Automobilestillnow

Kia Motors India has wrapped up the second phase of its Design Tour, aimed at raising awareness of the brand by showcasing the Niro hatchback, Niro EV, Carnival and Sportage SUV. The roadshow reached 26 cities in over two months and covered 15,000km. With an aim to be amongst the top five automakers within three years in India, the extensive brand-building exercise commenced from Jamshedpur on January 16 and concluded in Bhopal on March 15.  The Korean carmaker’s first product launch in India will be an SUV based on the SP Concept showcased at the Auto Expo 2018. Kia Motors recently revealed the SP Signature concept at the Seoul Motor Show. This concept is an evolution of the Kia SP Concept, which is essentially meant to be a new small SUV for global markets and previews the near-production-spec Kia SP2i SUV that is set to be launched in India later in 2019.  On January 29, 2019, Kia Motors India’s manufacturing facility in the Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh ...

At its Safety Moment event in Gothenburg, Sweden, Volvo announced that by the ‘early 2020s’, it would equip all new cars with a driver monitoring system – comprising in-cabin cameras and other sensors – to prevent accidents caused by driver distraction and drunk driving. Volvo’s vision is that no one should be killed or seriously injured in one of its cars and SUVs by 2020, and the driver monitoring system, along with the 180kph speed limit Volvo will impose in all new cars starting 2021, are steps to help make that vision a reality. Installing in-car cameras could potentially raise concerns about privacy, but the company says it can safely address any such doubts. Speaking to Autocar India at the event in Sweden, Jan Ivarsson, Senior Technical Advisor Safety, Volvo Cars, said “We have thought about these issues a lot, and are designing systems and balances to ensure that driver privacy is very well guarded.” The driver monitoring system will be introduced on the next-gener...

Porsche has just taken the wraps off the new Cayenne Coupe, which is essentially a restyled version of the standard Cayenne SUV. This new model will directly take on the BMW X6 and the Mercedes GLE Coupe. On the design front, Porsche has adopted a shallower windscreen and a curvier roofline that extends back to form a liftback-style tailgate. The redesigned rear doors and wider bumpers increase overall width by 18mm, completing the Coupe-look. The Porsche Cayenne Coupe is also equipped with an active spoiler on the boot, which works in conjunction with the roof-mounted spoiler. The active spoiler extends by 135mm at speeds above 90kph to provide added downforce. The interior of the Cayenne Coupe has a four-seat layout, with the rear bench divided by a central armrest. Porsche provides the option to add the regular three-seat bench at the rear from the standard Cayenne at no additional cost. Rear occupants sit 30mm lower than in the Cayenne in order to free up more rear ...

As a first step, JAXA and Toyota have reached an agreement to further cooperate on and accelerate their ongoing joint study of a manned, pressurised rover that employs fuel cell electric vehicle technologies. Such a form of mobility is deemed necessary for human exploration activities on the lunar surface. Even with the limited amount of energy that can be transported to the moon, the pressurised rover would have a total lunar-surface cruising range of more than 10,000km. International space exploration, aiming to achieve sustainable prosperity for all of humankind by expanding the domain of human activity and giving rise to intellectual properties, has its sights set on the moon and Mars. To achieve the goals of such exploration, coordination between robotic missions, such as the recent successful touchdown by the asteroid probe Hayabusa2 on the asteroid Ryugu, and human missions, such as those involving humans using pressurised rovers to conduct activities on the moon, is ess...

The Indian government has announced new criteria under which electric vehicles sold in India will be able to avail subsidies under the  recently announced Rs 10,000 crore FAME II policy . Electric two-wheelers, e-rickshaws, e-three wheelers, all-electric passenger vehicle and other electric-four wheelers (such as pick-up trucks), will need to meet certain standard requirements in order to qualify for EV subsidies. The announcement expands on and slightly revises the  outline the government had revealed on March 1 , 2019, which had a maximum subsidy cap of 20 percent on the factory price of electric vehicles, besides all-electric buses. The industry believed that this would not translate into benefits for the consumer who would have to contend with overpriced EVs. The new proposal by the Indian government states that in order to get subsidies, electric vehicles sold in India will need to adhere to a certain minimum range, speed, energy consumption, acceleration and warran...

Suzuki and Toyota have already partnered for the supply of certain models in India and Africa and also the popularisation of electric models in our market. The two Japanese manufacturers have today announced they are looking to expand the scope of their cooperation. As per a joint release from the carmakers, Maruti Suzuki will supply the Ciaz midsize sedan and Ertiga MPV to Toyota in India and Africa. While there is no timeline as to when the Toyota versions of the Maruti models will go on sale, the carmakers have confirmed  Toyota’s version of the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza  will be manufactured at the Toyota Kirloskar Motor plant in Bidadi, Karnataka from 2022.  As reported already,  Toyota’s version of the Maruti Suzuki Baleno hatchback  will go on sale within 2019 as the first model to come from the partnership. As per the terms of the partnership,  Toyota will also supply the Corolla Altis to Maruti Suzuki  though it is expected that this...