Aston Martin in Mumbai, India

Aston Martin is finally here and at a showroom near you in Mumbai! There’s hardly any car enthusiast who cannot identify this famous car marque with the famed ‘wings’ as its badge. This British Automotive company founded in 1913, already a hit around the world, is now quite literally spreading its wings into India. Aston Martin will have its first dealership open in the commercial capital of India, Mumbai, courtesy the folks at Infinity who currently are BMW dealers in Mumbai.

Many car enthusiasts and film enthusiasts in India will be waiting for Aston Martin to land here soon. The Aston Martin, more specifically the DB4 & DB5 became a part and parcel of the Agent 007 – James Bond. The ‘bond’ that the secret agent and the car shared can be seen by the number of films in which an Aston Martin car has made an appearance in.

Aston Martin will be able to bring to our Indian roads, everything from the DB9 to the glorious Rapide. Of course, just like elsewhere around the world, this is a car for the very well-heeled and the A-list! The showroom in Mumbai will be situated at Kemps Corner (foodies will remember the famous restaurant Under the Over) and the workshop – their first priority, will come up at Worli in the existing Infinity BMW premises. The place is all set to open within the next couple of months and according to our sources, Gautam Singhania will be the lucky first owner of an Aston Martin from this Mumbai showroom.

Volkswagen Vento Price

Volkswagen India has announced the pricing of its Polo-based sedan, the Vento

The German car maker has pulled out all stops and gone for the throat of the sedan space, with ultra competitive pricing. Prices start at Rs 6.99 lakh ex-showroom level for the base level petrol Vento, and end at Rs 9.23 lakh for the fully loaded diesel variant.

The Vento's four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines will both have a 1600cc displacement though it would be fool hardy to expect the highly acclaimed TSi unit to be there at start up. Nevertheless both petrol and diesel motors would have a max output of 105PS (at 5250rpm and 4400rpm respectively) but the diesel should torque louder - a whopping 250Nm of twist force being dished out in the 1500-2500rpm band. In contrast the petrol motor delivers a none-too-respectable 153Nm at 3800rpm. One point of mention which must be made at this juncture is that the 1.6-litre diesel engine is what powers the Polo Cup race cars so expect brisk performance from the oil burner with its torque doing the talking.

Deliveries of the car will begin from September 6, 2010!

Here are the complete details on the pricing. All prices are ex-showroom, Delhi.

Vento Petrol:

Trendline - Rs 6.99 lakh
Highline - Rs 8.23 lakh
Highline (automatic) - Rs 9.21 lakh

Vento Diesel:

Trendline - Rs 7.99 lakh
Highline - Rs 9.23 lakh

Maruti, Hyundai India Post Gains in Auto Sales

NEW DELHI -- The Indian units of Suzuki Motor Corp. and Hyundai Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co.'s affiliate Hero Honda Motors Ltd. on Monday reported higher vehicle sales for July as an expanding economy, a rise in disposable incomes and new models continue to fuel purchases.

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., the country's largest auto maker by sales, said total car and sport-utility vehicle sales exceeded the 100,000 unit mark for the second time. It posted a 29% rise in total vehicle sales to 100,857 units from 78,074 units a year earlier.

Noah Seelam/AFP/Getty Images

A sales promotion assistant stands between Maruti Suzuki cars in Hyderabad, India, July 22, 2010.

Local sales in July grew 33% to 90,114, the highest-ever in a month. That beat the previous high of 90,041 units reported in May this year. Exports increased about 2% to 10,743 units.

Sales were boosted by a strong demand for its small cars--Alto, Wagon-R, Estilo, Ritz, Swift and A-Star--which grew 33% to 64,079 units from 48,115 a year earlier, the company said.

Indian auto makers are gaining from a steady rise in the purchasing power of consumers, being aided by economic growth, higher incomes and low-cost loans. These companies are also benefiting from new model launches, especially those in the small-car segment, which are driving more consumers to showrooms.

As many as 11 new cars or refurbished variants have been introduced in India since January this year. Most of the new launches have been in the small-car segment such as the Nissan Micra,Volkswagen Polo, Chevrolet's Beat and Maruti's new Wagon-R. Toyota Motor Co. is slated to introduce its small car Etios later this year while Maruti is expected to launch a new variant of its best-selling car, Alto, later this month.

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., India's largest utility-vehicle maker by sales, posted a 24% rise in total vehicle sales to 28,049 units. It sold 16,720 units of its SUVs Scorpio and Bolero, marginally higher than the 16,688 units it sold a year earlier. Exports in the past month more than doubled to 1,296 vehicles from 506, while tractor sales grew 14% to 14,592 units

Hyundai Motor India Ltd. also posted gains in July with total sales climbing to 50,411 units, up 11% from 45,539 a year earlier. Local sales jumped 24% to 28,811 units but exports declined 3% to 21,600 units, it said.

Sales at Hero Honda, the country's largest two-wheeler maker by sales, surged nearly 17% to 427,686 from 366,808 units.

The Indian unit of Nissan Motor Co. sold 1,005 cars in July. It sold 928 units of its small car Micra, which was launched in India July 14. Nissan Motor India Pvt. Ltd. said it has received bookings for 3,000 Micra cars so far.

Suzuki Motor's two-wheeler unit--Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt. Ltd.--said its sales surged 48% to 18,512 units.

Tata Motors Ltd. Sunday reported a 62% rise in its car and SUV sales to 27,864 units while truck and bus, sales gained 26% to 35,694 vehicles. Total local sales climbed 39% to 63,558 units.

Two-wheeler makers Bajaj Auto Ltd. and TVS Motor Co. also posted sales growth for July. Bajaj said Sunday its total sales surged 65% to 318,415 units. Motorcycle sales soared 66% to 279,981 units while three-wheeler sales grew 60% to 38,634 units.

TVS' total sales in July rose 35% to 163,106 units from 120,944 units. Local two-wheeler sales went up 33% to 107,883 units while exports were 54% higher at 20,067 units. Three-wheeler sales tripled to 3,108 units from 1,026 units a year earlier, it said Sunday.

Mercedes Benz E-Class Cabriolet

Mercedes-Benz India has been on the roll this year. No doubt the competition has managed to literally put a fire in the German brand's belly and standing testament to this is the fact that the company has launched 17 vehicles so far this year! The latest launch from Mercedes-Benz is the all new E-Class Cabriolet.

Based on the luxury sedan, the E-Class Cabriolet represents the freedom of driving. It's a vehicle that celebrates the fun of motoring while cocooning the driver in luxury making a lifestyle statement for those who can afford it. Incidentally, the Cabriolet marks the 7th offering within the E-Class range, making it one of the widest range of luxury vehicles available to the Indian customer. As put by Dr. Wilfried Aulbur, Managing Director, Mercedes-Benz India Pvt. Ltd, the E-Class range caters to customers who seek individuality, expression and dynamism through the cars they drive, and adding to this is the fact that a new era of open top motoring is now available at a dealership near you.


Priced at Rs. 64.5 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), the E-Class Cabriolet boasts of a soft top made of extremely high quality insulation that allows for comfortable driving even with the top up. The convertible also features a unique AIRCAP feature which is an automatic wind deflector that can be deployed at the touch of a button in order to reduce the amount of airflow towards the interiors of the vehicle, basically translating to the fact that you can drive the car with the roof down and not mess up your hairstyle!

Powering the Cabriolet is the 3.5 litre, 6 cylinder petrol engine from Mercedes-Benz that churns out 272hp@ 6000 rpm and more importantly makes a staggering 355Nm of torque between 2400 and 5000 rpm. Capable of accelerating from 0-100km/h in just 6.9 seconds the Cabriolet tops out at about 250km/h, and there is no doubting the fact that it promises to be a joyous drive.

Honda City Black