Cars that havent seen the light of the day.

[v12]

These cars were meant to be launched in India a few years back. But not even one of them have made it to production. Cheap cars which were too expensive to manufacture, or very small cars which cudnt be sold at 1.5 lakhs etc etc were the main problems that these cars didnt make it on the road.

Tata Zing

New Delhi, Aug 13 2000: Buoyed by the success of its small car Indica, Tata Engineering is now exploring the feasibility of driving down its micro car `Zing' on the Indian roads.
"Zing is among the several concepts that we are studying for the Indian market, but we are yet to arrive at a final decision on the same," Tata Engineering general manager (commercial) passenger car division Rajive Dube said.


[hr]

Tata Aria

"The market is small for a sports car in India but the Aria would be very attractive in the international market. We are looking for a location to manufacture this even outside India'', Mr Tata said. There were a number of issues to be sorted out before the Aria could be productionised such as whether the body should be in steel or fibre glass. Plans for launch of the Magna, a premium segment sedan which was displayed at the last Auto Expo in 2000, appear to have been put on the backburner. Mr Tata said: "There are a number of players in that segment now. We will wait for the dust to settle in the market and will take a decision at an appropriate time.''
[hr]

Tata Magna

Aug 29, 2000: Tata group chairman Ratan Tata had said that the launch of the Magna was an year to 18 months away at the Auto Expo in the capital in January this year (i.e. latest by mid-2001). However, Dube said that the Magna would be commercially launched only around mid-2002. Magna would be positioned in the premium car segment. [hr]

Rajah Motors Kazwa

KOCHI, July 17 1998: Rajah Motors, part of the Rs 50-crore beedi major Rajah Group, will roll out Kazwa, the first multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) in the country on Saturday. The company will start full-fledged commercial production of the vehicle next month. The Chavakkad-based small scale unit is also planning to introduce a small car by the year 2000. Directors of the company said here on Friday that the eight-seater car had all the latest features like power windows, power steering, dual air conditioner, central locking and alloy wheels. The custom-made car has been priced in the range of Rs 6.5 lakh to Rs 7 lakh.
[hr]

Rajah Motors 1.5 Lakh car
KOCHI, July 17 1998:The company's production unit in Chavakkad at present has a capacity to produce 150 cars per annum. This year's target is 50 cars for which the booking is already over, they added.

They said the company, despite being in the small-scale sector and highly labour-intensive in nature, has not so far got any excise duty exemptions. If the government extend duty concession, that would help the finances of the company in a big way. That would also help the company to slash the price of the vehicle considerably, they added.

They said the company would bring out a mini four-seater car by the turn of the century. They said the two-cylinder diesel car would be priced around Rs1.5 lakh.
[hr]

Kinetic CityCar
Kinetic Engineering Ltd (KEL) plans to launch its 500 cc two-cylinder two-door CityCar (designed by Axiam of France) by 1997-end. The project, which has already involved a Rs 500-crore investment, is to come up near Pune. [hr]

OCAL Quantum

The bookings for this car started way back in 1997 or 1998. One dealer in Bombay, Top Cool Cars was given the dealership i guess. There was an offer that if you book 9 Quantums [I wudnt book even 1], the booking for the 10th car was free. The car was marketed by Overseas Concept Auto Ltd, a UK based company. However I havent seen a single car on the road.

[GTO]

With the way that some of those cars look, its really not surprising that they didnt see the light of the day. Imagine what a plight it would be for Tata to sell the grossly finished and unrefined Magna (going by the Safaris standard) in the same price bracket as delicious Citys, Ikons and Lancers?

But I guess that most of them were experiments more than anything else. Even the famed PT Cruiser (though I hate it) garnered so much response as a concept vehicle at an American Motor Show that Chrysler decided to put it into production. While they had kept yearly sales estimates at 60000 - 70000 units, the vehicle has been selling almost three times that through its good years

Boy, if only the mumbai auto show had some concept cars on show, what say Dippy?

GTO

[Dippy]

Hey GTO

You talking about concepts??? Sheeesh the damn auto show didnt have even a Honda City or ...I hate to say this a Hyundai .. Oh yes there was an Accent at the VCOOL stall. I was really hoping to see the 1.8 Lancer and a test drive would have been good. But alas me , Addy and Advait came back disappointed

Going by this so called show I guess there wont be anything next year

Cheers

Dippy

[S350L-E240]

Wasnt Magna supposed to be like some kinda D seg car??

[Deeps]

Anyone know if/when the Maruti are launcging the model of to replace the esteem? I think its called Petra....There was some news abt it earlier but haven't heard anything on it since.

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (v12 @ Feb. 20 2004,14:23)]Tata Zing

Probably seeing how the Reva will do !

Tata Aria

Would be great to have provided it has a decent engne. Rover are looking at it closely

Tata Magna

A non starter - looks stodgier than a Montego. Would prefer an Optra

Rajah Motors Kazwa

A first gen Renault Espace made by a Beedi manufacturer. Probably went up in smoke

[Kinetic CityCar

Luna with 4 wheels ? don;t know much about this


OCAL Quantum

Quite a good car, runour is that the promoter did a "premier" and ran off with the booking deposit

My comments are in the quotes

[RJK]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Deeps @ May 14 2004,15:23)]Anyone know if/when the Maruti are launcging the model of to replace the esteem? *I think its called Petra....There was some news abt it earlier but haven't heard anything on it since.

petra is replacement for the Fiat Siena..
Esteem is just getting another makeover by july...

[Dippy]

Hey Deeps there wont be replacement for the Esteem. Its just going to be facelifted and given cosmetic job. I was hoping the Liana would be launched instead but then Maruti think otherwise

Cheers

[Deeps]

Woops........i mistook the Petra for the Liana.......thanx for the clarification. I can't understand what sense it makes to keep revamping the dying esteem. I,too, would have like to see the Liana getting launched in India....

[v12]

Its been almost 2 years still there are no signs of these cars.

The Zing project is still on and Tata isnt giving up on their 1 lakh car.

The Tata Aria (and Coupe) were supposed to be launched in Europe within a year of being displayed. They were supposed to compete with the likes of the Mazda Miata and other Eurpoean small cars. But still theres no news from Tata about them.

The Tata Magna project also seems to have been shelved. If launched a few years back it would definitely been a good buy at 10 lakhs. Even now it doesnt look too outdated.

Rajah Motors Kazwa also seems to have stopped before it even started. A beedi manufacturer manufacturing the old Renault Espace with HM engine. The interiors were a mix-n-match of the Amby and the Astra. At 6 lakhs it would definitely a steal.

Kinetic Citycar was the dream of Kinetic Engineering chairman Arun Firodia. Was supposed to be launched with a Briggs and Stratton 500cc engine. The project i guess was shelved cos they could not have priced the car at the promised price of 1.5 lakhs.

[adya33]

Just last night I was talkling with my father about the article on design awards for 1lakh rupee car in Top Gear. These designs are really good and 1 Lakh rupee car look possible.
The Zing will surely make many peoples dream of owning a car. And it is important to remember before critisizing cheap interiors & low power, that this car was never ment to satisfy petrol heads but was done to make many peoples dream come true.

TATA Magna would have been good at the time but it might have suffered problem faced by pre-V2 Indica's. I personally prefer Indigo over Magna in terms of looks.


Rajah Motors Kazwa If they had done seating like Astra, it would have been huge hit among tourist companies.

[skunk]

Does anone know which HM engine Rajah Motors planned to put into the Kazwa? Interesting that the first-gen Espace was about to get a new lease on life in India.

[sushrutha]

Originally Posted by skunk

Does anone know which HM engine Rajah Motors planned to put into the Kazwa? Interesting that the first-gen Espace was about to get a new lease on life in India.

As per my memory goes
Isuzu 1800 or Isuzu 2000..
The same ambassador engine. Correct me if i'm wrong