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The Drawing of the Four

 2005 seems all set to see Fiat blitz the Indian car scene with a slew of launches - the facelifted Palio, the Panda premium hatchback, the Idea compact MPV and the Albea luxury sedan.

Too much too late? Let's wait and watch...

Getz price hinted at

The only good thing about the agonisingly long wait for the Getz is that news of the much-awaited launch seems to figure in the headlines almost every day. And according to this report, the premium hatch is likely to be priced at Rs. 4.3 lakhs at the basic level, with the fully loaded version coming in for about Rs. 5.6 lakhs.

Excited over excise cut?

Don't be. Hikes in registration fees and road tax have done enough (and in some cases, more) to neutralise the benefits of the excise duty cuts.

The Greed for Small Things

With the compact segment accounting for 58% of the almost 2,00,000 cars sold in the first quarter of 2004, the most unlikely of players seem eager to get into the fracas that is now the Indian small-car market.

Fiat's Phoenix impression

Fiat India will try and pick itself up from the ashes, so to speak, over the next year or so with a corporate restructuring exercise, new launches and a strengthening of the dealer and service network as part of the comeback plan.

Spot the differences

One company tantalisingly invites enquiries to a car that they plan to launch only a few months down the line.
The other company strangely still has nothing to say about a car they already launched a few weeks ago.

A bit of Con-Fusion!

Ford expects that customers considering the Hyundai Accent, the Honda City or even the upper end Ford Ikon might be tempted by the Fusion.

Honestly, at a price tag of around Rs. 7 lakhs ex-showroom, why would they even consider such temptation? Like these guys aver, the specs aren't very much to go crazy about.

Are there that many die-hard hatchback lovers out there?

Fusion and Getz to create new segment

The Indian car market is all set to witness the ushering in of a whole new category of cars. Being called Urban Activity Vehicles, these are cars that 'handle like sedans but feel like SUVs'.

And we have the Fusion and the Getz to thank for that.

The wait Getz longer

Hyundai Motors has tentatively fixed the launch of the Getz for sometime mid-September. The ongoing truckers strike has thrown a spanner in the works of despatch routines.