Archive for Automobile

Radical new tire design by Michelin. The next generation of tires.

Radical New Tire design by Michelin

Thought you might like to see the next generation of tires. They had a pair at the Philadelphia Car show.

Here are photos of the new Michelin tires.

These tires are airless and are scheduled to be out on the market very soon.

This is what great R&D will do and just think of the impact on existing technology:

• no more air valves
• no more air compressors at gas stations
• no more repair kits …

Ownership, shareholding, or a joint venture in the automobile industry

Scanned image from one of the magazines publishing an article about the ownership, shareholding, or a joint venture in the automobile industry.

Please Click to Enlarge.

Beautiful illustration by Andrew Franklin.

Tata Nano, the people’s car of India – Rs 1-lakh car

Comparison – Maruti-800 and Tata-NANO

All those predictions of suped-up rickshaws appear to have been confounded by Mr Tata (does anyone else think he looks like Harrison Ford?) and his team of engineers.

The Nano is a natty little beauty of a car and – packed as it is with 34 patented technologies – shows that the age-old complaint that India can’t do original R&D is fast becoming out-dated.

I don’t however recommend Westerners rush out and try and import a Nano. It’s a brilliant concept for India, but I suspect, like the super-cheap computers aimed at the developing world, might be rather frustratingly low-spec for the West.

NANO – world’s cheapest new car in the news from TATA Motors

Tata NANO – Free Downloads

Tata NANO – Free Downloads wallpapers, pictires

People’s Car from Tata Motors

Tata NANO – Free Downloads wallpapers, pictires

People’s Car from Tata Motors

Volvo to launch S80 sedan next month

Volvo to launch S80 sedan next month, priced Rs 38 lakh onwards

NEW DELHI: Swedish car major Volvo Car Corporation (VCC) on Wednesday announced plans to make its debut in India with two flagship products – S80 sedan and sports utility vehicle XC90 SUV– with prices starting at Rs 38 lakh and Rs 45 lakh respectively.

VCC, which will be launching its two products early next month, said both the vehicles will be available in petrol (3.2 ltr and 4.4 ltr) and diesel variants (2.5 ltr) at the three Volvo dealerships, one each in Delhi, Mumbai and Chandigarh.

Hero to launch high-speed e-bikes

The Hero Group would be launching high-speed battery-run two-wheelers as also three-wheelers in a few months, but has no plans, as of now, to introduce electric four-wheelers.

“We are working on and testing the battery-run three-wheelers for a launch. We would also be launching battery-run e-bikes with speeds between 40 – 50 km per hour in the next six months,” said Mr Naveen Munjal, Chief Executive Officer, Hero Exports, and Mr Ganesh Mahalingam, Managing Director, Ultra Motor India Pvt Ltd.

Cars fired by compressed air – Tatas Rs 1-lakh car

Cars fired by compressed air

Tatas to hit the road with air car in ’08

NEW DELHI: The Rs 1-lakh car isn’t the only affordable technology that Tata Motors will introduce in 2008. India’s largest four-wheel automaker has plans to bring out cars fired by compressed air, the cheapest auto fuel in the world.

Tata Motors will start producing cars running on air fuel, sometime in 2008. These are expected to deliver the lowest running cost across all passenger car segments, and could be much lower than CNG, the cheapest on-road fuel (with a running cost of a rupee per kilometre) right now. The cost of a fuel refill would be about Rs 90, and each refill is expected to deliver a distance in the range of 150-200 km.