Auto Expo 2010 in New Delhi, India

Media day at the 10th Auto Expo prior to the event officially opening on January 6th. New Delhi, India. 05/01/2010.

Honda Siel Cars India unveiled the ‘World Premiere’ of the Honda New Small Concept. The Honda New Small Concept is a concept model of a new small-sized vehicle which Honda has developed especially for India and other emerging nations. Developed at Honda’s Automobile R&D Center in Japan, the Honda New Small Concept is designed to be a family car with a capacity to comfortably seat 5 adult passengers.

Honda plans to launch the new model based on the Honda New Small Concept by 2011. Besides the New Small Concept, Honda is also exhibiting at the 10th Auto Expo 2010 its CR-Z Concept 2009, a concept model for a new hybrid model, which was unveiled for the first time at the Tokyo Motor Show in October 2009. In a press handout, Honda says that the CR-Z Concept 2009 is the world’s first hybrid vehicle equipped with a six-speed manual transmission and that together with a 1.5L i-VTEC engine, the vehicle will create completely new value by combining the fun of driving and outstanding fuel economy.

The production version of the Honda CR-Z Concept 2009 which will make its debut at the 2010 North American International Auto Show in Detroit later this month will be packaged as a sporty, 2-seat hybrid that provides a personal driving experience to its customers. Honda also showed off its three Jazz models – Jazz Music, Jazz Holiday, and Jazz Sport.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt. Ltd unveiled its Concept of ‘Etios’ at the Auto Expo today. It was billed as the Global Premiere of Etios Concept. The press handout says “specially developed for Indian conditions, Toyota’s new global strategic compact cars will be launched first in India and then across the world”. Etios has a newly developed engine for sedan concept (1.5L, petrol) and hatchback concept (1.2L, petrol). This line of compact cars is likely to be launched in India soon.

Chevrolet India unveiled a new small car, Beat, made for the Indian market. Available at its dealer network, Beat is touted as sexy, smart and tough. It has a 1.2L petrol engine with 80.5 PS of power and 108 Nm of torque. It offers a fuel efficiency of 18.6 kmpl under test conditions. Priced at Rs. 3.35 lacs, the stripped-down version has power steering and air-conditioning. The top-end model priced at Rs.3.95 lacs has power windows, automatic climate control, tilt steering and integrated audio system with USB and Aux-in port. A still higher version priced around Rs.4.3 lacs has dual airbags and ABS. The launch was a big event for Chevrolet and they also organized a short, acrobatic dance show to draw the attention of the audience to their new offering.

Meanwhile, Renault’s design room has come up with a compact 4-wheel, two-seater electric car, Twizy Z.E. Concept, with zero emissions. It is likely to be launched somewhere in Europe in 2011. Renault would be positioning the car as a “vehicle for urban residents who look for a practical and safe means of transport”. With a top speed of 75 km/hr and unladen weight of just 420 kg, it has a driving range of 100 km. It is powered by lithium ion batteries which can be fully charged in 3.5 hours by being plugged into a 220V (10A or 16A) domestic outlet. Renault also showed off its another electric car, Fluence Z.E. Concept. Renault hopes to sell these cars from 2011 at a price equivalent to that of a current diesel vehicle (with government subsidies).