Himalayan 450 & 411 go on a trip: KTM 390 ADV owner shares observations

BHPian Jaggu recently shared this with other enthusiasts. So after a long wait, I finally got my hands on the New Himalayan Sherpa over the weekend. Thanks to ex-mod Khan_Sultan who has picked up one, so along with his Gen 1 Himalayan we did a ride of Uttarakhand hills. Starting from Noida > Abbott Mount > Munsiyari > Almora > Noida. This gave a good mix of all terrains and roads that one would encounter during ownership. These are my notes and the easiest comparison would be with the 390 Adv I own, comparing it to the GSA 1200 (my other bike) would be unfair I guess.Chassis and handlingThis is one area where the bike has really trumped the cards, compared to the old bike, the new Sherpa is leagues apart. Though the bike may feel top-heavy (which it is), it is just a brilliant handler. Almost as nimble as the KTM, but more mature Vs the hooligan nature of the KTM. Personally, I prefer this, slightly heavier feel which gives it a big bike feel. Yes, it will need a little more effort during prolonged curve carving but what a bike! I would give 8.5/10 for this. Even in city use the handling is very friendly as long as you are moving. The larger size of the bike helps with longer visibility and respect from other fellow commuters.SuspensionAgain one of the good things, it's sprung on the stiffer side but kind of takes on any kind of terrain without a fuzz. The bike was running slightly higher pressure since Khan had done a tubeless conversion and wanted to put some buffer during the testing phase. Still, it was pretty good, though at higher highway speeds bike did float a bit, just like the KTM's. Crosswinds were high, so I really can't blame the bike, plus higher pressure. All day sitting at 100-120 Kmph should be a breeze for this suspension.BrakesLook Ma I finally have brakes! We were swapping bikes and moving from new to old Himalayan is outright scary. The new one brakes on the dot, very precise. Add rear brakes and it can be quite grabby also for those emergency stops. Fortunately, we did not have any panic brake situations, but am sure they will work just fine. Regarding the feel of the brakes I would rate the New Himalayan better than the KTM Adv 390.Engine & GearboxThis is one major upgrade, but honestly apart from the power I was not really impressed. The said bike has upgrades done that include 1) Fuel X piggy back 2) exhaust expansion box delete on stock end can and 3) free flow air filter. These mods are 100% recommended! Stock map (at setting 3) bike feels vibe like hell, left pegs vibrate more than the right, so it is not even vibed lol. Even a 20-30 kms on the stock map was downright irritating on the plains. Move the setting to 8 and the bike just transforms, not only does the initial response improve by two fold, but the vibes reduce to a very very acceptable level. I think it is the new BS6 norms that are the culprit here. If they sort this, the engine would be a lovely one. Mind you, it is not a high-revving 12k rpm motor like KTM. Just let the revs goto about 6-7 k RPM and work through that smooth gearbox for a fun-filled ride. People who are used to Gen 1 Himalayan gearbox would take some good time to get used to the nature of the new 6-speed box. One has to really work it and keep the engine in the right revs to have some good pace.Side standYes, this needs a special mention under the flops! Thanks to the design of the central stand and placement, the side stand is weirdly bent. It looks cool, but the bike ends up being too low on the side. Add the top-heavy nature, and the bike is a real pain in the arsu, rather than legs and hands to lift up. If there is a slight incline to the left, then you are done! with some luggage on top, well you can dial a friend for help. One of the worst designs one can have on a touring bike. Khan is contemplating removing the central stand and designing a longer more upright side stand, which is the level of pain. For me being used to the big fat cow, could manage. But trust me if you are of small build and for fellow lady riders, this could be a real downer while making the purchase decision.Rider fittingRoyal Enfield really needs to learn here. This bike has a riser fitted so the handlebars were kinda sorted. But hello if you need to adjust the switch gear to sync up with new handlebar position or even lever positions, you can't! The switch gear has a small plastic locator stub, that goes into a corresponding hole at the bar end. Smart Alecs in RE never thought that people actually need to adjust levers and switch gears for comfort and safety. Yes, one can file off the plastic stub and then tighten the switch console back while adding some 3M tape, but how lame can this be??!! Next is the gear lever, the lever end is almost 1/4 inch taller than foot pegs (with rubber), with riding boots one has to lift legs and kick the lever down More impressive is the way in which the lever is attached to the shifter rod. The adjustment is as old school as it can be, one has to remove the whole pedal off the splines and reinsert it. Which is fine, but once you remove the bolt the lever just refuses to come out. You will need a lever or thick screwdriver to be shown inside the clamp side and spread the hole to get it off. We did not have this, so had to put back the bolt and ride on with that awkwardly positioned lever. Compared to this the old Himalayan has a nice adjustable link which can be used to set the lever position by undoing the bolt with an open 10 mm spanner! Seats though they are firm (my liking), are not comfortable over long rides. Not even as comfy as the bare bench 390 adv. The reason being 1) the seat is tilted and one will land up sliding down. 2) The bigger issue, the rear part of the front seat which is wide and where your bum should be... the scoop of the plastic base pokes the bum hard exactly there. The cushion just doesn't have any place to flex and the plastic eventually leaves its mark on your bum. This can be fixed by a good seat guy, and Khan is planning for something.Overall verdictI loved it minus the engine! but what Khan has done has kinda made it good. This can be a good one-bike solution for 200-400km/day touring and city use. I would not dare say, it can compete with 800 to 1200 cc bikes, that would be just Khayali pulao (wishful thinking), but is a good ead economical alternative... if you don't want to spend a fortune, procuring even preowned big bikes that cost more. Is it a KTM Adv killer? Not really, coz the character is very different. This bike may not really be to the liking of younger or a real fast rider if you ask me. KTM is much more refined and polished overall and a hoot to ride. Will I trade my KTM Adv 390 for this? Well yes if someone offers a flat exchange to my bike with this. But I will definitely get those tweaks copied from Khan's bike. PS: A big thanks to Khan_Sultan for letting me ride this beauty and his old Himalayan! Love you bro and this was yet another awesome ride. Classic example of side stand, the old Himalayan wouldn't park proper at this incline if it's facing the other way around like Sherpa. Which is the way it should be. Where as Sherpa nicely sitting down even with raised road bank on that side. Also to lock the steering to opp side to lift the bike off, you will need some serious muscle thanks to the front and top heaviness of the bike. Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 service & engine oil change at 5,000 km

BHPian aviator1101 recently shared this with other enthusiasts. Ownership Update: Bagheera crosses 5000 kms Second Service done All inspections are as per schedule. Following additional activities were also carried out:- Chain slack adjusted Engine oil (2.1 litres) was changed though it was not part of the second service schedule. When the oil was drained, it was found in very bad condition. RE recommended oil change interval is 10000 kms. However, the condition was pretty bad even at 5000 kms, which even the technicians checked and agreed to. Thankfully, there were no metal shavings or sludge deposition in the suction filters. Though my bike ran mostly in hilly terrain, ie low gears, low speeds, and more loads, the condition of the oil was not expected to be this bad in just an interval of 4500 kms. After seeing the quality of the OEM liquid gun oil, even in plains and cruising on highways or normal city use,I would prefer to change the oil to a max of 6000-7000 kmsfor preserving engine health and peace of mind in the long run. The footpeg rubbers also came off in view of the upcoming rides amidst the onset of monsoons. The total amount for the second service Service Kit = 250.00 Engine oil = 1,150.00 Total = 1,400.00 The service centre gave me a separate bill for the engine oil and the oil change wasn't entered in the service record either. Strange ways of RE Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

Took my Jimny to Himachal with 4 adults & luggage: 10 observations

BHPian prateekswarup recently shared this with other enthusiasts. I've almost completed 6k in my Jimny MT Alpha White. Hence, I thought it was a good time to write in a mini-review of the same. My previous vehicles have included a Grand Vitara 2.0, Polo GT TSI and currently a Mitsubishi Outlander. Prologue I have followed the Jimny launch with keen interest but did not bite the bullet once the prices were announced. However, with the Thunder Edition and yearly discounts, I finally took the plunge and bought one on 24th Dec'23. Usage Till Now As soon as I bought it, I took it with 4 adults and 1 kid to Mashobra in Himachal for 5 5-day trip. Post that it has been my daily driver for the office commute in Gurgaon (~11kms one way). In the last week of Mar'24, I recently completed a 2,000km road trip to Spiti Valley from Gurgaon. We were 2 adults and a boot full of luggage along with water, petrol jerrycan, the works. Initial Impressions My Jimny is stock - no changes in tyres, no accessories except the rear defogger wire protectors. I wanted to have a pristine driving experience for a bit before I started looking at mods. The one change that I have made is adding a GAN tuning chip to the OBD port that gives better performance & drivability. Putting down a few points after 6k of drivingInitially, I felt that the gears were a little hard, but the gearbox-clutch has smoothened out post 3.5kThe suspension setup is lovely and is a boon in Gurugram's pot-holed roads. In the hills, it has taken the bad roads with aplomb. At high speeds, on speed breakers or cornering you do feel the rear step out a bit and initially it was a bit unnerving but now I've understood it better.Engine braking is really good and the more one drives this in the hills, the more you begin to start using the same.The high-rev nature of the engine puts a smile on your face. I kept the revs above 2k on my hill drives and hardly ever felt the loss of power. There were patches and steep inclines where you needed to shift to 1st to get momentum, but almost all the other cars in our convoy also struggled. This is where I feel a little more torque would make the Jimny outstanding.The stock tyres are adequate. On rough roads around Kaza, I did get sidewall puncture. Other Jimny's in the convoy had 215s Contis and 235 Yokos and they fared better. But for now, even with river and snow off-roading, the stock tyres felt adequate. An upgrade to 215s is on the cards in the near future.Cabin storage for small items is abysmal. I managed to put some soft foam sheets on the front door pockets to help slide in a phone without rattling and damage. Cupholders get used. The front grab handle with the leatherette wrap also helps in holding the passenger phone. Apart from these changes, I do feel the need to add more storage options to the front.The rear seat belt warning is a pain. I do not want to tamper with airbags deployment and keep them buckled in when not in use.Boot storage is adequate and swallows up 2 mid-size suitcases and 2-3 duffle bags with ease.Traction control is quite aggressiveAuto-start-stop in the hills can get intrusive. In city traffic, it's easy to use.I love the size and footprint along with the commanding view of the road. It is small enough to get through most gaps, narrow hill roads and offers a very old-school SUV experience. I learnt my driving on a Gypsy and it has a similar feel.Letting a Few Pictures do the talking: Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.

Why I got my 5th-gen City bumper repainted instead of replaced

BHPian ndp88 recently shared this with other enthusiasts. Hello everyone, update here. Not a happy one. Got delivery today and as we were bringing home a brand new car making the last turn, some underage kid dashed it from behind tearing apart the rear bumper. He was without a licence, driving without headlight in his XUV700. The panel is broken. Taking it to the Honda Service Centre tomorrow. I think Replacement is the only option here. Any idea how much this will cost? Repair update: Since this Car was a gift, we wanted to drive it down over the weekend and present ourselves to father in our hometown. That is why Delivery on Gudi Padwa was critical (which took a different fight altogether with the dealer). And so after the whole ordeal of the accident late into the night, I was convinced that now I needed to get the Panel replaced by checking with ASC tomorrow. We were thoroughly disheartened and kept wondering why this happened to us. But I was confident in my heart that the decision to forgive the kid was correct. In the morning, I took a look at the car in full daylight. Fortunately, only the rear bumper was damaged and broken. No impact on the underbody guard quarter panel or wheel assembly body. My biggest worry was structural integrity and not the cosmetic look. Again by god's grace, there was no serious damage to the structure and only the Fibre Plastic part was damaged. In my assessment, the kid was at speed and tried to control impact at the last moment by breaking, a steep right-turn to the steering wheel. Had it been a full 180-degree impact, maybe the car would've been pushed ahead and damage would have been everywhere from the Boot panel to the entire back body. Maybe airbags might've also been deployed. I felt grateful that no major accident happened both of us were safe, no injury to anybody else either. I called Viva Honda (where I purchased) for Service centre contact before I actually drove down, in case of appointment is required. Perhaps it was too early for them, and nobody called back after promising a call-back. Then I called another Honda ASC, the girl promptly directed the call to the Service site head who took down the details. I sent photographs etc. He reached out immediately after 10-15 minutes, saying the Panel needs to be replaced which costs 15k+ GST including painting, labor, and everything. The only catch is the part is not available, and would take 3 days for stock availability. I called another Centre and they also said part is not available in Mumbai altogether. Strange. So in meanwhile, I had already registered an Insurance claim late last night. Now I was confused mind, what to do. It was important to me the panel be fixed immediately as our travel plans were aligned accordingly. But good repair was also extremely important. Another factor was claiming Insurance, this would've meant letting go of the No Claim Bonus and adding accident history to the Car within the first 24 hrs. While I am not averse to claiming insurance and have done so in past, the above factors were important as well. One may disagree, but avoiding the claim was my personal preference. I decided to bring my local garage guy just to get an opinion on repair. He examined it and showed readiness to fix it. I quizzed him for half an hour as to how the process would go and to what extent he could fix it. He showed me a few example videos of past jobs. He assured me that if the progress is not up to satisfaction, I can withdraw and go for full panel replacement. It seemed like a good idea to try at least. I was worried about the broken patch of the bumper, even though the damage was limited to only a small area. I made up my mind and gave go-ahead. Since the damage was limited to fibre plastic, I thought this could be fixed. What followed was 8 hours of gruelling job, which I personally sat throughout with each technician till the Car was fixed. It became good as new. Nobody could tell (except me) if there was any damage to the bumper. These chaps did amazing work, must appreciate their skills. Such a job typically takes 2-3 days to complete, but guys were willing enough to put aside other tasks and focus on this one car alone. Only polishing work was pending, which I got done a day later since you need to let the surface dry a little more and settle. I was overall satisfied with the repair, there was no sign of damage or shoddy fix. The whole thing cost me 6.5K, I didn't take compensation from anybody. By looking at the result of the repair, I had already forgotten the whole unpleasant experience of last night. I was happy again. I was looking forward to weekend and driving this beautiful baby on the Samruddhi Expressway. Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

Brought home my Virtus 1.5L GT DSG: Impressions post 2,000 km

BHPian adith97 recently shared this with other enthusiasts. Choice of car I was looking to buy my first new car as my old car, which was my father's Duster, had become too old. I wanted to buy a sedan because growing up, we had City & Verna in our family which I absolutely loved driving. Comfort & performance wise, I feel sedans are the best. Plus I just got married & it is a small family, just me & my wife. This is the best time to have a sedan. I can always upgrade to an SUV once my family grows.Unfortunately today there aren't many options in the C segment. We only have Virtus, Slavia, Verna and City. I shortlisted Verna & Virtus after the first round of test driving. I am 6ft 3in height & I was worried sedans won't fit me. But except City, both Virtus & Verna were quite comfortable. I had to keep the seat at its lowest position. Verna feels a lot more spacious inside & has a ton of features like ADAS, lane keep assist, collision warning etc etc, which honestly I don't care for. Virtus, on the other hand, is a lot less spacious. Two people can sit comfortably in the second row, not more than that. Three for short distances only. I selected the 1.5L turbo petrol engine in both the cars. I did two more test drives on both the cars. I requested for a long test drive the third time on a highway & that sealed my decision. Virtus on highways is an absolute beast! Once you hit that sport mode, the car just pulls you like anything. Pair that with the DSG gearbox with almost instantaneous shifts, it makes you want to reach illegal speeds. The car asks you to press more. The handling, cornering, brakes are top class. Verna is almost equally good but Virtus was a level above. My only concern was the DSG DQ200 gearbox which has had a lot of issues in the past but it seems they have refined it to make it more reliable. My driving use was 60% highways, mostly trips to Chennai from Bangalore & 40% city, office commute 2-3 days a week. So it made sense to go for 1.5L TSI engine & DSG automatic because I was fed up of driving a manual in Bangalore traffic. Variant Virtus has two lines- one for the 1L TSI engine called Comfort line & one for the 1.5L TSI engine called Dynamic Line. Within these two lines, they have variants. In Dynamic Line, there are primarily two variants - GT & GT Plus. The only important difference is that GT comes with 2 airbags while GT Plus has 6 airbags. Apart from that, GT Plus also has sunroof (I don't like them), ventilated seats, electric adjustable seats, rain sensing vipers, automatic headlamps, cruise control etc. Virtus has 5 star safety rating with 2 airbags itself. So I went ahead with GT variant itself as I don't care for any of the other features. Dealership Experience I bought the car at KUN Volkswagen dealer, JP Nagar. The experience was decent. They were not very proactive in following up. I always had to call them up & follow up for everything.I bargained a lot with them to get discounts. I told them that I would take insurance outside, after which they reduced it significantly all the way from around 80k to 40k. This included bumper to bumper zero depreciation, Engine protect, Cost of consumables, Return to invoice, NCB etc.I also sold my Duster to KUN motors, for which I bargained too & got a 20K exchange bonus. I thought the price was a little low compared to if I had sold outside in Cars24 or Spinny. But the process was smooth & hassle free, the amount directly went as downpayment. So I just did it.I also got extended warranty & standard accessories free as well.Another thing I checked was the road tax between KA & TN. I thought if it was significantly less, I would get it registered in TN. But turns out, it is pretty close to KA & the difference was a mere 10K. It wasn't worth it, so I did it in KA itself.The car was in stock already & was handed over to me in two weeks. I had told them that I would buy only if the car was in stock & that I would go to another dealer if I had to wait. I didn't like waiting for the car.I requested for a PDI before the car was sent to registration, which they allowed. The sales person rushed me during the PDI as he had other work but I took my sweet little time to do it.The delivery was done smoothly with no issues, with a cake & the car reveal.Driving/Ownership Experience - 2000kms It has been one month since the delivery & I have driven almost 2000Kms. ProsVehicle performance is amazing. It is a joy to push this 1.5L beast of an engine. As mentioned above, it clocks high speeds without breaking a sweat. Handling, cornering is amazing. I keep wanting to take it out for a drive.Gear shifts are instantaneous with DSG gearbox.Amazing brakes. Gives you confidence to go at high speeds.Silent cabin.Good steering control.Amazing ground clearance for a sedan. Never had to worry about the bottom hitting the road.5 star safety rating. You can feel the build quality with the door thud.Decent mileage. Better than expected really. As an experiment, I drove light footed & maintained 100Km/hr through one long drive. I got 17kms/l. Generally I get around 10 in highways, which is mainly due to the speeds I go at.Huge boot space is very practical.Looks gorgeous. I think this is the best looking car in this segmentAC is very effective. Looks like they have fixed the AC issues now. It is effective even in Chennai.Fabric seats are really comfortable.Red themed interior looks classy. Ambient red lighting looks cool as well. Lot of space is nice.Warning sound after 120 is not that intrusive. With music, you won't even hear it.Infotainment system with Android auto is good & useful.Volkswagen app is nice. Tells the location of the car as well as if the engine is switched on or off. Has a theft informing system too.Music system is good.Vehicle has built a reputation as an enthusiast car. Whenever I tell anyone that I have bought Virtus, they are always surprised & say what a good car it is.ConsDSG gearbox in bumper to bumper traffic is a pain. There is the known DSG lag at low speeds plus it gets real confused between 1st & 2nd gear. It is also known to heat up a lot in such traffic. I think people who primarily drive inside cities should think a lot before getting DSG.Transitioning to automatic has been frustrating at times. This is a personal issue. After being a manual driver for the past 10 years, with the DSG issues mentioned above, I feel like I have no control over the car. It is just driving itself. I guess, with time, I will get used to it.Automatic start stop system is absolute rubbish. I always switch if off as soon as I start. It is tuned so aggressively that the engine switches off even for speed breakers.I feel the suspension is a little stiff. Not sure if it is just me.There is a small noise that comes from the brake pedal when I disengage it. I asked the service person at VW & they said that it is expected. But I am pretty sure it wasn't there initially.My wife calls this car he kidnap car. It is because the lock/unlock functionality for all the doors is with the driver. The passengers can't unlock their doors themselves.Boot door doesn't stay put. You have to open it all the way up for it stay put. Have gotten hit a couple of times already.Occasionally android auto gets disconnected. But this has been very very rare.Overall, I am very satisfied with the car so far & I can't wait to keep driving it. Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.

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Kawasaki KLX 230 S dual-sport bike caught testing in India

Kawasaki seems to be working on the KLX 230 S dual-sport bike for the Indian market. It is expected to be locally manufactured alongside the Versys-X 300. The KLX 230 S is currently sold in several overseas markets. Kawasaki has made a few modifications to the Indian version though. The test bike is equipped with a saree guard and a front number plate, which is required by law. This also means that the bike will be road-legal. The KLX 230 S is based on a steel perimeter frame suspended by a long travel fork at the front and a mono-shock at the rear. The bike rides on 21-inch and 18-inch wire-spoke wheels at the front and rear, respectively. It offers a ground clearance of 210 mm and the seat height is 830 mm. The KLX 230 S is powered by a 233cc single-cylinder air-cooled engine. On the non-road-legal version, this unit puts out 19 BHP @ 8,000 rpm and 20.6 Nm @ 6,000 rpm. Source:@hekpomaht_

M&M leads Indian auto-pack with record-breaking 674 patents in FY24

Mahindra & Mahindra, the automotive and farm equipment flagship of the Mahindra Group, has received a record 674 patents in

350 km Sunday ride on my Interceptor 650: My observations & experience

BHPian parrys recently shared this with other enthusiasts. So, I went for a 350+ km ride on Sunday with the Interceptor 650. Ride Details: Thane - Panvel - Lonavala - Pawana - Tamhini Ghat - Kolad - Mandwa - M2M Ferry - Thane. Total distance covered, 363.2 kms.Here are some observationsStarted to get a hang of the weight. Now I am able to lean into a corner more confidently. Did overshoot a couple of corners, but nothing scary. As the mind always keeps telling me you are on an INT 650 & not 390 ADV anymore.The touring seat kept me happy. Did not have a sore bottom after coming back home.Do miss the gear position indicator. The INT 650 is so smooth higher up in the revs as well, that sometimes I was riding in 5th, and then noticed that I still had another upshift left. So I hope, RE offers this with their updated meters on the newer models.Love looking at the needles. Hard on the throttle, nothing more satisfying than watching the speed & RPM needle climb. And the dials look good to me.Riding posture for me, my height of 5'8''; no problem at all. At times I feel that the tank is LONG, when I look down. It makes me wonder does this make me sit too far? But the posture, I find nothing wrong with it.It does heat up at slow speeds. No denying that fact.End up kicking the left bend pipe often while trying to get the side stand down.Not even once have I used the USB charging yet. I must at least try to see if it is functional.Ceat Tyres - HORRIBLE. Not enough grip for fast cornering. Forget corners, while riding at 80-90 kmph, I once encountered a very very small wet patch. The tyre went sliding for a split second. Experience helped me maintain the line, but a scary moment for sure. Especially when you have no traction control. RE must surely reconsider the rubber. These Ceats, I will plan to change soon.Headlight looks good, when you look at it. The illumination at night, very poor.Mileage, around 27 kmpl. Not bad at all. Including slow crawls, high revving speeds and cruising too. Satisfied.Brakes surprised me. Even with the weight, I now have enough confidence to put the anchors down. Decent bite for my riding style.On Sundays, we bikers spend thousands of rupees. Why? To ride our motorcycle for hours. Food cost is almost 10-20% of fuel cost. But worth it. Every single time. Most of you here on this post, might have seen the Tanners Pride custom leather tank protector. It went flying off at triple-digit speeds. Thank god it did not hit someone else riding behind. Never going the magnetic route ever again. This was my first and last time. And this, while flying off, or when I picked it back and placed it on the tank; HAS SCRATCHED THE TANK. So it has defeated the whole purpose. Tamhini Ghat route is so beautiful. It was raining last weekend around Pune. So we got lovely weather throughout this section. Even after having seen that scratched tank, I thoroughly enjoyed the ride. The bike kept flowing smoothly, and the AEW 102s kept playing some sweet music. I can never get tired of this. My dad owned a Yezdi Roadking when I was a kid. I guess I have had a thing for twin pipes since then. Looks iconic. Or maybe, twin pipes look right (symmetry). Also noticed, the number plate mounting is crooked. Need to fix it soon. Mesh gear always. Summer or winter. This is my Rynox set. My other RevIt is also maximum mesh. So, here's the heartbreaking bit from Sunday. Scratches on the tank. 2-3 spots like these. I think I had tears in my helmet when I saw this. The cut was deep. So no amount of detailing could resolve this. So had to go the PPF way. Not my thing. But no choice. Got a black PPF. Surprisingly, it matches the colour 100%. But, one will always notice the PPF cut / edge line. Which again, troubles my OCD. Before I placed the magnetic tank cover, I had also ordered this unit from Sahara Seats. So this is a placeholder, to ensure that I don't spot those PPF cuts easily. The PPF is cut wider than this cover, so the cover does not damage the paint. My friends say I have gone crazy. More to follow, about how I maintain my tank. Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

New car launches in India in May 2024

4th-generation Maruti Suzuki SwiftEarlier this week, Maruti Suzuki opened bookings for the fourth-generation Swift in India. Dealer dispatches have now commenced as the carmaker gears up for the launch in the coming days. The 2024 Swift will be offered with a 1.2-litre 3-cylinder mild-hybrid petrol engine that produces 80 BHP @ 5,700 rpm and 112 Nm @ 4,300 rpm. The engine is expected to be paired with a 5-speed manual gearbox and an AMT. Related ThreadTata Altroz RacerThe Tata Altroz Racer, a sporty version of the Altroz hatchback, was unveiled at the 2023 Auto Expo. Latest reports suggest that the car might be launched soon. The Altroz Racer is expected to use a 1.2-litre, 3-cylinder turbo-petrol engine from the Nexon. It produces 118 BHP and 170 Nm and is likely to be paired with a 6-speed manual gearbox. Related ThreadMercedes-Benz C200 PetrolMercedes-Benz will be introducing the C 300 petrol in the Indian market later this year. The new petrol variant will replace the C 300d in Q2 of 2024. The C 300 will be powered by a 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo-petrol engine paired with a mild-hybrid system and a 9-speed automatic gearbox. This engine produces 254 BHP with an additional 23 BHP provided by the mild-hybrid system. Peak torque is rated at 400 Nm, which is 150 Nm less than the C 300d. Like the C 300d, the upcoming C 300 petrol might also be offered in a single, full-loaded AMG line variant. Related Thread3rd-gen Porsche PanameraPorsche revealed the prices of the third-generation Panamera back in November 2023. However, the carmaker is expected to commence bookings and deliveries this month. Related ThreadMahindra XUV700 Blaze EditionMahindra is likely to introduce a new limited-edition version of the XUV700 called the 'Blaze Edition'. The Mahindra XUV700 Blaze Edition comes in a unique exterior colour called 'Matte Blaze Red'. The SUV gets a Napoli Black roof, along with black ORVMs and black alloy wheels. You also get the impression of a floating roofline thanks to the blacked-out B, C and D pillars. Related ThreadForce Gurkha 5-DoorForce Motors has announced the prices for the updated Gurkha. The off-roader is available in 3-door and 5-door body styles priced at Rs 16.75 lakh and Rs 18 lakh (ex-showroom), respectively. The Force Gurkha receives several updates for the 2024 model year. The Force Gurkha is powered by a 2.6-litre 4-cylinder diesel engine that produces 138 BHP and 320 Nm. The engine is mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox and a 4x4 system. The company claims that the improved power and torque enable it to cruise on expressways at triple-digit speeds. Related Thread2024 Isuzu V-Cross pick-upIsuzu has launched the 2024 V-Cross pick-up truck in India. The updated model is priced from Rs 21,19,900 (ex-showroom). Isuzu has made several changes to the V-Cross for the 2024 model year. The new V-Cross is powered by a 1.9-litre, 4-cylinder diesel engine that makes 163 BHP and 360 Nm. The engine is paired with either a 6-speed manual or a torque converter automatic. The pick-up truck is also available with a 4-wheel drive system. Related Thread2024 BMW M4 Competition M xDriveBMW has launched the 2024 M4 Competition M xDrive in India. The updated sports coupe will be imported via the CBU route and is priced at Rs 1.53 crore (ex-showroom). At the heart of the M4 Is the S58 turbocharged 3.0-litre 6-cylinder engine that produces 523 BHP @ 6,250 rpm and 650 Nm @ 2,750-5,370 rpm. The engine is mated to an 8-speed automatic and BMW's xDrive four-wheel drive system. BMW claims the M4 can sprint from 0-100 km/h in 3.5 seconds. Related Thread

Bajaj Auto unveils new Pulsar NS400Z at Rs 1.85 lakh. Check complete features

Bajaj Auto has unvield its latest marvel, the new Pulsar NS400Z. With a potent 373cc engine under its hood, delivering an impressive 40 PS of power and 35 Nm of torque, this machine is poised to redefine the standards of performance in its segment.

Bajaj Pulsar NS400Z launched at Rs 1.85 lakh

Bajaj Auto has announced the launch of the Pulsar NS400Z, the most powerful Pulsar ever. The bike is priced at Rs 1.85 lakh (ex-showroom). The Pulsar NS400Z has a sporty design with a striking headlamp that features thunderbolt-style LED DRLs and an LED projector light. The muscular fuel tank has extensions on either side with the 'NS' decal, a 2-piece stepped seat and a tiny chin fairing with a '400' decal. The NS400Z comes with a digital instrument console that offers Bluetooth connectivity. By pairing their smartphones, riders can access features like turn-by-turn navigation, incoming calls, missed calls and SMS alerts. It also gets four riding modes - Road, Rain, Sport and Off-road, switchable traction control and dual-channel ABS. The Pulsar NS400Z uses the same 373cc single-cylinder engine that powers the Dominar 400. It produces 39.4 BHP @ 8,800 rpm and 35 Nm @ 6,500 rpm. The engine is paired with a 6-speed gearbox via an assist and slipper clutch. The NS400Z is equipped with a 43 mm upside-down fork and a gas-charged mono-shock with adjustable preload. Braking is handled by a 320 mm front disc and a 230 mm disc at the rear.

Toyota, Tata Motors Positioned To Benefit From Hybrid Auto Boom

Fading EV demand and popularity of hybrid models prompted Tata to separate its luxury and electric cars business from commercial vehicles.

Ferrari 12Cilindri globally unveiled

Ferrari has taken the wraps off its latest front-engined V12 supercar, named '12Cilindri'. The new Ferrari 12Cilindri (Italian for 12 Cylinders) is a direct replacement of the 812 Superfast. The newest supercar from the Italian brand will be offered in Coupe & Spider versions, both of which were unveiled at an exclusive event held in Miami Beach. The Ferrari 12Cilindri is powered by the brand's 6.5-litre naturally-aspirated V12 engine producing 819 BHP and 678 Nm. The engine has been updated, allowing it to rev up to 9,500 rpm, and comes paired with an 8-speed dual-clutch transmission. Ferrari claims the 12Cilindri Coupe is capable of sprinting from 0-100 km/h in 2.9 seconds, while 200 km/h comes up in 7.9 seconds and can achieve a top speed of 340 km/h. The spider is slightly slower, with 0-100 km/h taking 2.95 seconds and 200 km/h coming up in 8.2 seconds. The 12Cilindri Coupe weighs in at 1,560 kg, while the spider is slightly heavier at 1,620 kg - both dry weights. In terms of design, the Ferrari 12Cilindri features a sharp front end with sleek headlights & DRLs. The overall design feels more sophisticated than its predecessor, featuring clean lines and muscular proportions. Ferrari has also integrated plenty of active aero elements all around the car. Inside, the Ferrari 12Cilindri features three screens, a massive 15.6-inch digital instrument cluster, a 10.25-inch central infotainment display and an 8.8-inch display in front of the passenger. The car carries forward the capacitive buttons on the steering wheel like in other Ferrari models. The Ferrari 12Cilindri comes with a starting price of 395,000 euros for the Coupe and 435,000 euros for the Spider version.

Mahindra XUV700 Blaze Edition details leaked!

Mahindra is likely to introduce a new limited-edition version of the XUV700 called the 'Blaze Edition'. The Mahindra XUV700 Blaze Edition comes in a unique exterior colour called 'Matte Blaze Red'. The SUV gets a Napoli Black roof, along with black ORVMs and black alloy wheels. You also get the impression of a floating roofline thanks to the blacked-out B, C and D pillars. The Blaze Edition gets an all-black interior with red highlights. These include red stitching on the seat upholstery, red trims around the centre console and AC vents. The XUV700 is available with two engine options. These include a 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine that produces 197 BHP @ 5,000 rpm and 380 Nm @ 1,750-3,000 rpm. The second option is a 2.2-litre diesel that puts out 153 BHP / 182 BHP and 360 - 450 Nm depending on the transmission. Both engines are offered with either a 6-speed manual or a 6-speed automatic gearbox. Thanks to BHPian RavenAvi for sharing these images with other enthusiasts!

Bajaj Auto Gets A New Flagship In Pulsar NS400Z

With the Pulsar NS400Z, Bajaj Auto has launched its biggest Pulsar yet that promises affordable power to the masses at a price tag of Rs 1.85 lakh.

Bengaluru auto driver discusses about entrance exams with passenger

Bengaluru auto driver discusses about entrance exams with passenger

Hyundai Motor to raise stake in autonomous driving JV Motional in US

Shillong, May 3: Hyundai Motor Group said on Friday that it will raise its stake in Motional, the groups autonomous driving joint venture in the United States, through a paid-in capital increase, as well as invest in the local venture partner Aptiv. Hyundai Motor Group said the decision for the paid-in capital increase and the [] The post Hyundai Motor to raise stake in autonomous driving JV Motional in US appeared first on The Shillong Times .

Clearing a few PDI queries before taking delivery of my new Kodiaq

BHPian dkaile recently shared this with other enthusiasts. I did the final PDI of the Kodiaq yesterday for final delivery on Monday. I have a few queries regarding the same, if buddies here can comment: They did the following PDI jobs on the vehicle The Battery was checked. Battery Test Report. Seems OK? The Engine Oil was checked and was up to his thumb level in the photo Now this is the L&K kit you get FREE with the car which includes Textile Floor Carpet Mats, 2 Rear Lounge Steps, 1 Blanket, Boot Nets, First Aid Kit, and Warning Triangle; Is is OK? And this is the 23k Accessory Pack items - All Weather Floor Mats+Mat over Tunnel, 4 Mudflaps (installed), Document Holder, USB charger and cable, car care kit, Wet tissue wipe, Microfiber cloth, Tissue Box, Car Perfume, Sling Bag, Body Cover (was a surprise as it was not mentioned initially) and 2 Pillows. Is this all OK? They then attached the car to the laptop and some OBD wireless connectors and scanned for any updates. They said there were none. The technician removed the Transport Mode to get all normal functions going. And scanned the car, removed all previous errors due to transport mode, and scanned again, with no errors. Is that all? The mud flaps were properly fitted. The front mud flaps instructions said to drill a hole to insert a plastic lock, which I avoided and just made a small hole with a screwdriver and drove one of the small OE nuts (that were replaced by longer ones in the kit) removed for support. Seems sturdy to me on checking. Also changed AUTO AC profile to HIGH. It was on Medium from the factory. I think all of us should do that immediately for Indian summers. Sorry, forgot to click a picture, will post soon. The AC was chilling just like my Superb on Auto High after that. 1 important point - Now I asked the technician to switch on the Passenger Airbag. He said that it is switched on by default. But when I later checked, the Passenger Airbag OFF light was ON below the AC control knobs on the centre console, when we switched on the car. I checked the passenger door and the slider key was in the OFF position from the factory (Sorry, forgot to take a picture). I along with the Showroom Manager removed the metal key from our remote and changed it to ON position. Now on restarting the car, the Passenger Airbag light on the console switched to ON. Did we do it right? Is that OK and Normal behaviour? Does that light stay ON or go away while driving? Anything else that needs to be done or checked during PDI? Urgent replies will be most appreciated as we have to pick up the car on Monday. Thanks in advance. Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

2024 Maruti Suzuki Swift reaches dealership ahead of launch

Earlier this week, Maruti Suzuki opened bookings for the fourth-generation Swift in India. Dealer dispatches have now commenced as the carmaker gears up for the launch. The new-gen Swift was recently spotted at a Maruti Suzuki showroom, allowing us to take a closer look at the new hatchback. The new Swift features a redesigned exterior with a low-slung grille, a clamshell bonnet and a floating roofline. It has large projector headlamps with L-shaped DRLs and LED fog lamps. The new Swift looks quite familiar from the rear. It has wide haunches with clear lens LED taillights and a wraparound rear windshield. This car is equipped with dual-tone alloy wheels. Moving to the interior, the new-gen Swift gets a more driver-focused cabin with a 3-spoke steering wheel, a twin-dial instrument cluster and an upright touchscreen infotainment system in the centre. The 2024 Swift will be offered with a 1.2-litre 3-cylinder mild-hybrid petrol engine that produces 80 BHP @ 5,700 rpm and 112 Nm @ 4,300 rpm. The engine is expected to be paired with a 5-speed manual gearbox and an AMT. Source: @iammharshvlogs

1 year with M'lore's last delivered Octavia: Pros & cons of ownership

BHPian abaliga recently shared this with other enthusiasts. Having completed 1 year since we welcomed our 2023 Octavia L&K 2.0 TSI, I would like to share my ownership experience of this very special car with the esteemed forum members and viewersHighlights:This was the last Octavia delivered in Mangalore! We purchased this car only because it was being discontinued and were not in a rush as our Ecosport was running trouble-free with only 25k on the odometer, Skoda was selling this without any discounts despite the rumours about the discontinuation! I was hardly able to bargain as I was not ready to walk away from buying the car (I knew it was unlikely to be launched again, even if relaunched getting it as a CKD with 2.0 TSI is a fat chance).Car has run only 6K in its first year! too less for my liking, but I have enjoyed every kilometre I have driven it.Extremely well built and worth every rupee we paid for (despite being priced slightly higher than desired, it is hard to find a car that is as good for a budget of 35-40 lakh on-road today).Though looks are subjective, Octavia has a timeless design with a nice 3 box silhouette, something that cannot be beaten by any of the SUVs/Crossovers.Absolutely no issues to report, has proven to be a reliable companion to date(knock on wood), and hopefully, it remains that way throughout my ownership (I do not plan on selling the car for the next 10-12 years)!Extremely high safety standards, has received 5 Stars from Euro NCAP, L&K has 2 additional airbags for rear seat occupants in addition to the standard safety suite.Service Experience:The 1st-year service was uneventful, I was charged around 12k included Oil change (did not get the car washed and declined the wheel alignment), and I did not let the car out of my sight for the entire 3 hours it was at the workshop and was standing outside the workshop door to respect their rules, I had informed the SA to not go on a test drive without me being present, Tafe Access Mangalore honoured my requests without any hesitation.Likes:Minimalistic dashboard design with high-quality bits that should age well (Notwithstanding the piano black inserts that are impossible to keep scratch-free).Sweet powertrain with 190PS and 320 NM of torque that can keep most enthusiasts happy. The only fly in the ointment is the wheel spin and torque steer raising its ugly head when one floors the gas pedal. RS tune for the engine with an AWD would have given a 330i/li a run for its money.Cushy ride quality at higher speeds, Low-speed ride is a bit stiff though, maybe the stock Goodyears are to be blamed.Decent space for folks with an average build, taller folks will find it a bit cramped in the rear seat that is if a person above 5'10 is seated in the front.Retractable sun blinds for rear windows and rear windshield (missing on 3 series).Well-designed digital instrument console with round dials (I hate the new age angled designs!).Powered trunk lid and an accommodating 600-litre boot.Compact turning radius that is shorter than our previous ride (Ecosport), very manoeuvrable for a 4.7m car.Did I mention good fit and finish inside out already? it's hard to find this level of quality for the price I pay these days.DSG performs very well in most situations (97%), at times one can feel the jerks at speeds below 30 km/h as the box is hunting for the right gear to be in, this can be noticed only by keen observers.Neutral handling characteristics (nowhere as fun as our Ecosport was, but that had a harsh ride), the ride and handling balance on the Octavia is appreciated more than the fun we could have on the Ecosport.Very refined overall, NVH levels are very well controlled even at 3-digit speeds, Motor sounds sweet when revved! This is one reason we had to drop the VAG 1.5 TSI cars from contention, I hate the boomy nature of 1.5 TSIs at revs higher than 3.5k rpm and wish VAG sorted this out (their 1.2 TSIs sounded much better at higher rpm too).Ground clearance at 137mm is more than adequate, as long as one is not rushing through speed breakers/potholes, this is easily manageable and the suspension tune does not let the car scrape its belly easily.Full LED headlights and tail lights that look nice when lit up.Ambient lighting for the dashboard gives the cabin a premium vibe.The well-thought-out dash cam port behind the IRVM is a blessing, no warranty issues stemming out of aftermarket installation!Wireless car play and Android Auto are standard.Wireless phone charger is standard as well.Dislikes:Ingress/Egress is a little tricky for seniors, and not as comfortable/easy as some of the monocoque crossovers.Stitching on the seats and the steering is not consistent, and hard to notice, but keen observers can find minor anomalies (I am nitpicking here).Single-digit fuel economy for the most part, the bumper-to-bumper drive will yield only 7-7.5 km/l, one can get a decent 10-12 km/l if the average speed is above 30 within city limits, Highway economy is decent at 15-16 km/l if one is a saint, although we (myself and my dad) have not been able to fetch more than 10-11 km/l on a highway run where one is driving fast (within speed limits), the car gulps fuel if one is slowing down frequently and picking up speed quickly! Turbo petrols are not meant for high-mileage users.The driving range with a relatively thirsty motor and 50 litres tank is limited to about 500 kms (Tank capacity should have been at least 60 litres).205/55 R17 size tyres are skinny, I find the profile and the diameter to be adequate for our roads, but the width should have been 225mm at the minimum! Will need better rubber next time around.The absence of physical HVAC controls is a trend I hate, however, there is an option to add a widget on the home screen of the infotainment for HVAC controls including the blower speed which makes it easier than navigating across menus.Wheelspin on aggressive launches, a typical trait of a front-wheel drive, I feel this dilutes the premium car experience at times.Low beam on the headlights was awful, and this is despite the upgraded headlights for L&K, I got the beams raised a bit during the first service, but have not been able to test whether there is any improvement as yet.Unacceptable cost-cutting measures like not providing ambient light, and soft feel plastics on the rear door pads (although the general quality of door pad plastics is superior all around).I do not mind the absence of a sunroof, but not providing ventilated seats on a car that costs almost 38 big ones is unacceptable.Requirement of minimum 95 Octane fuel, finding this was tricky on our 2200 kms trip from Mangalore to Shirdi, ended up fueling regular 91 Octane fuel 2-3 times, luckily the motor performed well regardless of the octane rating! Availability of good quality high-octane fuel is always on the back of my mind during road trips as some owners have faced issues with this motor being sensitive to fuel quality. Also, the fuel cap says the car is only E10 compliant, God help us if there is no availability of E10 fuel in the country a few years down the line.It was cheap of Skoda to delete the extremely desirable Canton music system and the child lock controls from the driver door! As if these deletions were not enough, Skoda increased the prices subsequently adding insult to injury, I am an audiophile and greatly appreciate quality music, deletion of the Canton system is something I still can't get my head around after owning the car for a year, the stock music system is alright but not great, I guess I will bite the bullet eventually and upgrade the speakers and install a sub.All in all, I am very happy with the purchase, 4th generation Octavia is an excellent offering that can give the luxury German Marques a run for their money! Brand Octavia has been the default choice for enthusiasts who are on a budget, unfortunately for many of them, the car is discontinued as of today, I am hoping this will be re-introduced soon (has to be in the CKD form as it does not make any sense as a CBU!) as this was the car that had established Skoda in India. I would also like to urge Skoda India to manage the lead time required for procuring parts of their CKD options better, Have heard too many stories of delays over 3 months, this is simply unacceptable in a globalized world with a super fast supply chain. And finally, Here are some pictures I have clicked over the past year, please do not mind the quality as all of them were clicked on my phone, Thank you all. Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

Stock market update: Nifty Auto index falls 0.02% in a weak market

The Nifty Auto index was trading 0.02 per cent down at 22730.05.

Bajaj Auto Share Price Live Updates: Bajaj Auto Closes at Rs 9110.65 with Impressive 3-Month Return of 18.12%

Judge grants autopsy rules requested by widow of Mississippi man found dead after vanishing

A Mississippi judge granted a request Thursday by the widow of a deceased man who vanished under mysterious circumstances to set standards for a future independent autopsy of her late husbands body

Unforgettable Moment: Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri Takes Auto Ride In Delhi

Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday took an auto ride and also interacted in a conversation with an auto driver in the national capital and called it as unforgettable moment.

From the India Today archives (1985) | Autobiography of a maharani

From the India Today archives Autobiography of a maharani

Market Trading Guide: Bajaj Auto, Asian Paints among 4 stock recommendations for Friday

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 128 points or 0.17% to settle at 74,611 in a restricted trade.

Bajaj Pulsar NS400 official images leaked ahead of launch

Bajaj is all set to launch the most powerful Pulsar yet on May 3. But official images of the bike have already leaked online. The images reveal a familiar design, adopted from other models in the brand's NS range. The bike has a sporty headlight with lightning bolt-shaped LED DRLs, a muscular fuel tank with extensions on either side with the 'NS' decal and a 2-piece stepped seat. It also has a tiny chin fairing with a '400' decal. The Pulsar NS400 rides on an upside-down fork with a gold finish and a mono-shock at the rear. The bike is fitted with stylish alloy wheels that have a multi-spoke design and a rear tyre hugger. It has disc brakes at both ends. The Pulsar NS400 is expected to use the same 373.3cc single-cylinder engine that powers the Dominar 400, making it the biggest Pulsar ever. It will be paired with a 6-speed gearbox via a slip-and-assist clutch. The NS400 will come with a digital instrument console offering smartphone connectivity and dual-channel ABS, among other features. Thanks to BHPian payeng for sharing these images with other enthusiasts!

Unforgettable moment: Hardeep Singh Puri takes auto ride in Delhi

The News Mill

2024 Force Gurkha launched at Rs 16.75 lakh

Force Motors has announced the prices for the updated Gurkha. The off-roader is available in 3-door and 5-door body styles priced at Rs 16.75 lakh and Rs 18 lakh (ex-showroom), respectively. The Force Gurkha receives several updates for the 2024 model year. These include a single-slat grille with 'Gurkha' lettering, circular LED headlamps with integrated LED DRLs and fog lamps with a cornering function. The SUV rides on 18-inch alloy wheels and is equipped with a snorkel, a roof rack with an integrated ladder, a tailgate-mounted spare wheel and a tow hook. Inside, you will find a familiar-looking dashboard. However, it is now equipped with a 9-inch touchscreen infotainment system offering Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity and a digital instrument cluster. The SUV is also equipped with a tilt and telescopic adjustable steering wheel, dual airbags, ABS with EBD and TPMS. It can carry up to 7 persons. The Force Gurkha is powered by a 2.6-litre 4-cylinder diesel engine that produces 138 BHP and 320 Nm. The engine is mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox and a 4x4 system. The company claims that the improved power and torque enable it to cruise on expressways at triple-digit speeds. The new Gurkha offers a ground clearance of 233 mm, which is said to be the highest in the segment. It can drive up a 35-degree incline and can wade through 700 mm deep water. The Gurkha also gets new independent suspension at the front, fully locking mechanical differentials on both the axles and Electronic shift-on-the-fly.

Future Mercedes-Benz models to ditch next-gen Apple CarPlay

In a recent interview, Ola Kallenius, CEO of Mercedes-Benz, confirmed that the carmaker will not offer the next-generation CarPlay in its future models. Instead, the brand has decided to focus on its own Operating System. Apple, which will introduce its next-generation CarPlay later this year, had initially named Mercedes-Benz as one of the carmakers to receive the software. However, the company CEO has confirmed that they have chosen not to adopt the upcoming CarPlay update in its models. Kallenius described Mercedes' proprietary OS as the central nervous system of the vehicle's software architecture. Mercedes aims to offer a holistic approach, integrating all of the vehicle's functionalities seamlessly, to offer a superior experience, which, as per Kallenius, can only be achieved by the manufacturer itself. Having said that, Mercedes-Benz has confirmed that it will continue supporting the current generation of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto on its vehicles. Customers will get the option to choose the platform which best suits their preference. Apple has confirmed that the first carmakers to get the new-generation CarPlay software later this year are Porsche & Aston Martin. Source: TheVerge

2024 Isuzu V-Cross pick-up launched at Rs 21.20 lakh

Isuzu has launched the 2024 V-Cross pick-up truck in India. The updated model is priced from Rs 21,19,900 (ex-showroom). Isuzu has made several changes to the V-Cross for the 2024 model year. The pick-up truck gets a new front bumper guard, engine hood garnish, rear combo lamp garnish, fender lips, and black alloy wheels. Significant improvements have been made when it comes to occupant safety. The V-Cross now features traction control, electronic stability control, hill descent control and hill start assist. It also gets rear seat occupant detection sensors with 3-point seat belts for all three rear seat occupants and a seat belt warning indicator. Speaking of passengers in the rear, the V-Cross is fitted with new rear seats that offer a higher degree of inclination. The new V-Cross is powered by a 1.9-litre, 4-cylinder diesel engine that makes 163 BHP and 360 Nm. The engine is paired with either a 6-speed manual or a torque converter automatic. The pick-up truck is also available with a 4-wheel drive system.2024 Isuzu V-Cross ex-showroom prices:Hi-Lander - Rs 21.20 lakhZ AT 2WD - Rs 25.80 lakhZ MT 4WD - Rs 25.52 lakhZ Prestige MT 4WD - Rs 26.92 lakhZ Prestige AT 4WD - Rs 30.96 lakh

Attended a Radio-Controlled Model Tugboat Gathering

BHPian Jeroen recently shared this with other enthusiasts. I thought some of our members might be interested in this: I visited an RC model event. A couple of times a year they organise a tugboat event. Anybody with an RC tugboat can come and sail it at the club's beautiful little lake! Modelbuilding is a huge industry, with many different models, topics, scales and what have you. There are quite a few people who build model boats. Statis and or floating models. From the very small to the very large. Within that group, the tugboat model boat folks take a very prominent position. Tugboats have always been popular in the Netherlands. In the 30-50s ocean-going tugboat skippers were famous.People would follow their adventures. All long before the internet. This was through talks on the radio and articles in newspapers, magazines, and so on. The Dutch have always been BIG on ocean towage and salvage. For decades there was immense competition between two companies, Smit and Wijsmuller. There was never a job too big, too dangerous, too complex, or Dutch salvage teams managed to succeed. There is even an excellent book, considered proper literature, about this fierce competition and how an independent tug boat captain tried to break into the market. The book is called Hollands Glorie. Dutch Glory. Even today Hollands Glorie still stands for whatever outstanding achievement the Dutch have and or do. So many people are interested and there are several model-built boat kits out there. Many builders will not build a kit, but get hold of the original ship's drawings and build everything from scratch!Whatever, pardon the pun, floats your boat. Here you see part of the club's pond. Pretty big. A huge model of a NedLLoyd container vessel. Not sure if this one is made to sail under its own power, or whether it is there to be towed. This is the Smit Rotterdam. One of the last ocean-going tugs Smit was built in 1974. About 75 meters long it packed 22000 HP. Which made it the most powerful oceangoing towing tug in the world. She had a sister ship, Smit NewYork Seen from above: It is a model kit, provided by the famous brand Billing Boats, www.billingboats.com/index.p...smit-rotterdam Billing boats are always wooden boats. The hull is made up of many ribs and bulkheads and you place small wooden planks horizontally across them. People build them as just a nice static model to be displayed. Or like here, put an RC kit into it. These days that means two individually controlled main engines, a rudder, bow thruster. working radar, towing winch, anchor winch, lights, and engine sounds!! Here something quite different. A proper steam tug, with a real steam engine, all Radio Controlled!! There were a few other types of boats on display as well. Next to towing, dredging is the other thing the Dutch are famous for. So there are people who build model dredgers, that fully functioning.To the best of my knowledge, there are no model kits, so this is all completely hand-built, from drawings, or perhaps even just old photographs. The club puts out these market stalls where everybody can display their pride and joy, when not sailing! This is one of the most popular kits around, the SmitLLoyd 109. I have sailed on her twice. The so-called original 100-Series of SmitLLoyd were very famous in their days. They are so-called suppliers/Anchor Handling Tugs. Extremely robust, and capable of handling ice conditions, with about 14000 HP they were far more versatile than the dedicated oceangoing tugs such as the Smit Rotterdam. Notice the big anchor on the deck. This is an anchor used by an oil rig. The oil rig would be anchored to the sea floor with 10-16 of these anchors. It was the job of vessels such as the 109 to run out those anchors and retrieve them if and when the rig had to be moved. Very tough and very dangerous work! I loved it. As one of the engineers, I would work the winches or help out on deck.Working with the massive anchor chains also involved welding and a lot of cutting with acetylene torches and later plasma cutters. Enter little ol me! On a rolling and pitching deck As I mentioned, a very popular model. Many people have built it, in various forms. Some have used a different model, e.g. 112, or 117. Because they sailed on it, or because they liked it better. All these 100 boats had some small differences from one another. SmitLLoyd and Smit were separate companies for a long time. At some point in time, they merged and the typical SmitLLoyd pink chimneys were painted in the Smit colours. Real SmitLLoyd crews hated it. But it got worse as they ultimately merged with Wijsmuller as well, and the company and ships became known as SmitWijs. Here you see the 109 in original Smit-LLoyd colours and the later and short-lived Smit colours. I liked this cute little tugboat. I chatted to the owner. It is a complete fantasy boat. He built it from all kinds of scratch materials. He has three more like this. But the finish and attention to detail is fantastic!! Also a lot of harbour tugs. Very often Smit harbour tugs. There are a few more harbour tug operators, but Smit has always been the biggest and most famous one. These are the sort of tugs that assist the largest container vessels and tankers in Rotterdam harbour. Look at the detailing, under the waterline as well. I did not see any today, but I know there are RC model tugboats that have proper model Voith Schneider propellers. Here is another oceangoing tug I sailed on, very briefly. It was called Happy Hunter at the time. Again, taken over by Smit. Next to the Smitlloyd 109, the Happy Hunter is probably the second most build model kit. Both are plastic or rather polyester kits. The hull comes in one piece. Even so, building a boat like this is very labour-intensive and it will take hundreds and hundreds of hours. A rough estimate says less than half of the model kits bought are ever finished. You can buy many of these kits, half or less finished at online marketplaces! This particular club, the host of this event, has fantastic facilities, you can see the pond, the jetties and so on. But they also have a roomy clubhouse, workshops, and so on! One of the few Wijsmuller boats out there today. Very nice model. The Wijsmuller boats are often very very pretty This size RC model boat can weigh up to 20-25 kilograms. They all take a lot of weights, just to sit low and correctly in the water. The RC equipment and batteries are not heavy enough by themselves. All these boats have a lot of lead on board! For every 10 minutes of sailing your RC model, it takes 20 minutes of fiddling with the electronics and so on. I love these steam-powered tugs! There is entertainment for the kiddies too. They always have some boats that can be sailed by kids! Lots of very proud owners. Most of them have built their own boats. Some buy them ready-made from others. I have been here before and I usually run into old colleagues. Not today though. There were also fewer boats than usual, not quite sure why. Leaving you with another very nice model!! This is a video from last year, all in Dutch I'm afraid but nice images! Video And another video where you can see some huge models of more modern/current AHTs Video Jeroen Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

Why are there no company-owned & company-operated service networks?

BHPian Quicksilver85 recently shared this with other enthusiasts. I am curious to understand, why are there no company-owned or company-operated service network in India? I see service quality as one of the aspects which could be a hit or miss with many car ownership experiences shared in this forum. Time and again, I see the same repeated even in Official reviews that sub-par service experience or ASS Horror stories with some OEMs. Also, there are so many threads about dealership frauds/mistreatment/poor service quality etc reported on this forum. Similar to how public sector oil companies like Indian Oil, and Bharat Petroleum claim to operate the so-called COCO (Company Owned & Company Operated) fuel stations which presumably deliver better quality and quantity of fuel to motorists. Why cannot there be say a COCO TATA motors service center or Skoda or Hyundai? Or maybe even premium players with low volume such as Audi and BMW? Are there some regulations that prevent OEMs from operating service networks? Or is the quantum of investment & manpower required to operate such a network that OEMs shy away from? Can someone please some light on this if you are from the automobile sector or have knowledge in this domain? Here's what GTO had to say on the matter:It's a dirty businessOEMs would rather hide behind a dealershipA dealership can do things to maintain profitability (overbilling, upselling, scamming) that an OEM never would / could.Push the liability onto the dealership.Of course, one of the biggest reasons is that OEM CEOs, COOs, heads of marketing etc. are used to talking numbers in the hundreds of crores (if not thousands), sales of thousands of cars etc. They have no interest in dealing with 50 cars a month or revenue of 10 crores/month. It's too small for their ambitions.Here's what BHPian SmartCat had to say on the matter:Probably because all car manufacturers know that if they want to generate decent returns from the automobile service business, they have to take the customers for a ride (Eg: brake pad cleaning, door panel anti-rust coating etc) It is best to let somebody else handle the dirty business.Here's what BHPian Shreyans_Jain had to say on the matter:Tata pioneered this model with its Concorde range of service stations. Hyundai too had tried this, they had a full-fledged company-owned dealership in Delhi. Unfortunately, the model didn't work out. Wasn't profitable in either case.Here's what BHPian IshaanIan had to say on the matter:The problem in India at least, is that in order to offer superior service they would have to reward their staff with better pay so as to ensure professionalism and quality. This would mean much higher labor costs in comparison and that would lead to fewer customers bringing in their cars for service as well as dealer partners being miffed about the company trying to steal customers away from them considering service is where all the money is made.Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

Visited the new Payana Vintage Car Museum on the outskirts of Mysuru

BHPian vsrivatsa recently shared this with other enthusiasts.Payana - The Vintage Car MuseumA new Vintage Car Museum opened on the outskirts of Mysuru last week and I had the opportunity to visit this museum along with the family on the way to Mysuru today. This museum has been established by Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari D. Veerendra Heggade and is now open to the public. The structure itself resembles the silhouette of a tyre! Payana - The Vintage Car Museum A zoomed-out view of the Car Museum Intro Flag The museum hosts a huge set of vintage cars on display from brands such as Fiat, Morris, Austin, Mercedes Benz, Willys, Toyota, Citroen and Hindustan Motors. The timings for the museum are from morning 9-00 AM until 8-00 PM in the evening and there is an entry charge of 50 per head for adults and it's free for children up to the age of 12 years. Guidelines The Ticket Counter The Ticket Right at the entrance is placed a car which was used by Dr Veerendra Hegde himself - the Standard Herald: Standard Herald used by Dr Veerendra Hegde during his College Days At the entrance - Evolution of Wheels The most Rudimentary Wheels Spacious Hall Spacious Hall - Additional View Spacious Hall - Additional View Walk away towards the Lower Level Mysuru Maharaja's car - Daimler DE 36 C V Raman's Car - Studebaker ChampionLocation:Payana is located in Brahmaputra which is about 6.5 kms from Srirangapatna Town. If you are coming from Mysuru, then it's about 14 kms from the Mysuru Palace. Continue reading about vsrivatsa's visit to the museum for BHPian comments, insights and more information.

5 key observations of my Maruti Jimny during a recent Konkan drive

BHPian bj96 recently shared this with other enthusiasts. Not a review as enough has already been said about Jimny in this thread. Just a few moments captured from my recent ride to Konkan, and a couple of observations.Small cabin and UV cut glasses helped auto climate AC, set at 25c, to keep us comfortable even at 44-45c ambient temperature in some sections e.g. near Mahad on the Goa Mumbai highway.12.9 km/l despite long ghat sections and the long weekend (city/toll) traffic.Start/stop can be easily controlled by modulating foot pressure on the brake pedal. No need to turn it off using the switch.Small footprint plus high GC meant we didn't sweat when Google directed us through the narrow lanes of Sangameswar bazaar and rural hilly terrains leading to Ganpatipule / Malgund.Enough space and engine grunt for two adults and one 14-year-old plus their weekend luggage. Was easily able to maintain triple digits when roads permitted.Delightful 5.7k kms on the odo so far (in ~4.5 months). Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

USA: All new cars to get automatic emergency braking from 2029

According to media reports, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has made Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) a mandatory safety feature on all new vehicles, starting in 2029. As per the new regulation, all new passenger vehicles sold in the USA & weighing under 10,000 lbs (4,500 kg) should come fitted with the safety tech. The US government implied that the inclusion of AEB in new cars will potentially help save up to 400 lives per year while preventing thousands of injuries. The legislation also states that the automatic braking system should enable a car to stop and avoid collision with the vehicle in front when travelling at speeds of up to 100 km/h; both in day and night conditions. The system should also apply brakes automatically, even at speeds of up to 145 km/h, if it detects that the car is about to collide with a vehicle in front. Also, the AEB system should spot and avoid hitting pedestrians at car speeds of up to 72 km/h. NHTSA states that the new tech will add $84 to the price of a new car. However, the agency will leave the choice of sensors used up to the carmakers. Automakers have till September 1, 2029, to meet the new regulations. Also, low-volume automakers will get an additional year as a grace period. Source: NYTimes

Pre-facelift Tata Nexon Diesel update: 4th service done at 22,400 km

BHPian rnaduthota recently shared this with other enthusiasts. I completed the 4th service for my Cron last Saturday when the ODO was around 22,400. I called my SA, Vijayakumar, a few days before to ensure he was available on that day. I entered the service station around 9:30 in the morning, and within a minute, Vijayakumar attended to me. Since I had no complaints, they performed a general checkup and washing, and I was billed within 90 minutes.By 11 AM, I was out of the service station. Given the horror stories I've heard about Tata's service, I was worried about getting scratched during the service. However, Classic Motors did a wonderful job, and they returned the car spotlessly clean. The service cost around 2K. Overall, I am very happy with my SA and the service station, and I definitely recommend it to others. Some recent pics of Cron.. :-) Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

BMW launches new M4 Competition M xDrive in India at Rs 1.53 crore

Luxury car maker BMW on Thursday launched the new 'M4 Competition M xDrive' in India at an ex-showroom price of Rs 1,53,00,000.

L&T Tech inks pact worth 45 million with French auto firm Forvia

Under the agreement, about 300 engineers from Forvia's Augsburg (Germany) and Bengaluru (India) sites have already been transferred to LTTS. These teams will develop internal combustion engine related activities within LTTS.

April Auto Sales: Two-Wheeler, CV Segment See Growth, PV Stays In Slow Lane

Here is a segmentwise breakdown for the month.

2024 BMW M4 Competition launched at Rs 1.53 crore

BMW has launched the 2024 M4 Competition M xDrive in India. The updated sports coupe will be imported via the CBU route and is priced at Rs 1.53 crore (ex-showroom). The 2024 BMW M4 Competition gets updated Adaptive LED headlights and new LED taillights inspired by the M4 CSL. The massive kidney grille has been carried over and features a horizontal double slat design with a gloss black finish. An M graphic for the front and rear is available as an option. The M4 is fitted with a carbon fibre roof that helps reduce the centre of gravity. The car rides on M forged double-spoke-style wheels with brake calipers painted in gloss Blue. The M Carbon exterior package includes inserts for the front air intakes, a rear diffuser and a carbon rear spoiler. Inside, the M4 Competition features an M leather steering wheel, M sports seats with Active Seat Ventilation and the BMW Curved Display with OS 8.5. At the heart of the M4 Is the S58 turbocharged 3.0-litre 6-cylinder engine that produces 523 BHP @ 6,250 rpm and 650 Nm @ 2,750-5,370 rpm. The engine is mated to an 8-speed automatic and BMW's xDrive four-wheel drive system. BMW claims the M4 can sprint from 0-100 km/h in 3.5 seconds.

Hero Moto, TVS Motors, Bajaj Auto shares rally up 3% after strong April sales

Shares of TVS Motors gained 2.66 per cent to Rs 2,116.95, while Bajaj Auto rallied 2.58 per cent to Rs 9,138 on Tuesday. Hero MotorCorp was up 1.7 per cent to Rs 4,619.40.

3,000 km with my Virtus 1.0L MT: How it continues to impress me

BHPian neoakshay recently shared this with other enthusiasts. I couldn't stretch for the 1.5 so settled for the 1.0 and it's been fantastic. I recently did Bangalore - Mangalore and on one good stretch the car effortlessly did 160 kmph without feeling strained or nervous. Very stable, planted and comfortable. I'm truly satisfied and now feel the 1.5 would have been dangerous in my hands This car has made me a very smooth and sedate driver and I only let loose on this recent trip just to feel the performance of the car. It really cocoons you with the quiet and comfortable interior and the frankly surprisingly good audio system (without subwoofer). I found that I'm usually driving with very little throttle and a harder input gives a good shove in the right gear. No comparison to the GT's aggressive acceleration, but adequately fun and safer for our unpredictable roads. The only thing I don't like is the slightly metallic rattly sound of this 1.0 engine at lower rpms and the engine honestly doesn't have a soulful sound at all, coming from a NA. I guess it doesn't matter when you're so comfortable and can play your favourite tunes on a long drive. I will hold on to this car for a long time, my previous car Santro lasted 19 years with me and was sold off to a new buyer who was very much happy to receive a car that was cared for in detail and still easily hits 120 kmph without a wobble. Wishing you many happy miles ahead with your GT! My wife finds it funny how excited I still get when I spot a GT and even she now knows how to tell the difference between the 1.0 and 1.5 I'm glad I chose this car and the fact that it's made in India solves the one problem of VW (or most German cars for that matter) - spares availability and cost. This one should be very easy to love and maintain for a decade or more. Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.

Kia India ties up with Map My India

NEW DELHI, May 2: Kia India on Thursday said it has tied up with Map My India to offer navigation solutions to its customers nationwide. The platforms four-wheeler-specific points of interest search, spanning over 450 categories, enables easy discovery of vital services like dealerships and service centres, fuel stations, hospitals, hotels, restaurants, and more, the automaker said in a statement. Moreover, drivers will enjoy speed limit alerts, real-time incident updates and voice-guided navigation support while driving, it added. Our collaboration [] The post Kia India ties up with Map My India appeared first on Daily Excelsior .

Volvo shows how safe its smallest car is when hit by its largest

According to a media report, Swedish automaker Volvo recently crash-tested its smallest electric vehicle offering, the EX30, by running its largest car, the EX90, into the side of it. The test was conducted at Volvo's in-house crash-test lab to prove a point about the EX30's safety. Volvo stated that the standard of safety in the EX90 is higher than any other model before it. The same was done for the EX30 as well. Talking about the EX30's safety, Volvo stated that the EV protects all its occupants hrough state-of-the-art restraint technology, as well as top-notch structural design that fulfils our ambitious in-house safety requirements - designed to prepare our cars for various real-world scenarios. As per reports, the Volvo EX30 has been designed to disperse all the forces around the structure of the car during an accident. Also, the lower structure on both the EX30 and EX90 are specifically designed to absorb most of the energy in a crash. This results in less damage than you might have expected from the larger car onto the smaller car. Volvo didn't release the interior view of the EX30 either before or after the crash test. However, Lotta Jakobsson, Volvo Cars Safety Centre, mentioned that wo small-sized females sitting on the struck side were well protected in the crash, suffering only minimal injuries. Source: Autoblog

Indian car scene: Dearth of all-new mainstream launches in 2024

GTO recently shared this with other enthusiasts. I'd posted this on the Trivia thread in Jan '24:Here's some trivia = I think Q4 2023 (October to December) was the only quarter that didn't see a single all-new car model launch. We only saw facelifts & the like. On the other hand, the motorcycle world has been on fire Unfortunately, Q1 2024 was no different. Other than Facelifts, Variants & EV versions, the all-new nameplates we reviewed last were the Honda Elevate & C3 Aircross back in August 2023!Since then, we've mainly been reviewing variants, facelifts, ATs, EV versions & a bunch of premium cars (BMW X1, BYD Seal)...the last of which carry very low relevance in terms of market reach or sales volumes due to their 50-60 lakh price.Am surprised we've seen no all-new nameplate in the mainstream segments for almost a year!Take a look at our Official Reviews, sorted by date:Gurkha 5-DoorWrangler Rubicon FaceliftBYD Seal (premium, low relevance)Creta N-LineTigor CNGGLA FaceliftC3 Aircross ATPunch EVCreta FaceliftSonet FaceliftBMW X1 (premium, low relevance, not an all-new nameplate)Safari & Harrier FaceliftsMagnite AMTEQE SUV (1.5 crore car)Compass 4x2 ATNexon EV / FaceliftC40 RechargeGloster BlackstormGLCC3 AircrossElevateHere's what BHPian Carpainter had to say on the matter:I think one of the main reasons being manufacturers are busy making EVs these days and are not looking at new models or even new generation for sometime now. Like how the Amaze has been so long in the market but no new facelift or new generation is on the horizon. Same for Compass, Ciaz etc. to name a few. Toyota has stopped making new cars except the Hycross and all their cars are mostly rebadged Suzukis. Same for Honda with only 3 models up for sale and two of which are already looking old now. Some cars that I can think of that will get facelift or new generation are Swift, Dzire and Fortuner. I think our market has stagnated a little here. Even some of the facelifts are carrying polarizing looks like those from Tata, Mahindra, Hyundai etc. I have a sparingly used 9 years old City and I don't see any car today even below 25 lakh bracket that can replace it for another 10 years. I really miss those D segment sedans. I just don't know why atleast Asian companies like Honda and Toyota don't launch their whole south East Asian range of models here. They launch so many variants in countries like Thailand, China, Malaysia etc but only a couple of models here in India with much bigger volume. I don't know how selling say 100 units of 2 models is more profitable than say selling 10 units of 10 different models each. They already share their platform and equipment but multiple models keep the customers happy and help retain a customer longer. I just don't understand their mathematics here.Here's what BHPian CentreofGravity had to say on the matter:You're right. And with upcoming launches like the Toyota Taisor, Mahindra XUV3XO (launched recently), Altroz Racer, Nexon CNG, Thar Armada and Magnite facelift, we're gonna see more variants and facelifts. However, the future isn't entirely bleak. We'll have all new models like the Maruti Swift, Dzire, Citron Basalt and Tata Curvv in the near future and cars like the Maruti EVX, Mahindra BE range, Kia Clavis and EV9, Renault Duster and its Nissan counterpart later on. The period so far may have been boring, but the future seems excitingHere's what BHPian Samba had to say on the matter:My hunch is, manufacturers are not clear about the future of cars. Whether the Indian govt will emphasize higher ethanol petroleum, EV or Hybrid or Hydrogen fuel, or even a diesel engine with some new emission norm! Till they get clarity, they are playing safe and updating the current models and engines rather than investing in a whole new model or engine. The positive part is, that some of the facelifts are worth it, the changes are substantial, not just mere cosmetic changes. Till the manufacturers get clarity about the future these facelifts are welcome.Here's what BHPian smartcat had to say on the matter:Most cars sold by manufacturers have a lifecycle of 6 to 8 years, before being replaced by a new model. Perhaps coincidentally, last year was such that no new model was due for replacement. Or perhaps introduction of new models have been delayed by X months due to internal issues (rather than market outlook). After all, development of a new model has a longish gestation period.Here's what BHPian Axe77 had to say on the matter:Perhaps we should also see this as cyclical? We're a market where we have really have only 5 major / volume manufacturers (Maruti, Tata, Mahindra and Korean siblings) with even Toyota and Honda operating on the fringes and the many others brands sitting below even those two. So first and foremost its a consequence of the market having a relative lack of depth and range to start with in the volumes segment. Seeing the high number of launches in June 2022 - 2023, perhaps its not unusual that there were relatively less number in the following 12 months and its only by 2025 / 26 might see an uptick? I'm referring to mainstream models here of course - the sub 30 - 40 lakh segment - cars need to run their ordinary course life cycle out and maybe we're seeing a bunching up where such updates are not immediately due. My back of the envelope sense is the next wave of launches will come around 2025 - 26, which will see a mix of EVs and strong hybrids being offered respectively. Of course regular end of life cycle updates will continue in ICE too but the former is where perhaps the action will pivot to. The shift in dynamics between EVs and strong hybrids is also relatively recent so I do expect a slight lull before manufacturers figure out how they want to focus their strategy and energy. We're already seeing mainstay players like Hyundai, who had previously declared ambitious EV plans, now also speaking of a parallel strong hybrid strategy too. These kind of strategy shifts will also impact roll out timelines to account for the necessary lead in time.Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.

Strengthening capacity of Thailand's automotive sector would help build resilience: ILO report

Strengthening capacity of Thailand's automotive sector would help build resilience: ILO report Strengthening the capacity of Thailand's automotive manufacturing sector to adopt responsible business practices would help build resilience and sustainability amid a rapidly changing supply chain landscape, according to a new report launched by the International Labour Organization (ILO). The report entitled Decent work and responsible business practices in Thailand's automotive manufacturing sector was produced by the ILO's Resilient, Inclusive and Sustainable Supply Chains (RISSC) project in Thailand, which is supported by the Government of Japan. Thailand's automotive industry is the backbone of the country's economy, accounting for 10 per cent of GDP and employing over half a million workers in manufacturing processes alone. However, despite its high-tech, high-wage status, it faces challenges in ensuring decent work and responsible business practices up and down the supply chain, as well as meeting emerging global requirements. Findings reveal that although the sector is strong in key areas like wages and social protection coverage, there is room for improvement in others, including social dialogue, training and equal opportunity. Similarly, while supply chains globally are being reshaped by new requirements for 'human rights due diligence', there remain gaps in its understanding and application in the Thai automotive sector. The report also highlights disparities in the workforce, with migrant workers and agency-hired workers facing weaker conditions of work and lower wages, on average, than Thai workers and regular employees. Over half of the workers in the sector received some form of formal work-related training, predominantly employer-sponsored vocational courses. However, gaps in access to certified training courses were observed, emphasizing the importance of skills development in career advancement. The report praises the high enrolment in social security schemes but notes a need for improved awareness of compensation programs like the Workmen's Compensation Fund. It also identifies disparities in maternity benefits provision and awareness. Approximately one-third of workers were found to have access to a trade union at their workplace, while a majority of workers would like to join one if available. Unionized workplaces exhibited better social dialogue and negotiation channels between workers and management, underscoring the importance of worker representation in securing safe and productive work environments. The report concludes with stakeholder focused recommendations to strengthen the sector's commitment to decent work and responsible business. These include ratifying key ILO Conventions, improving social dialogue, expanding quality employment opportunities, tackling discrimination, and raising awareness and application of responsible business requirements. We believe this study serves as a vital resource for industry planning in the Thai automotive sector, said David Williams, manager of the ILO RISSC programme. By working together to implement the recommended changes, stakeholders can build a more resilient supply chain that not only guarantees worker rights and productive enterprises, but also unlocks opportunities for industry growth in an ever-more competitive and socially conscious global marketplace.

2024 Harley-Davidson range launched starting at Rs 13.39 lakh

Hero MotoCorp has launched the 2024 Harley-Davidson range in India. A total of 10 bikes will be available in India priced between Rs 13.39 lakh and Rs 41.79 lakh (ex-showroom). On the lower end of the price spectrum are models like the Nightster, Nightster Special and Sportster S. These are priced at Rs 13.39 lakh, Rs 14.09 lakh and Rs 16.49 lakh, respectively. Harley-Davidson offers four models in the Rs 20-30 lakh price bracket. These include the Fat Bob 114, Pan America Special, Fat Boy 114 and Heritage 114. Besides these, the recently updated Street Glide and Road Glide models have been introduced priced at Rs 38.79 lakh and Rs 41.79 lakh, respectively. Both models get the updated version of the Milwaukee-Eight 117 V-twin engine with a new cooling system, revised intake and exhaust ports and tweaked suspension. The Breakout 117 has been reintroduced in the Indian market at a price of Rs 30.99 lakh (ex-showroom).

LTTS wins $48 million deal with European auto parts supplier Forvia

As part of this five-year partnership, approximately 300 engineers from Forvias Augsburg (Germany) and Bangalore (India) sites, have transferred to LTTS

Mahindra XUV 3XO : Our observations after a day of driving

Driving the Mahindra XUV 3XO 1.2L Turbo-Petrol GDi 6-speed AT1.2-litre turbo-petrol engine with gasoline direct injection (GDi) produces 129 BHP @ 5,000 rpm and 230 Nm @ 1,500-3,750 rpm. It is mated to a 6-speed automatic transmission: Mahindra introduced the 1.2-litre turbo-petrol GDi engine back in 2022 with the XUV300 TurboSport Series. The engine was available only with a 6-speed MT and was pitted as a performance variant which, in a way, it was. It was the fastest turbo-petrol car in its segment, but it didn't have a proper automatic gearbox. With the XUV 3XO, Mahindra has rectified that by offering the 3rd-generation 6-speed Aisin-sourced automatic transmission for its turbo-petrol engines. The 3-cylinder turbo-petrol engine is an all-aluminium unit which has the exhaust manifold integrated into the cylinder head. The GDI system has an injection pressure of up to 250 bar and the engine also has an over-boost function that gives it a momentary peak torque of 250 Nm. Driving the XUV 3XO petrol AT is a smooth experience. This 1.2-litre turbo-petrol GDi engine is a very likeable motor and packs a serious punch. Direct comparisons will be drawn to the 109 BHP turbo-petrol MPFI engine and the GDi unit is more linear with its power delivery and also packs more punch. The petrol engine with the 6-speed AT is smooth and city-friendly. Off the line, the throttle response is linear and at low speeds, the turbo lag is masked well by the automatic transmission. The driveability at low speeds is good and you'll appreciate it even more while driving in bumper-to-bumper traffic. With a light foot on the accelerator, you can navigate through city traffic effortlessly without any unnecessary spikes in power delivery. We'd recommend being in the Zip (Eco) mode for a smoother driving experience. As mentioned earlier, the turbo-petrol packs a punch and has a strong mid-range. Power comes in strong at just above 1,500 rpm and you can make those quick overtakes in the city. Out on the open road is where you can flex your right leg for the XUV 3XO to stretch its legs. With 129 BHP on tap, you will reach the 100 or 120 km/h mark without even realising it. There's enough power available for overtaking with ease and covering good ground quickly. The engine's marked redline is 5,500 rpm which is low, but something that's not uncommon with turbo-petrols. This is not a high-revving engine and in kickdown mode, you will see the shifts happening at ~5,000 rpm. The engine is also relaxed when cruising at highway speeds and you will see it spin at 1,900 rpm at 100 km/h and 2,200 rpm at 120 km/h in the 6th gear. As we have seen in the past with Aisin gearboxes, the 6-speed torque converter unit in the XUV 3XO is also butter-smooth in its operation. The shifts are barely noticeable while driving in the city with a light foot. You'll have to pay attention to the change in engine noise to pinpoint when the shifts happen. This isn't a fast-shifting gearbox, but it's not slow either. Response times are acceptable for day-to-day driving and even when driving spiritedly, the gearbox manages to keep up well. In certain situations, when driving hard, you might feel that the gearbox is getting confused, but those instances are few. The gearbox does a satisfactory job for the most part. In the city, the gearbox feels eager to drop down gears when off the throttle to make sure that the rpm doesn't drop too low and the engine stays in the power band. There's a manual mode, but it's not very intuitive and most owners would prefer letting the electronics do the shifting for them. Unfortunately, there are no paddle shifters which some enthusiasts would love to have. Like some of the other Mahindra cars, you have 3 driving modes called as Zip, Zap and Zoom (hilarious name selection)- Zip Mode: This is essentially the Eco driving mode in which throttle response is dulled. You can use this mode while driving in the city as it makes the experience smoother. On the highway, you can use this mode for cruising and some overtakes as well. But if you want to overtake quickly, you'll be better off switching to other modes. Zap Mode: This is the Normal mode. It strikes a perfect balance between the other two modes and you can use it for your daily driving in the city as well as on the highways. Zoom Mode: When you're in the mood for some spirited driving, you should switch to this Zoom mode. Throttle response is the sharpest in this mode and the car feels very eager to your inputs. The steering weighs up in this mode, but not as much as enthusiasts would prefer. Using this mode in the city isn't advisable as the driving experience is too jerky.Noise, Vibration & Harshness (NVH)Mahindra has added panel damping to improve the NVH. They claim that with the improvements in the NVH package, the XUV 3XO's cabin will be as quiet as the XUV700's cabin. The engine is quiet at idle and you don't feel any vibrations in the cabin. On the move, the wind noise is well controlled. Road noise starts to creep into the cabin at 100 km/h. The audio system comes with a feature called as VNC++ that automatically adjusts the loudness to maintain tonal balance against the road noise.Mileage & Fuel EconomyThe Mahindra XUV 3XO comes equipped with Zip driving mode (Eco) and also an idling start / stop system that helps improve fuel efficiency. The claimed fuel economy of the 1.2-litre turbo-petrol GDi engine with the 6-speed MT and 6-speed AT is 20.1 km/l and 18.2 km/l, respectively. The other turbo-petrol engine with 109 BHP (MPFI) has a claimed fuel economy of 18.89 km/l with MT and 17.96 with AT. The 1.5-litre diesel engine has a fuel economy of 20.6 km/l with the MT and 21.2 km/l with the AMT.SuspensionRide ComfortThe XUV 3XO uses an independent MacPherson strut suspension at the front and a semi-independent twist beam suspension at the rear. There are some changes compared to the XUV300. You get a rebound stopper in the top strut mount to reduce the impact forces. At the rear, the span between the springs is the highest in the segment (1,108 mm) which improves the roll stability. Importantly, the dampers now get Mahindra's MTV-CL technology which stands for Multi-Tune Valve with Concentric Land. Essentially, it fine tunes the damping force by controlling the fluid through piston valves. At low speeds, the ride quality is compliant and mature. There is an underlying stiffness to the ride, but it's not uncomfortable by any means. The 17-inch rims add to this. Small bumps are absorbed well and the suspension does its work quietly. Larger potholes do register themselves in the cabin sharply. Like most Mahindra cars, the setup also feels rugged and abuse-friendly. You can manage to get away with carrying some extra speed over a rough patch or a speed breaker. Overall the ride is compliant and most owners will be happy with the XUV 3XO's suspension setup.Handling & DynamicsA unique aspect of the XUV 3XO is its footprint. It has a long wheelbase and the front & rear tracks are wide too. This gives the XUV 3XO a very stable stance and that is very much evident in the handling of the car. At highway speeds, the ride improves and the car is stable with very little vertical movement. Expansion joints and minor undulations do not make it unstable and passengers are comfortable even in the rear seat. Get into the twisty bits and you will appreciate the handling characteristics of this chassis. The car remains composed in slow and fast corners. Even changing directions from one corner to another is a smooth affair and you won't have any scary surprises. The handling is very predictable and you can carry a good amount of speed into corners without feeling nervous. The 215/55 Goodyear Assurance tyres on our test car provided a good grip.SteeringThe Mahindra XUV 3XO's steering is one of the biggest drawbacks in an otherwise capable dynamics package. It was a weak link with the pre-facelift car and it remains the same on this one. The steering is too vague for any kind of feedback and feels dead in the centre. It almost feels like an arcade steering. It weighs up as you gain speed and in Zoom mode, but it still isn't enough. When pushing the car on twisty roads, you will want more feedback when turning into a corner. On the flip side, the steering is very light and easy to use in the city and while parking.BrakingAll variants of the XUV300 come with all-wheel disc brakes, ABS + EBD. Mahindra has also added the same ESP tech (ESP 9.3) from the XUV700 in the XUV 3XO. Emergency braking manoeuvres are handled well by the car and it comes to a stop without any drama. They perform well in day-to-day driving conditions. That being said, the bite is quite sharp. We would've liked the pedal to be a little more progressive. Continue reading the discussion on the Mahindra XUV 3XO on our forum.

Honda Elevate fuel efficiency on a 1500 km road trip

BHPian akhilshenay recently shared this with other enthusiasts. I recently completed a road trip from Trivandrum to Chennai and back in the Elevate. ODO is now ~6500.Route: Trivandrum - Nagercoil - Tirunelveli - Madurai - Vilupuram - ChennaiThe route has 4/6 lane highway except for a 40km stretch between Parassala & NagercoilDistance: 765km One wayTolls: ~1200 one wayTravel duration: ~13 hrsMileage: 15.6 kmplCan easily get 20 kmpl if driven at 80kmph. I was cruising mainly at 110 kmph. The range of 110-120 kmph felt comfortable, and I occasionally reached up to 130 kmph. However, I became less confident beyond that speed, especially considering I was travelling with a toddler. Attaching some of the pictures from the trip. Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

4th-gen Maruti Swift engine & fuel efficiency details out!

Maruti Suzuki is all set to launch the fourth generation Swift in India later this month. The carmaker has opened its order books but has yet to release details of the India-spec Swift. While we do know that the new Swift will be offered with Maruti Suzuki's new Z Series engine, a leaked document sheds more light on the technical details of the new engine. The 2024 Swift will be powered by a 1.2-litre, 3-cylinder petrol engine paired with a mild-hybrid system. It produces 80 BHP @ 5,700 rpm and 112 Nm @ 4,300 rpm. The engine is expected to be paired with a 5-speed manual gearbox and an AMT. In comparison, the outgoing version is slightly more powerful. It uses a 1.2-litre, 4-cylinder engine that develops 89 BHP @ 6,000 rpm and 113 Nm @ 4,400 rpm.2024 Maruti Suzuki Swift fuel efficiency:According to the leaked document, the claimed fuel efficiency of the manual version is 25.72 km/l, which is 3.34 km/l higher than the outgoing version. Source: V3Cars

Bajaj Auto posts 17% growth in domestic auto sales for April, exports up 18%

The company achieved 19 percent growth in sales of two-wheelers at 3,41,789 units while sales of commercial vehicles posted a growth of 7percentat 46,467 units.

Elimination of Tesla's charging department raises worries as EVs from other automakers join network

Several leaders of Tesla's Supercharger team posted social media messages saying they were told that entire group of about 500 had been laid off by CEO Elon Musk

Buy Craftsman Automation, target price Rs 5055: LKP Securities

Craftsman Automation Ltd., incorporated in the year 1986, is a Small Cap company (having a market cap of Rs 9343.68 Crore) operating in Auto Ancillaries sector.

Stocks in the news: Adani shares, Autos, Wipro, Indus Towers, RVNL, Coal India, Midhani and more

Adani Enterprises, Coal India, Adani Ports, Dabur, Federal Bank, Coforge, KEI Industries, Blue Star, CEAT and RailTel Corporation will announce their March quarter results later today.

Azad Criticises NC and PDP for Focusing on Self-Rule, Autonomy

SRINAGAR: Chairman of the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP),who conducted roadshows in Rajouri articulating his core agenda centred around development, unity, and progress said that NC and PDP only sold self-rule and autonomy for years; they dont speak on development. Now they are fooling again with false slogans. We should be aware and reject them, [] The post Azad Criticises NC and PDP for Focusing on Self-Rule, Autonomy appeared first on Kashmir Life .

Big leap for DDU varsity: UGC grants it graded autonomy

Send bodies for autopsy within 72 hrs: HC

BEST, auto union leader joins BJP

Consumer groups push Congress to uphold automatic refunds for airline passengers

Consumer groups are pushing Congress to uphold automatic refunds for airline passengers whose flights are canceled or delayed for several hours

BEST, auto union leader from city joins BJP

AI-driven race cars test limits of autonomous driverless technology

AI-driven race cars compete at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi, a showcase of driverless autonomous technology and an advanced test bed for AI research

Honda Cars report 42% rise in April sales at 10,867 units

Last month, the automaker sold 4,351 units in the domestic market and 6,516 units in overseas locations.The company had registered sales of 5,313 units in the domestic market and exported 2,363 units in April last year.

Garmin's Q1 Results: Company beats St estimates on strong demand for fitness, auto products

Garmin topped Wall Street estimates for first-quarter results on Wednesday as the Swiss navigation device maker benefited from new launches and strong demand for its products in fitness and auto segments, sending its shares up 9.6%.

Mizoram: Congress-MNF Coalition to Govern Lai Autonomous District Council

Mizoram: Congress-MNF Coalition to Govern Lai Autonomous District Council After a prolonged political deadlock in Mizoram's Lai Autonomous District Council (LADC), officials on Wednesday announced the formation of a Congress-MNF coalition administration to run the 25-member council. LADC is one of the three autonomous district councils constituted under the Sixth Schedule of the constitution for Lai people in the southern part of the state with Lawngtlai as its headquarters. Officials said 12 MNF members have joined forces with the lone Congress member, C. Lalmuanthanga, to form the United Legislature Party (ULP). This newly formed coalition has presented its claim to Governor Hari Babu Kamphampati to run the council. Lalmuanthanga is expected to become the chief executive member (CEM) of the council, officials added. Previously led by the MNF, the LADC was placed under governor's rule in March following the resignation of CEM V. Zirsanga in a graft case conviction. In February, the special court (Prevention of Corruption Act) in Aizawl had sentenced Zirsanga to four years imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 4 lakh for misappropriating Rs 1.33 crore during his stint as an executive member of the council. Soon after that, eight MNF members defected from the party and tied up with the opposition and submitted a complaint to the governor expressing lack of confidence in the Zirsanga-led council. Following the CEM's resignation, one of the eight MNF members returned to Zirsanga's camp thus making a situation where no single party could garner the magic number to run the council as both the ruling and opposition camps had 12 members each, excluding the chairman. Subsequently, governor's rule was imposed, and Lawngtlai DC was appointed as the council's caretaker.

Allahabad High Court quashes order banning registration of e-rickshaws and e-autos in Mathura and Agra

The Allahabad High Court has quashed an order that banned the registration of e-rickshaws and e-autos in Mathura and Agra. The Division Bench of Justice Anjani Kumar Mishra and Justice Jayant Banerji passed this order while hearing a petition filed by Shree Vindavan Auto Sales. Under challenge in some of these petitions is the Notification []

Indian auto market sees 2% rise in vehicle sales; SUVs continue to dominate

Last month, sales of cars, sedans, and utility vehicles in the local market increased by approximately 2%, reaching around 338,341 vehicles, compared to 332,468 units sold in April 2023. This marks the 16th consecutive month of best-ever monthly sales for automakers in the region. Despite a moderation in growth rate, the absolute volume remained robust. Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, and Tata Motors reported marginal increases in sales, while SUV sales surged by about 15%, constituting 53.6% of total car sales.

Facing issues obtaining an NOC from Bangalore RTO: Solutions?

BHPian sizz28 recently shared this with other enthusiasts. I have a somewhat complicated situation at hand and am looking for guidance or connect to a reliable RTO agent who can help me. The situation is that I have a car that was registered in Gurugram (HR26) and I had taken NOC from there when I moved to Bangalore. However, I didn't apply for registration in KA. Now I want to sell/transfer the car back to Gurugram and need the NOC to be cancelled. For this the Haryana RTO office said that they need a NOC/No dues certificate from Bangalore RTO. I got some connections to get things done in HR RTO and even after that they said that No Dues is needed or at least something that says that the vehicle was not registered in KA and that there is no outstanding dues here. Has anyone faced similar situation? Or atleast any good agent/contact in RTO who can help me? Here's what BHPian anjanc_2007 had to say on the matter:Once issued, NOC remains valid for a maximum of 6 months. Thus, if you have obtained the NOC, make sure to re-register the vehicle to your new jurisdictional RTO within this span after moving your vehicle from one state to another. If not complied with, the certificate's validity expires and one has to start the process from the beginning to obtain NOC for a vehicle. NOC can be cancelled within a reasonable period though by the issuing RTO. For Maharashtra the rules are:- Cancellation of No Objection Certificate Even though No Objection Certificate (N.O.C.) has been issued to remove the Motor Vehicle to another state, the No Objection Certificate can be cancelled within a certain period if approved by the Registering Authority. Procedure No Objection Certificate slip which has been issued. No Objection Certificate cancellation fee of Rs.20/- is to be duly paid. Hence you can use your contacts at HR RTO to get the NOC cancelled.Here's what BHPian hothatchaway had to say on the matter:We had taken NOC for my wife's Vizag (AP) registered Activa more than a decade back, paid lifetime tax in Bangalore and rode it there before moving out. Never re registered it in Bangalore (Indiranagar RTO) Last year, while at the Indiranagar RTO (now at Kasturinagar) for my car, got a Non Migration Certificate for the Activa which says that the vehicle was never migrated to KA and also mentions the LTT tax paid challan number. I requested it since the scooter was on the verge of completing 15 years. This service is not mentioned anywhere, at least I did not see it but spoke to the assistant RTO who asked me to make a plain paper application along with copies of the NOC issued by AP RTO. Got this certificate which is actually a printed template with the details of the vehicle filled in after 2 months. I do not know if they would have obliged if I had not paid the KA tax.BHPian sizz28 had the following update to share: Thank you all. I got a 'Non Migration Certificate' issued form the KA RTO office. Took help from a RTO agent (Pravin) who got it done in 3-4 working days and delivered it to me via courier as well. Although he charged quite high (3k) but was very professional and I didn't need to follow up with him. Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.

Bought myself a Husqvarna Svartpilen: 7 pros & 6 cons post 500 km

BHPian desi_motorhead recently shared this with other enthusiasts. Brought home the new 2024 Husqvarna Svartpilen 401 after checking out other options. I've been riding motorcycles for over a decade now, both my previously owned ones being Royal Enfields', I wanted to get something different for a change especially since there are so many new launches happening this year. Little background leading up to the decision to go for the 401, My first motorcycle was a Bullet 350 UCE(clocked 40k Kms) which I had for six years and later got the RE Continental GT 535(clocked over 1.8 lakh kms) in 2017 The Bullet was my first motorcycle, got it second hand and it thought me a lot in terms of riding a heavier bike in traffic, on the highway and also to deal with the issues that came with it in terms of quality, and repairs. Then came the GT when RE launched the 535, I felt it a bit odd to bring back a retro concept and add modern equipment on it, but when I rode it for the first time I fell in Love with they way it handled itself and it was a huge difference from how the Bullet felt. Which for me was a very fun motorcycle to ride and the fun part of riding was the most important aspect I was looking for while test riding the choices on offer. Since I owned two RE's already, I checked out both the Continental GT 650 and the New Himalayan 450 The GT 650 has a great engine but the suspension felt disconnected and with RE now adding USD forks on the new models it would be worth the wait for the next variant of the GT650 The Himalayan is a huge step up from the previous generation with the showa suspension and a new engine, it was the closest contender and almost bought it but cancelled in the end when the Husky was launched. Then came the 2024 KTM Duke 390, the biggest differentiating factor was how light it was in comparison to the RE's and has a lot of power on offer, test rode it four times over varying distances and it felt great but the design of the Duke is not something I can live with, its just too polarising for my taste. Triumph speed 400, the bike looks great and finish qualities are top notch and its compact for all that it offers, test rode it two times but I felt it lacked the power at the top-end, I somehow felt my 535 was more powerful on highways. HD 440X - This was another surprise for me, the motorcycle looks modern but has a retro feel while riding, it feels laid back and can do daily commutes really well and also light cruising which would fell very similar to touring on a Bullet or Classic but not what I was looking for. Aprilia RS 457 - This is probably the most anticipated motorcycle and the only other twin cylinder engine apart from RE manufactured in India at a reasonable price. Test ride was not available only the display bike at Marathahalli showroom, on paper and per reviews it's a great bike but I'm not a fan of the faired motorcycle, but would definitely take a chance on something like the RS457, the biggest question was how would Aprilia handle the after sales service which is yet to be seen so did not want to get one now. The Husky had launched in January but there was no news about the bike at the dealers till end of March, they kept saying RTO approval was pending, not sure what that was about but in the end of March I contacted the dealer just to check as I was going to pay for the Hmalayan 450 in April. KTM Indiranagar dealer said that the bikes will be available from first week of April, so I decided to wait for another week. Once I saw the bikes in the flesh, I felt this was what i would be getting, the design just grew on me - I like simple designs and prefer more functional elements. Next thing I knew, cancelled the Himalayan and paid for the Svartpilen 401, there was no test ride bike but I had ridden the Duke so I had a good idea of how it felt - it was fun to ride and somehow knew this would be no different. Delivery took another week after payment as I wanted to take the motorcycle with the number plates fixed at the showroom. On-Road Cost (Bengaluru):Ex-Showroom Price: 291737RTO-LTT & Registration: 59351Comprehensive Insurance: 32708RSA: 1340Total: 385139Initial observations:The bike is just as light as the Duke 390 and just as fun , major difference being the raised handle bars and how the ride feels due to the different tires. The power is great but the one thing that stands out is how light it feels, I've done about 250kms of riding, the engine feels smooth and does run hot - its new and peak summer - it should get better after the first service.The quickshifter works as intended but its my first time using one so will need to get used to it, I did have trouble finding neutral couple of times though.The motorcycle came with Apollo Tires, Dealer said they did not get approval for the Pirelli's, for me its not a huge thing, I would have changed them out once they wear out anyways - not planning on adding super expensive tyres.But Husqvarna India/Bajaj should have made some announcements on this especially for prospective customers.The Spoke Wheels - Yes fixing flats would be a pain but the dealer said I can change to alloys at the service center, I'm not in a hurry to do that as yet, I've dealt with punctures on a heavier motorcycles multiple times so not really worried about it.One con I noticed from the start was how low the horn sounds, I was told its as per pollution regulations but on the highway its useless especially with all the wind and with large trucks.Will share an update once the first service is done Have done close to 500kms on the motorcycle, Likes:The lightweight feeling with all the power is really addictiveQuickshifter works well and really smooth once past 70KMPHCompactness of the whole package, amazing to see how a small engine puts out ~46bhpThe chassis and engine is great combination in the corners, very responsiveSimple and useful dashboard layout it is easy to switch between switching off traction control and ABS(rear only)The headlight has good throw both for low beam and high beam, I don't feel the need to add an auxiliary lights.Comfortable seat, its long and has good cushioning- not too soft or too hard.Dislikes:There is lack of torque low down in the rev range, but since I've been used to motorcycles which have been the opposite, I'm still getting the hang of it.The horn is too low, would need to change before I take it on highway runsSpoke wheels - yes it can be changed but I feel Bajaj/Husqvarna could have given a choice to upgrade through a MYI type option from the showroom itself, anyways will change them in futureNo Bluetooth connectivity, contacted the dealer to understand how to get this as an add-on as nothing was mentioned during delivery.There is strangely only one mode - Street - not sure why they did not just remove and keep the Traction control and ABS options.Engine heat and vibes are not a con for me, its a single cylinder motorcycle and will have both which become part of riding or more manageable over time. Attaching a few images, Cheers! The first time I got to see the Motorcycle was at Delivery: The engine has BAJAJ engraved on it, not sure if the KTM's have this as well.. The DRL is circular and unique in this class and looks really good The Dash is nice and clean, displays all the required information and has option to choose different display modes(All info, info with favourites and reduced info) Seat is long and comfortable, did not have any discomfort over 2-3 hrs of continuous riding and nice logo detailing on it. Not sure why they have mentioned tire pressures with decimals, i'll just be using 29-32 (maybe these pressures were for the Pirelli's ?..) Can't comment on the Apollo Tramplr XR yet- hope they are good Rear wheel has two weights added and none on the front wheel Continue reading BHPian desi_motorhead's review for more insights and information.

IPL 2024: Young fan gets a core memory from Bumrah, receives autograph, Purple cap as gift

The News Mill

Up to 20% upside potential! Here's why Motilal Oswal is bullish on Craftsman Automation stock

Brokerage firm Motilal Oswal has reiterated its 'BUY' rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 5,305 (valued at 23x FY26E EPS).

Skoda enhances safety standards; Kushaq and Slavia now offer 6 airbags, receives 5 star from GNCAP

Both the Kushaq and Slavia have earned 5-star safety ratings from Global NCAP, even in their previous dual airbag specifications. Alongside six airbags, these models boast standard safety features such as ESC, multi-collision braking system, tyre pressure monitoring system (TPMS), brake assist, and traction control.

Rapido announcement..! People traveling by train will get cab and auto facilities at these stations.

Rapido Auto, Bike & Cab Service: A total of more than 15000 riders travel daily on RRTS trains operated by NCRTC. It is expected that with the opening of new stations the number of daily passengers will increase by more than 10,000. Rapido Auto, Bike & Cab Service: Rapido, a leading company providing cab, auto [] The post Rapido announcement..! People traveling by train will get cab and auto facilities at these stations. first appeared on informalnewz .

Installed armrests on my Jimny imported from Sweden

BHPian MithunSathianat recently shared this with other enthusiasts. I got the below mods done on my Jimny last week. 1. Dual Armrests from StreetTrackLife. This is an imported product. Made in Sweden. Very high-quality product and fully adjustable. I installed this as a DIY. Took around an hour to install this. Need to cut the seat cover and seat cushion very minimally to fit this. 2. Aluminum Roof Carrier - In my opinion, it increases the visual appeal of the Jimny. But there is wind noise above 70kmph. 3. Sand Ladder and Side Carrier Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

4th-gen Maruti Suzuki Swift bookings open in India

Maruti Suzuki has announced the commencement of pre-bookings for the all-new Swift in India. Customers can place their orders by paying a token amount of Rs 11,000. Maruti Suzuki has also shared a teaser of the new Swift. It partially reveals the front fascia, which now features a redesigned grille flanked by a pair of LED headlamps. It now has new L-shaped LED DRLs as well. The 2024 Maruti Suzuki Swift will feature the new Z-series 1.2-litre 3-cylinder mild-hybrid petrol engine. Its output is expected to be similar to the outgoing K12 engine and willbe pairedwitheithera 5-speed manual or an AMT gearbox. The Swiftis expectedto come equipped with6airbags, ABS with EBD and ESP. Features like a 360-degree camera and ADAS might notbe offeredin the Indian market.

Old Tata Estate runs & drives for first time in 9 yrs: Car restoration

BHPian Sanidhya mukund recently shared this with other enthusiasts.First drive in 9 years!A major milestone in the project: The car runs and drives! This is the first time in 9 years that the car has moved on its own power. The mechanic managed to get the car going without the power steering pump. We have located a cannibalised Tata Sumo at a scrap yard and will be sourcing the pump from there, which will probably take a week. Meanwhile, the car was driven onto the elevated washing pit and the entire underbody and the rims were painted black. After the painting was done, the mechanic took the car for a short spin around the garage: Next order of business is to send it to the panel beaters to cure the body line of any dings and blemishes. Post that, paint, electrical and interior will be done. On the mechanical front, we are left with Radiator replacement, sourcing the Power steering Pump and AC Compressor, fitting the fuel tank and fuel lines, and giving the entire car a good service (differential oil, engine oil replacement etc.). The car will hopefully be fully done by mid 2024. A video of the car in action. Sorry about the poor quality; The video was sent by my mechanic as I was not present at that point in time. Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Hero Moto, Bajaj Auto, M&M: Auto stocks that analysts prefer ahead of April sales data

Hero MotoCorp, TVS Motor Ltd and Bajaj Auto Ltd may outpace peers in terms of sales in April, said Nuvama. Among PV OEMs, this brokerage expects M&M to outpace Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki India.

Why I chose the Mercedes W212 E400 as my perfect forever car

BHPian utkarshmohan86 recently shared this with other enthusiasts. Forever is perhaps optimistic, given you have to pay a small fortune to renew car permissions every 10 years. But let's not lose the forest for the weeds. The genesis of this thread is my decision to retire from the corporate world at 37 so I can do my own thing. YetI am a crazy petrolhead with a thing for German supersaloonsI live in Singapore, the most expensive country in the world for carsThe kicker, we need two cars since my wife is a Realtor who needs one for her job.How does this compute? Is it even possible? What is this two-car portfolio? The good news is that I did manage to figure out the solution. The low-mileage 2014 W212 E400 in a beautiful Indigo Blue is one part of this portfolio. The other, I will cover later. The video goes into more detail where I outline the reasons, but in summary:The W212 generation is probably the most reliable of the modern Es (post the W124). Its angular almost old-fashioned facade with quirks like foot-operated parking brakes isn't everyone's thing but I love how it throws back to what I thought Mercedes was in my childhood.The E400 is an unknown and unloved model since it doesn't have any AMG badging. The 535 for example is much more sought after here and Mercedes owners usually want the comfortable, low-road tax E200 here in SingaporeLastly I detest screens and gadgets. The smartphone-ization of new cars over the last five years or so has really turned me off honestly. The W212 is the perfect blend for me with a very analogue vibe yet with necessary modern features (mainly Bluetooth, a good automatic gearbox, paddle shifters and a proper modern twin-turbo engine)Some pictures here. This first post is mainly on how the needle of early retirement in Singapore as a petrolhead was threaded. I will provide more updates on the car (which we have had since last year August) shortly. It has, fingers crossed, been bulletproof so far. We got it at about 60K km and have done about 9K on it. It has been the wife's car doing duties as she peddles property across Singapore and has been just perfect for those duties. In case you have noticed, the car has been lowered by the previous owner. My plan is to decide on whether to return it to stock, once we have secured the permission for the next 10 years. This permission (COE) price in Singapore has been varying wildly so if it goes too high, there is an off chance it won't make financial sense to renew it. We'll see. Fingers crossed. More to come. Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

1000 km with my used 2017 Duke 390: 4 quick highway ride observations

BHPian 100kmphormore recently shared this with other enthusiasts. Completed another 1000 km and 3 months of ownership. Salaga is at 2300 km with a 160 km no holds barred STRR weekend blast (home - Devanahalli - doddaballapura- dobbaspete- home) and a quick 250 km day ride to meet a friend in denkanikottai. Tried the Rocky Ridge cafe, too expensive for what it has to offer. Please try the STRR once - Bengaluru liter class bike riders have made it their unofficial Le Mans circuit on weekdays. The roads are simply beautiful with long winding corners, though a couple of stretches are a little unsafe, especially the expansion joints that can be unsettling. The bikes acceleration is manic, proving why well maintained BS3/4 390s are still in demand. The 3rd and 4th gear pulls from 30 kmph to 110 kmph is bound to leave you giggling, like how 2nd will in the city during an overtake. 5th and 6th maintains cruising easily above the NHAI speed limits, provided you can tolerate the enormous buffeting. City use has been a lot of fun in contrast to my experience with the Himalayan. Things I observed since last time 1. Suspension is indeed stiff in the city at stock setting. Loved it for the great handling on highways but have to get it adjusted, sadly the previous owner lost the toolkit and has never adjusted the suspension in his 26870 km of ownership. So bad that the darned adjuster has rusted and isn't even turning with the spanner (ended up smashing my fingers on the frame) 2. Got the front brake pads changed to organic ones after I started hearing squeaking noises at 1850 km or so - the difference between sintered and organic is really very noticeable. They took 300 km to bed in, not as great as the previous sintered ones after some time of riding (I felt the ABS trigger more often under hard braking). Felt like the RS457 test ride units brakes that I rode - now I understand the reviewers at the RS457 event chatting about the brakes, especially if they fade. Anyways it will be majorly city ridden atleast until this year end so not a big problem. 3. Wind blast is too much post 100 kmph, have to find something like the Carbon Racing ones on the Dominar and H450. 4. I wish this had the excellent quickshifter/autoblipper of the present gen. Gearshifts feel a little clunky, especially 1 and 2. Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.

Exports of eco-friendly cars drop amid slowing EV shipments in S. Korea

Shipments of eco-friendly vehicles fell 5.6 percent on-year to 178,003 units in the January-March quarter from 188,607 units in the same period of last year, according to the Korea Automobile & Mobility Association (KAMA).

Centre eases norms but Odisha insists on autopsy reports on sunstroke deaths

BHUBANESWAR: Even as the Centre has made it clear that autopsy is not mandatory in all cases of heat-related deaths as the postmortem findings are nonspecific, the state government continues to insist on the outcome of the autopsy to announce sunstroke deaths. Over a dozen people have reportedly died in several parts of the state. But the state government has confirmed only two deaths and 367 heatwave-related illnesses so far. Official sources said Laxmikanta Sahu (62) of Balasore and Nimai Charan Rout (50) of Dhenkanal died of sunstroke on April 23 and 29 respectively. Although at least 14 allegations of sunstroke deaths have been received from 11 districts, those are yet to be confirmed due to lack of postmortem reports. Other deaths pending for enquiry sans autopsy reports included three from Balangir, two from Mayurbhanj and one each from 10 other districts. After a study on sunstroke-related deaths last month, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had intimated the states that the diagnosis of heat-related death be based on a history of exposure to high ambient temperature and reasonable exclusion of other causes of hyperthermia (abnormally high body temperature). Accordingly, the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) issued a guideline asking states to establish the diagnosis from the circumstances surrounding the death, investigative reports concerning environmental temperature, and/or measured antemortem body temperature at the time of collapse. The NCDC has also clarified that if the investigation provides compelling evidence of continuous exposure to a hot environment but fails to identify an independent cause of death, it can be certified as heat-related, with the disease being considered a significant contributing condition, or vice versa as such deaths occur in persons having some preexisting disease known to be exacerbated by heat stress. But, sources said, the Odisha government has been adhering to the old guideline and seeking autopsy reports to announce sunstroke deaths. Besides, there is also a disparity in compensation. Except for sunstroke, the amount of ex-gratia for disaster related deaths has been raised from Rs 4 lakh to Rs 6 lakh since May last year. The Revenue and Disaster Management department, however, pays only Rs 50,000 for sunstroke deaths.

US automation firm to establish unit in Chennai's Oragadam: Industries Minister TRB Rajaa

CHENNAI: American industrial automation giant Rockwell Automation is set to expand its manufacturing footprint with a new facility in Oragadam in Chennai, further solidifying Tamil Nadus position as an emerging global advanced manufacturing hub, according to Industries Minister TRB Rajaa. This is just the beginning of a stream of new advanced technology investments Tamil Nadu is going to witness in the advanced manufacturing sector in the coming years, the minister said. The 98,000 square-foot facility will be located in the same industrial park as Rockwells CUBIC manufacturing facility to help maximise supply chain resilience and create additional career opportunities for employees, said Rockwell in a release. The investment in the new facility was not disclosed. We selected this location because we can create synergies with our existing CUBIC facility and increase agility and productivity in the region, said Dilip Sawhney, managing director - India, Rockwell Automation. Were excited about building our presence in India, optimising our manufacturing on a global scale, and enhancing the future of industrial operations in this growing market, he added. The facility in Chennai is expected to open in the first half of 2025 and will employ about 230 workers by the end of the year, Rockwell Automation said. The strategic expansion was catalysed during interactions at the TN Pavilion at Davos in January 2024, where we met with Rockwell Automation CEO, Blake Moret, to pitch the integral role Tamil Nadu can play in shaping the future of industrial automation, Rajaa said. Expected to open in the first half of 2025, this state-of-the-art factory will drive forward our commitment to generating high-quality employment opportunities for our youth, Rajaa said. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US, Rockwell Automation employs approximately 29,000 people across 100 countries. The company helps manufacturing and industrial sectors digitise with hardware and software. Rockwell started India operations in 1983 as Allen-Bradley Control and has one manufacturing unit in Noida and its research and development and software development centres in Bengaluru and Pune. The company has over 4000 employees in India and has doubled headcount since 2021. Meanwhile, Chennai will be hosting the inaugural Automation Road Show which will unveil future trends in automation technology on May 3 at Chennai Trade Centre. The expo will showcase a diverse array of exhibits, including recent innovations driving automation across multiple industries. From robotics and artificial intelligence to industry-specific applications, it will provide invaluable insights into the transformative potential of automation technology.

US-based Rockwell Automation to open mfg facility in Chennai

US will require all new cars to have advanced automatic braking systems by 2029

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) just announced new federal safety standards for automobiles. These standards include a mandate for advanced automatic braking systems for all new cars, which manufacturers must comply with by 2029. Thats just five years out. This applies to all passenger cars and light trucks under 10,000 pounds. The automatic emergency braking systems must be able to bring a car traveling up to 62 MPH to a complete stop while avoiding a collision. These systems will also have to account for oncoming pedestrians at speeds up to 45 MPH in both daytime and nighttime conditions. Automatic emergency brakes use a bevy of sensors, lasers and cameras to detect collisions. When a crash is imminent, the system brakes on its own or applies brake assist to help the driver quickly and safely come to a stop. Its worth noting that manufacturers already include these systems in 90 percent of new cars, according to reporting by The New York Times , but many of these tools dont meet the MPH thresholds as mentioned above. The NHTSA says that most manufacturers should be able to meet these requirements with software updates. The federal agency estimates that these new rules will prevent over 360 road deaths per year and should reduce the severity of more than 24,000 injuries. Its also expected to save people a lot of money on property damage costs. Cathy Chase, the president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, told The Washington Post that the new rules were a major victory for all consumers and public safety. There were over 41,000 automobile-related deaths in the US in 2023 alone, and thats actually a slight decrease from the previous year. The actual auto industry, however, isnt quite as bullish about the mandate. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a lobbying group that works on behalf of auto manufacturers, has urged the NHTSA to consider other options. One major suggestion is to lower the speed threshold in certain cases, as the group stated that significant hardware and software changes will be needed to achieve a level of performance that no production vehicle can currently achieve. To that end, tests conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety indicate that these systems will likely require major overhauls to adequately comply with the mandate. The research group says it tested crash avoidance systems on 10 small SUVs at speeds up to 43 MPH, and many failed to stop in time to avoid a crash in the most difficult testing scenarios. The Subaru Forester and Honda CR-V performed best, for those in the market. Heavy-duty vehicles, like larger trucks, could be getting their own mandate in the near future. The NHTSA is currently working with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, a truck safety agency, to draw up similar standards for chonky vehicles. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/us-will-require-all-new-cars-to-have-advanced-automatic-braking-systems-by-2029-184455802.html?src=rss

NDTV Auto | First Look | Mahindra XUV 3XO - Segment Killer?

Get ready to experience unmatched performance, style and versatilitywith the all-new Mahindra XUV 3XO. From its bold dynamic design to its powerful engine options, this compact SUV comes with a SkyRoof (Panoramic Sunroof). The SUV comes with a host of new features, design and Level 2 ADAS safety features. We bring you the first look from the launch.

Elon Musk guts Teslas charging team after winning over major automakers

Tesla has gutted its charging team in a new round of layoffs, despite recently winning over major automakers like Ford and General Motors and making its connector the defacto standard in North America. CEO Elon Musk announced the new layoffs in an overnight email to executives, first reported by The Information, in which he said [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

U.S.-based Rockwell Automation to open 500 crore manufacturing facility in Chennai

The facility is expected to open in the first half of 2025 and will employ about 230 workers by the end of the year.

Two held for bike and auto theft in Warangal