Automotive updates - 25th February 2015

• Tata Motors, India's largest automaker by revenues is developing quadricycles under a project code named 'Bravo.' It comes after stringent opposition from the automaker to the idea for two years. Quadricycles are basically a four-wheeled small vehicle, that is seen as an upgrade from a three-wheeler.Business Standard, a business daily on Tuesday reported that a project code- named 'Bravo', is underway to develop quadricycle from scratch. It will sport an all-new petrol engine, the newspaper said.(Etauto.com)

image from economics times

• Cooper Corporation, one of India’s leading engine manufacturers, and Ricardo of the UK have underscored their longstanding collaboration by announcing their intention to jointly develop a new line of cutting-edge Cooper engines. As a result of this planned development, Cooper Corporation will expand its range of engines from 3.5 KVA to 1000 KVA. The entire range will be available in both diesel and CNG versions. The new Cooper engines will power applications for diverse sectors including automotive, gensets, marine, defence, construction equipment and agriculture.  - See more at: http://www.autocarpro.in/news-national/cooper-corp-inks-tech-pact-ricardo-engine-series-7764#sthash.2FZwlHtQ.dpuf

• Self-drive car rental service Zoomcar has partnered with automaker Tata Motors to add 50 new Nano cars to its fleet.Commenting on the development, Zoomcar Co-founder, Greg Moran said: "We chose Nano primarily because it is a tremendous city car, which is incredibly manoeuvrable in Indian traffic conditions."The company expects good demand for these cars owing to the convenience of easy parking because of its compact design, he added. (Etauto.com)

• Tata Motors' entry-level car - the Nano - has been called the Most Trusted Brand in the hatchback category in 'The Brand Trust Report, India Study- 2015'. This is for the third time that the Nano hatchback has been crowned as the Most Trusted Brand. The Brand Trust Report, India Study 2015 lists 1000 Most Trusted Brands of the country, picked up from 19,000 unique brands, from 270 different categories.(cartrade.com)

• The world’s largest auto maker by volume, Toyota is making a strategic shift in India deciding to focus on safety and take a premium position in each of the segment it is present rather than chasing numbers.The company which is present in the Indian market through a joint venture with the Kirloskar group — Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) — has started offering airbags as standard across all its models sold in the country since the beginning of 2015.(financial express)

• TVS Srichakra is ramping up production capacity as the TVS Group company aims the top slot among India's two-wheeler tyre manufacturers.The plan is to expand capacity to 2.4 million tyres a month by December from 2.0 million now. It is adding capacity at plants at Madurai in Tamil Nadu and Pant Nagar in Uttrakhand.The company that already ships two-wheeler tyres to Africa and other markets is bullish on export prospects as well. "We see good possibility of serving both domestic and exports market," said director P Vijayaraghavan.(ETauto.com)