Tesla Motors to Shelve Roadster and Raise More Capital

According to a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Tesla Motors is planning to raise as much as US$100 Million in capital through the aide of public investors. While the entire auto industry is facing difficult times, Tesla hopes that they will be able to supplement the $465 Million loan from the federal government and claim a lasting stake in the new car market by increasing the public’s awareness about their intent to mass produce electric vehicles for a wide range of consumers.

The California based manufacturer is currently offering a lineup of only two cars, with the $100 000 Tesla Roadster leading the charge and the $60 000 Model S sedan following closely behind. By opening themselves up to public investors with an IPO, the electric car manufacturer is adding another element of uncertainty to their plans in an already unstable new car market. However, Telsa co-founder and CEO, Elon Musk, is no stranger to taking chances.

For example, when he decided to head in a different direction than the competition at Fisker Automotive by opening up a network of owned and operated freestanding dealerships, which gave him more control over the sales and service of his new products. Despite the expansion costs, moving from their California outlets to a host of major US cities and beyond, hasn’t taken a toll on the electric car builder so far.

However, new has recently surfaced that Tesla Motors plans to cease production of their flagship Roadster until 2013. This means the 2012 four door Model S will be left as the sole product to get the automaker through their period of public investment. It is believed that the decision was made due to the fact that Lotus are preparing for the next generation Elise, the vehicle upon which the Tesla Roadster is based, leaving the American manufacturer with a bit of downtime before they come back with an all new Roadster for 2013.

Ferrai 599 Hybrid To Debut At Geneva Motor Show

Guess who the newest entrant into the hybrid scene is. It’s none other than the Red Horse, Ferrari. With Ferrari itself entering the hybrid scene, it has become much more evident that Hybrid is here to stay.

Getting back to Ferrari, it must be remembered that during the debut of Ferrari’s 2010 F10 Formula 1 car, CEO Luca de Montezemolo revealed that a production-ready hybrid version of the 599 would be coming to Geneva.

Well, here’s what we hit on the web about this hybrid Ferrari.The 599 Hybrid is still engulfed in mystery, but previous rumors of the car’s Geneva Motor Show debut broke last December, following confirmation last June that a hybrid was in testing. The details dropped then indicate the 599 will keep its V12 engine, and add a road-going version of the KERS system Ferrari developed and has now dropped for F1. It’s not clear if the 599 will employ the all-wheel-drive system leaked last summer, but it seems likely.

The benefit is expected to be a 30-percent improvement in fuel economy, from a miserable  27 l/100km to a slightly more tolerable 17 l/100km. Considering the average Ferrari only sees a few thousand kilometers per year, however, this is more an exercise in high-tech engineering than in fuel savings.

Also announced this week is the driving debut of the Ferrari 599XX. Seven owners of the car will have them delivered to Spain’s Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia, where they’ll get to drive them for the first time. Upon arriving at the track, the 599XXs will be fitted for their drivers, then the owners will be familiarized with the cars with the aid of individual Ferrari instructors before being let loose on the circuit. Because the 599XX is not homologated to any major safety standards, it is reserved for off-highway use only.

Indian Car Industry high on Customer Satisfaction Too: TNS Automotive

According to the findings of the 2009 four-wheeler total customer satisfaction study released on Thursday by leading market information provider, TNS, the upper premium compact, midsize and entry luxury car segments have shown the maximum improvement in delivering customer satisfaction.

The 2009 four-wheeler Total Customer Satisfaction (TCS) study conducted by TNS specialist division, TNS Automotive, is the largest syndicated automotive study in India, representing the responses of more than 8,100 new car buyers. This comprehensive study covers over 54 models with customer evaluations taken in the key areas of sales satisfaction, product quality, vehicle performance and design, after sales service, brand image, and cost-of ownership.

The TCS index score provides a measure of satisfaction and loyalty a given model enjoys with its customers.

In 2009 the small car segment has seen the entry as well as consolidation of feature laden bigger size hatchback cars. Consequently the upper end of compact cars has grown not only in sales volume but in customer satisfaction as well. Models such as Hyundai i10, Maruti A Star and Skoda Fabia have contributed to the high satisfaction scores.

Another segment which has done consistently well is the mid size car segment. In this segment all the sampled models has achieved a score of 90+. This year the lowest scoring segment is the diesel small car segment due to a fall in the Tata Indica Diesel Scores.

The models ranking highest in their respective segments for total customer satisfaction are: Maruti 800 in “Entry

Compact”, Hyundai i10 and Maruti A Star (Jointly) in “Premium Compact”, Skoda Fabia in “Upper Premium Compact” , Maruti Swift Diesel in “Small Car and Diesel”,  Maruti Omni LPG in “Small Car – Alternate Fuel” Hyundai Accent Petrol in “Entry Midsize”, Hyundai Verna Petrol in “Midsize”, Toyota Corolla Altis in “Premium Midsize”, Ford Fiesta Diesel in “Midsize Car – Diesel”, Mahindra Bolero in “SUV/ MPV” and Honda CRV in “Premium SUV”.

Overall the industry has maintained the score at last year’s level. In line with that, some traditionally strong models continue to delight their customers. The Maruti 800 continues to enjoy a very high satisfaction level. Hyundai Accent and Swift Diesel are able to do much the same and this indeed speaks highly of how these manufacturers have been able to manage these brands using a holistic approach encompassing product quality, after sales service and brand image.

All of these models have improved their scores over 2008 as well. Overall the Indian car industry has put up a great performance not only in terms of car sales but also in keeping the customers satisfied with their products and services in a year which had started on a rather somber note.

Ford Figo to be commercially launched on Friday

Ford will commercially launch its baby, Figo, on Friday though the customers have to wait to lay their hands on this beauty only in the month of March.

The hatchback Ford Figo would be launched in both petrol and diesel engine options. The car’s 1.2L Rocam petrol engine, also known as Duratec, is capable of producing 70bhp of peak power at 6250rpm and a maximum torque of 104Nm at 4000rpm.

While the 1.4L diesel engine, known as Duratorq, produces 68bhp of peak power at 4000rpm and 160Nm of peak torque at 2000rpm. Ford has been claiming that the all new Figo has an array of advanced third generation safety features that include dual front airbags, ABS (Antilock Brake System) with EBD (Electronic Brake-Force Distribution), belt tensioners and belt force limiters, seatbelt warning indicator, door-ajar warning and many more such features that are sure to make Figo a car to reckon with.

There would be three variants of Figo available in the market – base, mid and high end (called platinum) in seven colours namely diamond white, panther black, moon dust silver, chille, sea grey, squeeze and colored red.

Speculations are on about the price of the car which is expected to be between Rs 350,000 and 450,000. But above all are the promises for fuel efficiency and performance.

Russian mafia Almost Take Saab into ransom

When most of us think about Russian mobsters taking out a contract, we think hitmen and snipers, not multi-million dollar industrial purchase agreements, but in Saab’s case, they almost equated to the same thing, with the target Saab itself.

Reports from Sweden indicates that the U.S. and Swedish governments stepped in to delay the sale of Saab until a group owned by Russian billionaire Alexander Antonov could be removed from Spyker’s shareholders.

Alexander Antonov owns the Convers Group, which until the halt on Saab’s sale owned 4.6 million shares of Spyker. Spyker founder Victor Muller purchased the shares through his own holding group, Tenaci, in order to overcome the concerns.

Ties between Antonov and the Russian mafia are little more than allegations at this point, and Spyker says they are “nonsense and speculation,” according to a report by FoxNews.

But regardless of the validity of the claims, the suspicions of Mafia ties almost brought Saab to a final death. Selling Saab has been a hard task for GM, as the previous deal with Swedish supercar maker, Koenigsegg, fell apart at the last minute. The deal with Spyker itself has taken months to bring to a final agreement, though things now appear to be on a smooth path to the brand’s rebirth, with Spyker laying out its plans for the brand.

Instead of a full-line carmaker as GM had been pushing the brand, Saab will become a niche marque, selling just a handful of models with a focused target audience.

2010 FIA Formula One World Championship Calendar

The F1 race season of 2010 is here and how? Lot of new things have come back with a vigor to the race and the thing which is worth mentioning here is the return of the King. Yes, we are speaking about Michael Schumacher’s return to the ring but not with the customary red outfit he was wearing in his days in Ferrari but the white outfit of the newly constituted Mercedes GP which is a result of the buyout of the erstwhile Brawn GP.

This season of F1 will see new drivers, new teams, better cars, better management and two new F1 tracks which are a welcome addition. All Formula One fans out there, brace for this, Canada is hosting the F1 for very first time so is Korea. We give you a heads-up of the race dates and venues for your convenience.

The first F1 race of the 2010 season will begin on March 14^th which will be held in Bahrain, followed by the Australian GP on March 28^th. Malaysia will host the third F1 race of the year on April 4^th followed by China on April 18^th.

The F1 action shifts to Europe where the F1 races will held Spain on 9^th May, Monaco on 23^rd May and Turkey on 30^th May. Canada which is for the very first time holding a F1 race will do it on 13^th June. Valencia (Europe) fixes up its date for the F1 races on 27^th June while Great Britain and Germany does the same on 11^th July and 25^th July respectively.

The race to be held on August 1^st will be held in Hungary and the race of 29^th August will be held in Belgium. Formula One races on 12^th and 26^th September will be held in Italy and Singapore. The month of October will see three races on 3^rd Oct, 17^th Oct and 31^st Oct in Japan, Korea and Abu Dhabi. The last race of the season will be held on Nov 14^th in Brazil.

Maruti Suzuki extends its bull run in Jan 2010

Guess this news will keep the energy level at Maruti Suzuki up for a while. The country’s largest car manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki has reported its highest monthly sales of 95,649 units for January, a jump of 33.3 per cent over the same month last year.

The carmaker had sold 71,779 units in January 2009. January 2010’s sales is the highest ever domestic as well as the total sales for the company. This is good enough reason for Maruti Suzuki to be on cloud number nine.

Domestic sales witnessed a jump of 21 per cent at 81,087 units compared to 67,005 units in the same month year-ago.
Sales of the compact and small cars (A2 segment), comprising models Alto, Wagon R, Zen, Swift, A-Star and Ritz, were at 58,540 units against 46,899 units in January last year, up 24.8 per cent.

The A3 segment (Swift Dzire and SX4 sedans) sales grew by 36.5 per cent to 8,995 units in January 2010. Exports during January 2010 witnessed a massive jump of 205 per cent to 14,562 units against 4,774 units in the year ago month./p>
Maruti Suzuki’s only drop in sales came through it’s once upon a time bread and butter model M800 whose sales declined by 55.2 per cent to 2,494 units in January.

Maruti Suzuki will hope to see the same performance repeat throughout the year so that it can ward off the competition and still retain its Numero Uno slot in the Indian Car Market.

Volvo launches an energy-efficient GTDi engine

Volvo Car Corporation is introducing an all-new four-cylinder 2-litre GTDi (Gasoline Turbocharged Direct Injection) engine in the Volvo S80, V70 and XC60, offering great performance and efficiency all in one. New Volvo-developed turbocharging technology, direct injection and twin variable camshafts give a unique combination of low fuel consumption, low emissions and high performance across a wide rev range – all in a particularly compact format.

The new petrol engine, the 2.0 GTDi, produces no less than 203 hp despite its compact size and cylinder capacity. It pumps out 300 Nm of torque already from 1750 rpm thus securing a refined driving experience.

Less is more – Meet the next generation turbo technology

The turbocharger system has been developed in cooperation between Volvo Cars, Borg-Warner Turbo System and steel component manufacturer Benteler Automotive. The turbocharger (K03) is the market’s smallest in relation to the engine’s maximum output. The turbo not only gives excellent performance properties, it also improves exhaust after treatment by enabling quick heating of the catalyst.
The turbine housing is integrated into the manifold, an efficient solution with which Volvo already had previous good experience. The difference is that the new manifold and turbine housing are made of sheet steel instead of a casting. The sheet is lighter and more compact and, above all, this system generates less heat owing to its extra insulating layer. This allows high gas flow temperature and thus more efficient combustion.

Efficient direct injection starts the turbo quickly

The new engine features direct injection. The injectors have seven holes for precisely controlled injection into each cylinder. The injectors are side-mounted. Direct injection gives a high fill rate in the combustion chamber, efficient combustion and low emissions. Thanks to this high fill rate, the turbo also starts spinning earlier, delivering alert response from low revs. This in turn results in swift acceleration and good driveability even from low speeds.

Direct injection also contributes to quick and stable combustion at high loads, and thus smooth engine operation even when the accelerator is floored. The injection system is supplied by Bosch.

Volvo’s new GTDi engine utilises variable timing for both camshafts. Both the inlet and the exhaust valves’ opening times can be varied to optimise the overlap and ensure the correct fill rate in the combustion chamber irrespective of engine revs. This gives the combustion process maximum efficiency throughout the rev range and helps generate rapid acceleration at all speeds.

Both VVTs are of the conventional vane-type. The rotation of the inner and outer rotor is regulated by hydraulic pressure from the engine oil. By opening and closing the oil control valves, the oil pressure and flow through the VVTs are changed until the desired angular deviation between the inner and outer rotor is achieved. The oil control valves are controlled by software in the Engine Management System using feedback from the cam position sensors.

Volvo’s new 2.0 GTDi engine is being initially launched on markets that offer tax incentives for engines below two litres in displacement: South-East Asia, the Netherlands, China and Japan.

So far Volvo currently sells two models, the Volvo XC90 and Volvo S80 but the coming years they are lining up more new models. The first one to be launched during 2010 is the Volvo XC60.

Some interesting Car facts

Well, we in Carazoo.com believe in infotainment rather than just giving you readers the run out of mill news and daily happenings. Today we just came across a crazy idea to write on some interesting facts that you probably might be unaware of. So here we begin.

Did you ever know that the top fuel dragsters accelerate at up to 5g from standing start?  The nitromethane injection produces 6000 bhp, awesome power did I hear some say.

The fastest time for removing a car engine, and replacing it is 42 seconds for a Ford Escort, on 21 November 1985.

An airbag moves up to 4500 mph within a second when triggered. A force of 200g is generated. They are designed to explode at an impact speed of 19 mph. The bag inflates within 40 milliseconds of a crash.

The Ferrari Formula 1 team and now constituted Mercedes GP F1 team is unique in the fact that it produces both chassis and engines for its cars.

Ferrari makes a maximum of 14 cars every day.

There were only 107 models of the Ford GT40 made of which only 7 were road cars.

The World’s longest traffic hold-up was 110 miles long, between Paris and Lyon on the French Autoroute in 1980. A more recent contender for the title was a 100 mile long traffic Jam, near Hamburg in Germany in 1993 and we thought Indian traffic was bad.

The first known automobile was built in 1668, it was a two foot long steam powered model constructed by Ferdinand Verbiest, a Belgian Jesuit preist.

Luxembourg has the most crowded roads in Europe with 570 cars per 1,000 people.

The first car race ever seen in the United States was held in Chicago in 1895. The track ran from Chicago to Evanston. The winner was J. Frank Duryea, whose average speed was 71.5 miles per hour.

In 1924 a Ford automobile cost $265.

The first auto insurance policy is purchased in Westfield, MA, in 1897.



Volvo Auto India to bring in two more cars

Volvo has been doing more things than just basking in the glory of its SUV XC 90 being featured in the blockbuster Hindi Movie 3 Idiots. Though Volvo did not participate in the 10^th Auto Show held in New Delhi recently, it did get the required brand recognition it wanted by partnering the recently concluded Aircel Chennai Open Tennis Tournament.

This was not all, Volvo India has already charted out its plans for India for the year ahead and will go ahead with its schedule of launching two luxury cars in India this year. The two cars which Volvo India will be launching India would be the XC 60 ‘Crossover’ which Volvo India prefers to refer this mini SUV as and S60 sedan. We expect XC60 to set foot in the Indian shores within the first half of the year while the S60 sedan will have to wait until late 2010 or early 2011.

Volvo has been doing all the right things possible to tap the potential luxury car market in India and hopes to carve a major chunk of the Indian luxury pie for itself. Luxury car makers such as Daimler AG, BMW, Audi and Porsche Automobil Holding SE are introducing vehicles in India to tap the growing number of millionaires in the world’s second-fastest growing major economy. Shrinking demand in the U.S. and Europe has also led the auto makers to diversify into higher-growth markets such as China and India.

Apart from plans of launching new cars here in India, Volvo will also introduce a new diesel-engine powered variant of its S80 sedan model in the first half of 2010. Volvo currently sells a gasoline-engine variant of S80 and SUV XC90 in India. Volvo also intends to grow its dealerships from the current three to seven to increase Volvo’s reach in the Indian market.

Volvo India believes in a long term goal for the company in India and says that it wants to establish a strong presence in the country before chasing any huge sales-volume. Volvo sold 140 vehicles in India during 2009, up from 90 units in 2008.

Well, Volvo India has assured that its strategy won’t change after the proposed sale of Volvo Cars’ by parent Ford Motor Co. to China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. Ford had recently named the Chinese company as a preferred bidder for Volvo Cars.