[Aditya]

Don't forget, the Corvette C6 rides on leaf springs.
IMO, the Scorpio's biggest problem is in its chassis. It's based on the old Armada and its wheelbase is pretty short. Extensive work is required if you want to make a Scorpio that handles well. Wonder what the Lotus chaps are gonna do.

[ananthkamath]

Corvette rides on a totally different setup to the Scorpio. It is fully independent with upper and lower control arms. The leaf spring is a composite type installed transversely. So comparing it with scorpio is like comparing the proverbial chalk and cheese.

[Aditya]

Exactly. It's just the level of finesse that can be achieved with leaf springs that I wanted to stress on.

[ported_head]

It will be All Wheel Independent Suspension. Revised tail light cluster even.

[tsk1979]

Coil springs thats what the news is, rest is all speculation about what exactly they will do

[Mpower]

Leaf springs are dirt cheap. Other than that is a pain to tune the vehicle, because there is always a compromise between rate and stress in the spring and the packaging (cant fit long springs which are good for rate).

I'd be surprised if they go independent, can get pretty expensive. I have a feeling they might retain the leaf on the base model and do the Lotus job for the CRDes.

[tsk1979]

Well Euro III scorpio is Crdi only. Doing the coil spring job just on the sports model would not help costs as they will not be able to rake in the benefits of large volumes.

[tifosikrishna]

ya, i agree with tsk. when they make the changes, it will be across the board. coil springs will definitely add to their input costs. so we can expect a marginal price hike as well.

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by tifosikrishna

ya, i agree with tsk. when they make the changes, it will be across the board. coil springs will definitely add to their input costs. so we can expect a marginal price hike as well.

What about Lotus' fees? They may be malaysian owned, but their rates are most certainly in Pound Sterling and not Ringgit Malaysia!

[tifosikrishna]

thats there, but i feel that fixed cost part (lotus) would be absorbed by mahindras as it was a inherent problem the car had. at the same time, i guess they would pass the variable component to us.

at the moment, your guess is as good as mine.

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by tifosikrishna

thats there, but i feel that fixed cost part (lotus) would be absorbed by mahindras as it was a inherent problem the car had.

They're into this for business, not charity. No manufacturer can afford to absorb development costs....we all get the tab for development, except when you buy a Tata and you become part of the development programme

[Mpower]

Since the Scorpio is a bigger hit than they expected, Mahindra is not too scared to write big cheques.

If they can afford AVL's fees for engine work, they can afford Lotus as well....and hopefully it will translate into better sales.

[tifosikrishna]

i also feel coffers filled by sales of scorpio would be used to fund this development. more so, they wouldnt like to lose their value for money brand positioning. they would be better off writing off their developmental cost by increasing their sales.

[Mpower]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

costs....we all get the tab for development, except when you buy a Tata and you become part of the development programme

Thats for sure. First batch of Indicas were nothing more than rough prototypes by western standards.

[racing4cure]

hope this mean babay gets here soon enough and not like the usual indian delay in launching the new models..i heard the grill is gonna be tweaked along with a few other changes,.,,!