On Jan 9 2008, Tata Motors launches two new facelift cars i.e. the indigo and the sumo grande before the much awaited 1 lakh car. The company will roll out the compact version of indigo sedan later this month while the suv (sumo grande) will be coming next month and the indigo hatchback will also come in the second half of this year.

Mr. Rajiv Dube, President, Passenger Cars of Tata Motors stated that the new Indigo CS has the same engine space of the existing Indigo allowing the benefits of hatchback and a sedan, while the car is less than 4,000 mm in length, and though it will qualify for the size-based lower excise duty.

The new Sumo grande will feature the new generation 2.2 litre Dicor engine and is being priced at Rs 6.55 lakh to Rs 7.49 lakh, ex showroom Delhi for the two variants. The new Indica is bigger and better equipped than its predecessor and it also features a completely new interior layout, it will be equipped with a new 1.3 litre Quadra-jet common rail diesel engine and 1.2 litre Safire MPFI VVT petrol engine, both of which will be manufactured at the new Tata-Fiat joint venture plant at Ranjangaon. Tata Motors said it will be offered side by side with the current version and not replacing it. The current Indica V2 will be offered with the Dicor engine and the price will be around Rs 25,000 higher than the existing model. The company also stated that it will sell 3,500 units of Sumo and Safari and around 3,000 units for indica (hatchback) and indigo (sedan)

Source @ Hindu Business Line

For quite some weeks and guessing who will go in this team and finally its been announced, Giancarlo Fisichella will race alongside Adrian Sutil this year at Force India Ferrari and Tonio Liuzzi a former Toro Rosso driver, will be the test and reserve driver.
Team co-owner Vijay Mallya stated “We have all been familiar with the sport of Formula One racing but I always got the impression that motor racing was an elitist sport and out of reach of common India. The glitz and glamour was considered to be out of reach of a developing country as India. We will not produce any miracles in 2008 but we will demonstrate that we are going in the right direction - up the grid,” he continued. “By 2010 when India hosts its first GP, Force India will rightfully occupy a place on the podium. I think we will be quicker than we were in 2007, but then so will other teams...”
Mallya confirmed that there will be a big increase in the team budget since the last year the team budget was 70 million (US) dollars and now in 2008 it will be 120 million dollars. He also stated that by selecting Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrin Sutil was nothing against any Indian driver like Narain Karthikeyan has won his first A1 GP race and Karun Chandhok is in another GP2 year before considering a move to Formula One. The team might be using the existing chassis, but will be using its own wind tunnel in Aerolab

Source@ F1-live

What should I say, a cute car or small car challenge? Well let’s find out. Just exactly 50 years from the early model, this car is 3.55 meters long & 1.65 meters wide from its retro look image, just like the other manufacturers VW beetle and (BMW) Mini cooper. Since it has been voted ‘the car of the year’ and it has full five star crash from EURO NCAP, that’s nice, but does it have the power? Well it has three engines, 1.2L 8v Fire- 69 bhp, 1.3L 8v Fire- 100 bhp and 1.4L 16v Multijet (turbo diesel) - 75 bhp. It has some interesting standard feature like Blue&Me™ which was developed 3 years by Fiat auto and Microsoft that’s like navigation kit comprising a USB pen drive and that can be used to transfer the map onto a personal MP3 player or iPod, of course you can listen hours and hours of digital music in MP3, WMA and WAV format recorded on an iPod, a cell phone, an MP3 player or a USB pen drive, by connecting the digital device to the USB port.
Then comes the Panoramic Roof or Sky Dome Fixed which has confirmed the availability of types of roof, the large sunroof is the sky dome type comprising a mobile panel of glass and a fixed panel of shiny black sheet metal and continuous the effect on the windscreen. Now fast can it go, it has 5 gears for 1.2L and 1.3L while the 1.4L has 6 gears and the top speed? Well, its 1.4L is 182 km/h while the 1.2L is 160 km/h and 1.3L is 165 km/h, but wait, will it be cheap or expensive car? Ahhh yes, the basic price is 10,500 Euro (6 laks rupees) in Italy; with options 15,000 Euro (8 laks rupees), so it somewhat expensive even though without the options, but you will have to wait till it comes in India.

Source @ WCF

With the 2007 season ended in the three way battle, starting with Kimi Raikkionen taking his first f1 title world championship with Ferrari, then the double world champion Fernando Alonso switch from Renault to McLaren Mercedes Benz team but couldn’t beat his rookie team mate the GP2 champion Lewis Hamilton but things are going to be different.
The 2008 season is just around the corner and the teams are gearing up with there 2008 F1 cars for testing in this month and also launching it too, so now, Fernando is switching back his old team where he won double titles, the Renault team along side with Nelson Piquet Jr. while Lewis teammate will be Heikki Kovalainen and of course with the team points been docked (McLaren Mercedes Benz) so the team will be pushed back, that means Lewis and Heikki cars will be 22 and 23 respectively. Team BMW also did well in 2007 of course it was unexpected to come in 2nd place in the constructers points. So hold on to your seats since the races will start at March 16 starting with Australia.

2008 F1 launch dates

Jan 6 - Ferrari, Fiorano
Jan 7 - McLaren, Stuttgart
Jan 10 - Toyota, Cologne
Jan 14 - BMW Sauber, Munich
Jan 16 - Red Bull Renault, Jerez
Jan 29 - Honda, HQ, Brackley
Jan 31 - Renault, Paris

Source @ F1-live