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January 6, 2010

Nano Could Arrive in U.S. by 2013

Tata Motors Ltd. hopes to bring a modified version of its Nano small car to the U.S. as early as 2013, according to Chairman Ratan Tata. He tells reporters at the New Delhi auto show that a hybrid or electric version of a Nano also may be under development. Other media reports say a Nano-based pickup could be in the works too.

To prepare the Nano for the American market, Tata says the car will need a larger engine and improved crash safety. The company currently is working on such modifications, which Tata says are likely to take at least three years to accomplish.

Tata says Nano will continue to be base-priced at one lakh (about $2,200 at current exchange rates) in India through the initial 100,000 production run. But he says rising commodity prices may push the sticker up in the future.

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New Toyota Small Car Breaks Cover

Toyota Motor Corp. took the wraps off a concept of its upcoming new entry-level car yesterday at the Auto Expo in New Delhi, India. A production version will be launched in India late this year.

The Etios will be built by Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt., which is 89% owned by Toyota and the remainder by India’s Kirloskar group, at the venture’s upcoming second plant near Bangalore. Some 2,000 engineers, led by Yoshinori Noritake, worked on the project over the last four years.

Based on an all-new platform, the Etios will be available in sedan and hatchback variants. Both are on display in Delhi. The lower-volume sedan will be launched first to help work out any quality issues before the hatchback is introduced early next year.

The vehicle is expected to be base-priced at about $10,500. To help control costs, the car has a relatively Spartan interior with base-level seats, limited sound-proofing and a single central windshield wiper. But Toyota insists the Etios will have better quality and more space than key competitors such as the Maruti Swift.

Buyers will have a choice of 1.2- or 1.5-liter DOHC engines. Plans to offer a diesel engine have been scuttled, according to media reports.

Toyota plans to sell 70,000 of the cars during its first year on the market. In addition to India, the Etios will be exported to Russia and other emerging markets. Local production in Brazil is due to start in 2011.

Toyota began making cars in India 10 years ago, but production has grown slowly. The company built just 51,000 cars in the country last year. To help grow sales, Toyota plans to expand its dealer network in India from 97 today to 150 by the end of this year.

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Ricardo Names New Tech/Innovation Leader

Neville Jackson has been appointed chief technology and innovation officer for U.K.-based Ricardo plc. Jackson has held a variety of technical and research-related jobs at Ricardo during his 27-year career with the company.

In the newly created CTIO position, Jackson will lead Ricardo’s technology efforts and promote innovation within the company. He also will work to foster more external relationships with national, state and regional governments, regulatory authorities, industry groups, academia and other partners.

In addition to his work at Ricardo, Jackson is a visiting professor at the University of Brighton and chairs the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership, a U.K. government-sponsored group tasked with accelerating a sustainable shift to low-carbon vehicles and fuels. He also is a director of CENEX and the U.K. Centre of Excellence for Low Carbon Vehicles and Fuel Cells.

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F-150 Truck Designer Puts Career on Spin Cycle

Pat Schiavone, design director for Ford Motor Co.’s North American trucks and SUVs, has left the company to join Whirlpool Corp., the Benton Harbor, Mich.-based appliance maker.

During a 21-year career at Ford, the 50-year-old Schiavone served two stints as the company’s chief truck designer, sandwiching an assignment as head of car design. He had headed Ford truck design since 2006.

Schiavone’s credits include overhauling the Mustang in 1994 and being involved in designing the last three generations of the F-150 full-size pickup truck. He also penned the 2002 Ford F-350 Tonka Truck and Ford F-150 Lightning Rod concepts.

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Kia to Launch Hands-Free Control System

Yesterday Kia Motors Corp. formally announced its new UVO (for “your voice”) control system ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Reports last month said the company was readying the system, which allows motorists to access their cell phones and infotainment systems via voice-actuation technology.

The hands-free UVO system was co-developed with Microsoft Inc. and is based on Microsoft’s Windows Embedded Auto software. Microsoft also supplies the software platform for Ford Motor Co.’s Sync and Fiat SpA’s Blue&Me systems. The open platform is designed to work with a wide variety of mobile phones, music players and other devices.

The Kia system will be launched this summer in the 2011 Sorrento crossover vehicle. Other models will get the technology soon thereafter. Kia’s parent Hyundai Motor Co. also is expected to offer the system in its namesake brand.

Kia says its version has some unique features and is the first in-vehicle application to integrate Microsoft’s full speech engine capabilities, including identifying two different voice profiles in various languages. Simple commands can be used to answer and place phone calls, receive and respond to text messages and access music from a variety of media sources. As many as 250 tunes can be uploaded into personal folders on a 1 GB hard drive. Users also can change radio stations via voice commands and ask the system to identify the song and artist as they are being played.

The interface uses a 4.3-inch, full-color display that provides detailed information on media content, phone book data and vehicle information, according to Kia. The screen doubles as a rearview camera when the vehicle’s transmission is in reverse.

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Range Rover Gets the Nod for the Aughties

Readers of Autocar voted Land Rover’s Range Rover SUV “Car of the Decade” in an Internet poll conducted over the past month. The Range Rover, which was launched in 2001, received 18% of the 7,500 votes cast.

The SUV beat out the Lotus Elise, which came in second with 12.5% of the vote. The Bugatti Veyron and Nissan GT-R tied for third, each with 8.8% of the total.

Votes were cast for 17 different vehicles. To be eligible, the vehicles had to have been launched in the last decade. The rest of the top 10, in descending order, are the Vauxhall VX220, second-generation Toyota Prius hybrid, Tata Nano economy car, Mini Cooper supermini, Ford Focus small sedan and Jaguar XF luxury sedan.

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GM Set to Ramp Up Volt Battery Production

General Motors Co. will assemble the first lithium-ion battery pack for its Chevrolet Volt extended-range hybrid-electric car tomorrow at its new plant in Brownstown Township, Mich. The high-profile event will be attended by U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm and GM Chairman Ed Whitacre.

GM plans to launch the Volt late this year. The vehicle can travel 40 miles on electric power. When the battery is about 70% depleted, a small gasoline engine powers a generator to partially recharge the batteries and extend the driving range by several hundred miles.

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Mint Tucker Convertible to Hit the Block

The only Tucker convertible ever produced will be up for bid this month at the annual Russo and Steele auction in Scottsdale, Az. The experimental vehicle has never been driven or privately owned.

Tucker Car Corp. built 51 production sedans in 1948 before the company was forced out of business by a stock fraud investigation. The prototype convertible was in the works at the time but was abandoned before it could be completed.

The restorer, Benchmark Classics of Wisconsin, details the history of the car on its Web site. The vehicle is a modified version of the sedan that includes a strengthened chassis, lengthened doors, a shortened windshield and the top from a General Motors convertible. It’s powered by a rear-mounted Franklin-Tucker flat-6 engine mated to a Cord “Invisible Hand” semi-automatic transmission.

Tucker sedans have fetched as much as $1 million at auctions in recent years.

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