluded its investigations in the previous fires and commented that the flames weren’t due to any engineering faults. However, due to the repeated mishaps in regular intervals, there seems to be something fishy and Tata Motors owes and explanation for the same.

The recent alarming infernos have put up a huge question mark on the safety of the car.

India’s only fully electric car offering comes in the form of the Reva. The little car that can fit two adults and some shopping bags has been around for quite sometime, however due to its high price it has not penetrated the market in the manner that most thought it would. This car is capable of running around for 80 kilometers on a single charge, the Reva is a green answer to city mobility. Easy to park, cheap to run, however expensive to purchase, the Reva has made its mark on the Indian automotive scene.

 ”In the next 18 months, we will launch an M&M product with electric vehicle technology in India,” Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicle Chief of Technology and Strategy Chetan Maini told reporters on the sidelines of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers’ (SIAM) annual summit here.

“The company has already fitted the technology in M&M’s vehicles and it is currently being tested”, he added. Maini, however, declined to name the Mahindra vehicle in which the electric technology will be introduced for commercial sale. M&M had earlier announced plans to roll out its flagship sports utility vehicle, ‘Scorpio’, with an electric fuel option and gradually introduce it in other models as well.

In 2010, M&M had acquired majority stake in Reva. When asked about Reva’s dealership network, Maini said: “We will gradually introduce a Reva electric car in all Mahindra outlets. Our plan is to have 50 outlets by end of this year and go up to 100 showrooms by the end of next year.” and the company is currently expanding its production capacity from 3,000 units to 30,000 units with the opening of a second production facility in Bangalore.

The current scenario of the Indian car market is a bit shaky and is moving at a very slow pace. To add to this, fuel prices too have been sky-rocketing. Keeping these factors in mind, Honda has decided to focus on affordability and fuel economy. This is exactly what the Honda Brio has within itself to offer.

The car has been heavily localized in order to bring down the price to as much as Rs 4 lakh for the base variant. Honda has always kept up to its standards by providing safety features in its vehicles. However, this time, Honda seems to have compromised on this. The base variant of the Honda Brio Hatchback will feature only ABS with the airbags absent in the car. This has been done in order to let the car fit into its 4 lakh mark.

The car is powered by a 1.2-Liter i-VTEC engine which has a fine-tuned gear ratio in order to provide better fuel economy. However, this engine is the most powerful and has maximum torque in its class. The car will feature beige interiors unlike most other lower segment cars.

Before the Brio, there was no other Honda car that could act as a first time buyer’s affordable or ‘budget’ car. Owing to its fuel efficiency and affordable price tag, we expect the car to have tremendous potential in the Indian market.

The new Mercedes-Benz CLS Saloon, a four-door coupe has been scheduled for launch in India on the 8^th of September, 2011. The Mercedes-Benz CLS had always been the ‘cool car’. The new car is the second generation of the CLS which is a step further with regards to styling. The car looks more mature and appealing with a sports-car type stance. The new CLS may not be the most luxurious vehicle with ample of space; however, the superior styling, coupe-like design and pillar-less doors make the car look stunningly ‘cool’.

The basic shape of the car remains similar to that of its predecessor. It features the basic shape with a long snout and short rear end with minimal overhangs which may not look good with the curves of the new car.

The new car comes with a bag-full of features to impress the owner. Exterior LEDs illuminate the road while integrated LEDs on the tail lamp improve visibility. The car comes with the THERMOTRONIC automatic climate control which keeps the temperature of the interiors comfortable. The car also comes with Mercedes’ COMAND APS with LINGUATRONIC which is a voice operated control system.

The car comes with two engine options in India. The petrol version, CLS 350 CGI is powered by a 3.5 litre V6 that pumps 272 horses with 350 Nm of torque. The diesel variant, CLS 350 CDI is powered by a 224 bhp and 540 Nm engine. The Mercedes-Benz AMG tuned version of the CLS called CLS 63 AMG is powered by a 6.2 litre V8 that pumps about 500 horses with a torque figure of 630 Nm.

Ford India has started a first-of-its-kind advertising campaign christened ‘Swap Your Drive,’ which brings forward real people and their experiences. As a part of this advertising campaign, consumers were given a chance to exchange their existing four-wheeler for a new Ford vehicle for a week’s time and thus, allowing them to provide their first hand feedback.

“‘Swap your Drive’ truly justifies Ford India’s attempt to bring consumers to the core of our marketing campaigns to drive real, credible and honest experiences. We aim to usher in a new era of marketing communications where we are co-creating content and building advocates,” said Nigel E Wark, executive director, Marketing, Sales and Service, Ford India. “We’ve felt that challenging people’s perceptions head-on is the best way to transform opinions. Nothing influences a customer’s notions about a car as much as an extensive test-drive and ownership experience and we exactly did that to educate people about Ford products. We’re tapping real people, allowing them to experience our vehicles for themselves and then capturing their enthusiasm for the products. We’re telling the Ford story through the eyes of the people who matter most – real consumers,” he added.

Natural and spontaneous reactions from real consumers from various backgrounds have been expressed in the campaign. With the ability to spend long hours with the Ford car, the contestants expressed surprise and were delighted. The Ford Figo, Ford Fiesta Classic and the Ford Endeavour were the cars used for the campaign. Most contestants emphasized on the superior driving quality and the fuel efficiency that helped prevent a gaping hole in their pockets considering the ever-rising fuel prices.

Sanjeet is a 27 year old communications professional who was a participant of the campaign. He swapped his existing car with a Ford Figo and this is what he has to say: “Driving a Ford Figo compared to my present car was just amazing. It has got everything – sporty looks, comfort and incredible mileage from Figo. The Bluetooth feature and the spaciousness added to the existing convenience that it provides. I can’t even think of going back to my old car.”

According to various reports, the company has managed to manufacture not more than 1000 units in the past 1 week. In order to meet the present demand, the company was supposed to manufacture about 8400 units of the Maruti Suzuki Swift. As a result of this, the bookings of the car will be backed by a very long waiting period. Owing to this, the dealers have suspended the bookings for the new Swift till the strike is called off and production continues. At present, the car comes along with a waiting period of as long as 8 months.

“Despite the intense curiosity for the new Swift and the car surpassing consumer expectations, we cannot take any more bookings. Deliveries in the current bank of bookings will go on till next April and even beyond,” said a Maruti Dealer from Delhi.

“There could be issues with the dealers as the current crisis has resulted in uncertainty. We normally give an anticipated delivery period to customers but as we are facing issues at the Manesar plant over production of the new Swift, dealers must have decided to stop taking fresh requests,” said Mayank Pareek, managing executive officer (marketing & sales).

Earlier in January this year, the company had hiked prices by 1.5 percent followed by another hike of 1.5 – 2 percent in the month of April; making this the third price rise of the year by the firm. ”July and August have been very good. Now we are hoping better sales in September and October on account of the festive season,” said Mr Nayer when asked about sales. “The company is observing the movement of interest rates on auto loans ‘cautiously’ as it can have an adverse impact on customer demand,” he added.

Mahindra & Mahindra sells utility vehicles like ‘Scorpio’ and ‘Bolero’ along with three-wheeler commercial vehicles, the ‘Verito’ sedan and a range of three wheeler commercial vehicles. According to various reports, M&M registered a rise of 31.09 per cent with 35,756 units in August 2011 as compared to the same month a year ago, in the domestic market. A rise of 41.90 per cent with 37,323 units was observed in the month of July as compared to the same month in 2010.Nayer said, “All our products are doing very well. Our core products as well as new additions have done well. Products like ‘Scorpio’ and ‘Verito’ are helping the company to register robust growth in the recent past.”

Hafsa’s husband was driving along with four of his friends. They spotted smoke at the rear of the car when they reached Krishna road after which they halted to check the car. As per reports, the car burst into flames and was engulfed in it. Tata Motors has already found itself in the midst of a problem after the sales of India’s cheapest car dropped down. This is not the first time that a Nano has caught fire and thus, this adds more loss to the image of the Tata Nano thus giving Tata Motors a tough time.