Automotive Updates - 13th April 2015

• The proposed India-EU trade liberalisation pact will not benefit domestic automobile firms and runs counter to the government's flagship programme 'Make in India, auto industry body SIAM has said.India should keep the labour intensive sector out of the purview of the free trade agreements particularly the proposed pact with the 28-nation European Union bloc. (ETauto.com)

• Yamaha Motor India Sales on Monday launched its YZF-R1M superbike in the country priced at Rs 29.43 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). "The 998-cc model would be available only on order," the company said in a statement. It also announced the launch of two colours, Deep purplish blue metallic C and Vivid Red Cocktail 1, for YZF-R1 model.Yamaha retails the YZF-R1 model in India at Rs 22.34 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).(businesstoday)

• Hero MotoCorp Ltd has deferred the launch of new motorcycles and speeded up work on a scooter to counter former partner Honda Motor Co.’s best-selling Activa, said three people familiar with the development.The move by India’s largest two-wheeler maker comes in the backdrop of slowing growth in the motorcycle segment—where Hero remains the leader—and Honda’s advance in the fast-growing scooter segment.The Activa rival—a 110cc, full metal body unisex scooter under development—is being put through rigorous trials to meet the July launch deadline. It will have features such as external fuel filling, telescopic front suspension, tubeless tyres, digi-analogue console, integrated braking system,remote-controlled seat and fuel lid opening, a USB mobile charging unit and a light in the under-seat storage.(livemint)

• Datsun is celebrating its first anniversary in India and to mark this ocassion it hosted the 'Datsun Drive-On' cavalcade in Delhi. Over 100 Datsun owners were present at this celebratory drive to celebrate the brand’s first anniversary in the Indian market.The convoy of the 'Datsun Drive-On' initiative included Datsun GO and GO+ cars, which was flagged off by Guillaume Sicard, President, Nissan India Operations and Bollywood actor Ayushmann Khurrana in Delhi. Apart from the capital, this 'Datsun Drive-On' event will also be hosted across six more cities including Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Cochin, Guwahati and Kolkata. The manufacturer will also celebrate the occasion with underprivileged children at 100 locations across our country.(carwale)

• Heeding to the plea of the Delhi government, the National Green Tribunal stayed for two weeks its order to impound diesel vehicles, heavy or light, plying in the capital for more than 10 years.“There shall be no impounding of vehicles for two weeks. We make it clear that we are varying our order only for two weeks,” a bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said.It also asked the city government to submit suggestions on providing incentives to those transferring/scrapping old, polluting diesel vehicles and on fixing a cap on the number of vehicles to be registered in the capital.(financialexpress)

• Navigation and tracking solutions provider MapmyIndia is considering raising funds later this year to scale up operations and tap opportunities in new segments.The company, which is known for its navigation solutions and has all the major car makers in India as its clients, says its order book for this fiscal has doubled to Rs 200 crore as compared to Rs 100 crore last year. "We are cash positive operations wise, however, we may need some more investments considering our plans. So we might raise funds later this year," MapmyIndia Managing Director Rakesh Verma told PTI.(ETauto.com)

• Mahindra's upcoming compact utility vehicle offering - S101 has been captured on camera on several occasions while performing its test runs.There have been various speculations on the possible power-trains of this vehicle in the past. We had reported that a new petrol engine is being readied for this vehicle. However now,MotorOctane confirms that Mahindra will add a new 1.2 liter, 3-cylinder petrol and diesel engine to the S101. This diesel motor is said to produce 80 BHP and is derived from the 1.6 liter diesel unit that powers the Ssangyong Tivoli. The report goes on to suggest that this unit will be mated to a 5-speed manual and an automated manual transmission.(team-bhp)

• Honda has introduced a new VX (O) variant for its City sedan in both the petrol and diesel guises and has priced them at Rs 10.64 lakh and 11.83 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) respectively. These two variants are positioned over the normal VX variant and get an extended feature list as well as a new colour option.

• The biggest addition to the extended feature is the touchscreen audio visual navigation system which features a large 15.7cm screen, sat-nav, DVD/CD Playback, Bluetooth, USB, AUX, i-POD, MP3, FM/ AM,  and reverse camera. The on-board navigation featuring intuitive and suggestive keyboard allows the user to search locations and helps to reach the destination conveniently.(carwale.com)