CarToq weekly news roundup: February 12-16 2012

Here is CarToq.com’s news roundup of the week. Again, it was a relatively interesting week for car buyers in India. Mitsubishi was in the news for their Pajero SFX replacement, a cheaper Outlander and their first possible small car for India the Mirage.

Here is our analysis of the impact of Union Budget 2012 on car prices.

The Ford Fiesta has become more lucrative as the company came out with a base Fiesta Ambiente version at Rs. 7.23 lakh! Volkswagen too did something similar by launching their popular Vento diesel sedan in the Comfortline trim at a price of Rs.8.74 lakh!

Mitsubishi Pajero

Mitsubishi launched the Pajero Sport, 7-seater SUV at Rs. 23.53 lakh, ex-showroom, Delhi. Bookings for the Pajero Sport will open from March 13^th, 2012. The Pajero Sport has replaced the Pajero SFX and will compete with the Toyota Fortuner, Ford Endeavour and Chevrolet Captiva. It is powered by a 2.5-litre common rail diesel motor that puts out 178 bhp of power and 400 Nm of torque.

Outlander

Mitsubishi Motors also introduced a 7-seater variant of the Outlander SUV priced at Rs. 19.95 lakh, ex-showroom, Delhi. The Outlander 7-seater is Rs. 30,000 cheaper than the Outlander 5-seater which is priced at Rs. 20.25 lakh. Whether this variant helps the Outlander salvage its image and boost sales is something that only time will tell.

Mirage Small Car

Mitsubishi is planning to launch the ‘Mirage’ global small car in India in the next couple of years. When launched, the Mirage will be the first product from Mitsubishi in the small car segment.  Mitsubishi needs more sales outlets to generate volumes and a proper infrastructure to market the small car. The Mirage small car will probably takes 2to 3 years to come to India. Read more!

Vento Ambiente

Volkswagen India launched a new mid variant for the diesel Vento, the Comfortline. The Vento diesel Comfortline is priced at Rs. 8.74 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). The Vento Diesel Comfortline has all the features of the Trendline and in addition also gets a radio with CD, MP3 player music system, fog lights both at the front and rear, height adjustable driver seat and electric mirrors. However, the Comfortline lacks safety features such as airbags, ABS and EBD, interior chrome package and leather upholstery available in the Highline variant.

Other News

In other news, Nissan may soon bring their Infiniti luxury brand to India which is not a surprise as Toyota had already announced that it would bring its premium car brand ‘Lexus’ to India by 2013. The company has not yet decided on when the brand will come to India but it will likely be close on the heels of Toyota.

Also official photos of the next generation Honda CR-V got leaked on the internet. The CR-V model will be unveiled at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show in March 2012. Expect the new CR-V to hit the Indian market by mid 2012. The new CR-V looks sharp from the front and the sides while the tail lamps cluster reminds us of the Volvo XC60.