Devon GTX to attempt the Nurburgring record

Fed up of all the criticism that Yanks don't make a good handling car, the Americans have decided to teach a thing or two to their European brethren by attempting to lay claim to the holy grail of handling, the Nurburgring-Nordschleife lap record in this car.
What you see here is the Devon GTX in its final production spec. It looks like the Ferrari 599 GTB from some angles and the Alfa 8C Competizione from some others. However it might well be one up on both of them in some ways. It is a proper Supercar with a bespoke interior replete with gull-wing doors n all. It borrows the humongous V10 from the Dodge Viper, tuned to develop upwards of 650 horses.

Devon's attempts are not to be taken lightly though, just last week the GTX lapped Laguna Seca in a record breaking 1m35.075s. Currently, 'the king of the 'ring' record is held by the Radical SR8 which did it in 6m55s.

New Lancer on its way!

A few days back we told you about HM's plans to launch the Mitsubishi Lancer Ev0-X in India, early next year. But if you are already disappointed by the speculated Rs.40-lakh price tag, then Hindustan Motors might put the smile back on your face!

Come Auto Expo 2010 and you may see HM-Mitsubishi's new Lancer gracing its exhibit. Designed to reflect the familial connection with the Evo-X, this model, if launched in India will replace the existing Lancer Cedia line-up. Doing duty under the new hood will be the 1.8-litre MIVEC petrol engine. There would be a frugal 2.0-litre diesel powerplant too.

This model is loaded with all the latest safety and dirver aids along with the fun quotient that one can associate with a 'Mitsubishi Lancer', albiet with less than half the horses.

Scoop! Hyundai's new SUV for India

Wondering where the Hyundai Tuscon suddenly disappeared? Well, to start off, the SUV never took off on the sales charts which in the past couple of years, forced the Korean car maker to give it the axe-treatment. However, with the overall SUV market showing a healthy growth now, Hyundai has now decided to make a re-entry into this segment.

And it looks good too! Seen here are the scoop pics of the Korean car maker's entry level SUV. As you can see, the car sports an aggressive stance as compared to the Tuscon that was sold here. Hyundai's recent philosophy of rating quality higher than quantity are evident from this new vehicle. The car will be powered by a 2.2-litre engine for India. The 2010 Tuscon is based on the 'ix-onic concept' which Hyundai showcased a few months back. Expect this SUV to go on sale in March 2010 and may be renamed as a the iX35 to gel with their 'i' naming convention.

Asian Road Racing Championship round in Chennai

Finally there’s something for Indian bike racing aficionados to cheer about. The fourth round of the Petronas Asian Road Racing Championship will be held in the country. The earlier three races of the season took place at Malaysia, Japan and Indonesia in the month of April, May and June respectively. In each round, two races are held in the 600cc and 115cc engine (underbone) category. The fourth round is scheduled to take place from 3rd to 6th September at the Madras Motor Sports Club race track in Irungattukottai, Chennai.

Dilip Roggers, Preetham Dev Moses, and K.Rajni have reportedly confirmed participation in the 600cc class. India is set to host an international race event after more than a decade’s gap. The Petronas Asian Road Racing Championship is one of the important biking events in the Asian continent.

For passes contact:
Madras Motor Sports Club,
123/1, Guru Mansion,
TTK Road, Alwarpet,
Chennai 600 018
You can also drop in a mail at mmsc_chennai@yahoo.co.in or info@madrasmotorsports.in

A-Star achieves 1 lakh milestone

Maruti Suzuki India has rolled out 1,00,000 units of the A-Star. According to R.C.Bhargava, Chairman, Maruti Suzuki India, the car is doing well in the export market and the company is planning to export over 75,000 units of the A-Star by the end of this fiscal.

Bhargava also revealed that Nissan has increased its order of Maruti’s small car to 54,000 units for the current fiscal from 30,000 units. The A-Star is sold in the European market by Nissan with the branding Pixo. The country’s largest car manufacturer claims to have already exported over 50,000 units of the A-Star.

Global Car Sales First half of 2009

1. Toyota 3,564,105 units -26.0%

2. General Motors 35,52,722 units -21.8%

3. Volkswagen 31,00,300 units -5.1%

4. Hyundai-Kia 21,53,000 units - -

5. Ford 21,45,000 units -30.6%

6. PSA Peugeot-Citroen 15,86,900 units -14.0%

7. Honda 15,86,000 units -21.6%

8. Nissan 15,45,976 units -23.2%

9. Suzuki 11,52,000 units -10.2%

10. Renault 11,06,989 units -16.5%

Volkswagen seems to have survived the recession well as have Hyundai and Suzuki to some extent.
While Ford, Toyota and Nissan and of course GM have suffered huge losses in volumes.

Hyundai pips Ford to become the 4th biggest car maker in the World

The Korean automobile manufacturer, Hyundai-Kia group has managed to outsell the American giant Ford in global automobile sales by roughly 8000 units, in the first half of 2009.
It has been a rapid rise through the sales charts for Hyundai who was ranked way down in 11th place, just a year ago.
Hyundai attributes its growth to build products suited specifically to local markets. But that doesn't quite seem to be the case. It's new 'i' range of cars (i10,i20,i30...) are more or less same all over the world. In fact its the Genesis which shows us the real secret behind Hyundai's worldwide success. Hyundai targets excellence in quality and engineering as opposed to perfection targeted by its German and Japanese counterparts and delivers products that are 90% as good as its rivals at 60% of their price. It is this fantastic 'value for money' proposition that is responsible for Hyundai's resounding success.