India
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It's one thing Honda not sending its new Brio minicar over to the United States, so economy car fans are unable to sample its 52 mpg delights. That would all be okay if we found out it was a terrible car, but unfortunately for us, the first reviews coming from overseas are singing its praises. One of the markets getting the Brio is India. A review on the Indian motoring website Motor Beam gives the car 4.25 stars from five (for simplicity's sake, 85%) praising its fuel efficiency, practicality and interior space. They also enjoyed the agile handling and nippy performance from its...
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It's Official: We Now Have One Billion Vehicles On The PlanetHow many vehicles are there on Earth? We'd ask you to guess, except the headline above gives away the answer. According to industry trade journal Ward's, which added up both reported vehicle registrations and historical trends, the total crossed 1 billion sometime last year. The vehicles include...
John Voelcker -
Will GM's First All-Electric Car Be A Chevy Spark Minicar?
Sometimes news comes out of adding up little pieces of information. Doing that with a few items from the past week, we're beginning to wonder if General Motors might launch an all-electric car in the U.S. in the next couple of years. Based on recent spy photos from renowned photographer Brenda...
John Voelcker -
Chevy Shows Fourth Electric-Car Project: Beat EV Minicar In India
Right now, the sole plug-in vehicle you can buy from Chevrolet--or indeed all of General Motors--is the 2011 Volt range-extended electric car. But that doesn't mean GM isn't testing a lot of other concepts. The company just isn't doing it in North America, the sole region where Volts are sold this...
John Voelcker -
NanoCab: Sri Lanka To Use More Than 200 Tiny Tatas As Taxis
The world's least expensive car, the Tata Nano, is now seen in increasing numbers on the streets of its home country, India. But Tata is also sending the car into new markets, including Sri Lanka--where you might be surprised to see the tiny cars used as taxis. Why Sri Lanka? That country's taxi...
Jonathan McGrew -
Does Osama Bin Laden Keep Pakistan From The Tatas It Wants?
Despite a bumpy start, including some early examples of spontaneous combustion, the tiny Tata Nano is starting to fulfill the promise of bringing a four-wheeled automobile to India's masses at the world's lowest price. This hasn't gone unnoticed next door, in Pakistan. A Pakistani conglomerate...
John Voelcker -
There’s a common argument that the Western world is hurt by tougher environmental standards being imposed by governments on both sides of the Atlantic, while third world nations, some of the biggest polluters due to the sheer size of their populations, get off relatively scot free. While one could answer that Western countries have a greater responsibility due to their wealth, it appears third world countries aren’t taking a backseat when it comes to environmental standards, with India now set to introduce tougher gas mileage standards this month. India is going the Corporate...
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Honda Unveils Brio, Its Smallest Car, For Asian Markets Only
The smallest Honda sold in the U.S. market is the 2011 Fit subcompact, its well-reviewed and enormously versatile five-door hatchback. But other markets demand different types of cars, and today at the Thailand Motor Expo, the company unveiled the Honda Brio prototype, a lightly disguised version...
John Voelcker -
GM To Show All-Electric Car Next Year...In India, Not Here
While General Motors is focusing its U.S. electric-drive efforts solely on the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, a range-extended electric car, elsewhere in the world it's experimenting with full battery electric vehicles. Now the company has said it will unveil a Chinese-built electric subcompact in the Indian...
John Voelcker -
So Much For World Car-Free Day; Most of the World WANTS Cars
Yesterday was was World Car-Free Day. Did you notice? Nope, us either. Because while it may be amusing--for a few seconds--to imagine a world without vehicles, it's also sorta silly. It's like imagining a world without vapid blond stars who get way, way, WAY too much press. Might be nice, never...
John Voelcker -
Tata Nano, World's Cheapest Car, Aces Indian Endurance Test
We've always had a soft spot in our heart for the tiny Tata Nano, the world's least expensive car and India's equivalent of the Ford Model T that put the U.S. on wheels a century earlier. The Nano may or may not ever be sold in the United States, though Tata says a revised version will be offered...
John Voelcker -
GM China Confirms Development of All-Electric Sail Concept
General Motors has been through the wringer over the last 18 months, nowhere more so than in North America, where it declared bankruptcy and was quickly restructured with $60 billion of Federal funds. But its overseas operations haven't had an easy time of it either, including its on-again...
John Voelcker -
You've surely seen car-carriers full of brand-new vehicles on the highways. But many new cars roll out of the factory onto trains that carry them over much of their journey. Now a new video from India shows a trainload of diminutive Tata Nano minicars passing by an onlooker in Bangalore. The significant thing is that the Nano is short enough (at just over 10 feet long) that the cars can be packed onto flatbed cars sideways. Meaning five Nanos per train car, rather than two or perhaps three longer vehicles parked end-to-end on the 40-foot load bed. It's just one more clever way that Tata has...
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No Nissan Leaf Electric Cars For India, At Least For Now
Nissan's ambitious plans to build and sell its 2011 Nissan Leaf electric car around the world will not include populous India, at least not initially. According to Indian Autos Blog, the CEO and managing director of Nissan Motors India said the company had no plans to introduce the Leaf to the...
John Voelcker -
Tata Nano, World's Cheapest Car, To Be Sold in U.S. in 2012
The world's cheapest car, India's tiny Tata Nano mini-car, will be sold in the U.S. starting three years from now, says its maker. Company chief Ratan Tata told reporters at the New Delhi Auto Show, underway today, that it is now adapting the Nano to meet stringent U.S. crash safety requirements...
John Voelcker
