The sQuba
Eco friendly seems to be the automobile industry’s new moto. As environment awareness is growing into the mainstream, more and more car companies are developing green cars which have excellent designs and performance. The sQuba is the world’s foremost car that can be driven on land as well as under water. It is developed by Swiss company Rinspeed. The sQuba is a zero emission, all-electric vehicle which uses 3 electric-motors, one for land and two for water. On land, it is powered by its electric, rear-wheel drive power-train to speed of 80mph, using rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. Upon entering water, it is powered by twin electric-powered propellers with two Seabob water jets and can be submerged to a depth of 10 meters. On the water surface, the speed is 3.7 mph and underwater it is 1.9 mph. It is almost out of your budget but is a real Bond car.
HONDA
Though Honda has performed well, it will be disappointed by the fact that the company is no longer number one. Honda’s strength as far as CS well structured dealerships. The areas of gain for Honda this year have been in the Service Advisory and Performance categories, the dealers recording a significant improvement in this area — equating to a substantial jump. Its overall success is due more to a balanced performance than any one factor. The most significant drop according to customer response is in the most important factor . Problems experienced the percentage of Honda owners reporting one or more repair problems at 12 to 18 months of vehicle ownership has continued to increase over the last three years from 27 percent in 1999 to 41 percent in this year’s study.
MARUTI UDYOG
MUL’s sheer production volume high local content and number of dealers make controlling aspects like product and service quality an extremely difficult task. It’s only when you take all these factors into account that Matuti’s rise up the customer satisfaction chart has been a slow sustained effort. It has forged ahead of Honda with whom it shared top spot last year to register the most impressive performance in customer satisfaction.
Its largest gain vis-a-vis the com. petition comes from its strong service performance , registering the largest gain in this area. Maruti also scored superbly in all service related area registering the highest score in each of the three service related factors. The hands-on approach of Maruti’s top level management who have made service and quality a personal crusade seems to have paid rich dividends.
The Versa
The Versa is powered by a familiar engine the same 1298cc Suzuki G13BB motor that Gypsy. However the Versa’s engine produces 82bhp to the Esteem’s 85 bhp. This slight drop in power is essentially due to different intake and exhaust manifolds needed to package the engine longitudinally under the front seats. Torque is marginally less as well with 10.4kgm to the Esteem’s 10.6kg. Other changes include a differently programmed engine managements system that is specifically tuned to suit the load carrying characterstics of the Versa. With the engine residing just under the front passengers’ backsides we expected the Versa to make quite a racket especially since this all-aluminium, 16 valve fuel injected unit with a distinctive clatter from the valve gear is not the quietest of powertrains. However in the Versa it is only marginally noisier than in th esteem and it is only near the redline that the engine makes its presence heard. LIft the front seats and you can see the layers of sound deadenging ,material that have done their job. It’s hard to tell that you’re virtually sitting on the Versa’s poweplant. In terms of performance the Versa is not just the quickest the Versa is not just the quickest vehicle with more than five seats but will shame several mid-size cars as well. Floor the throttle and Versa lunges foward in a most un van like manager. The engine spins eagerly to its 6700rpm redline and within no time you’re up to three-digit speeds. It is after all powered by the best engine in Maruti’s stable.
Saffire gets better
BAJAJ AUTO’S pin-up girl the automatic four-stroke , Saffire just got better. The good looker from Bajaj now gets a telescope front fork in place of the original single-sided one a front mudguard and a larger 130mm brake drum on the rear. The superiority of the telescope front fork over conventional scooter suspension systems becomes evident through better control over the entire travel and the improved ride and safety during braking due to the hydraulic damping on rebound. The arrangements also gives the Saffire’s front end a sturdy and robust appearance. The addition of the front mudguard blends well with the new front end. Although only the rear brake drum has been incresed in size a front disc must certainly be on the cards considering that front discs are becoming the norm across the two-wheeler industry. Existing Saffire owners need not worry since the entire update package can be retrofitted to earlier Saffires. Bajaj has promised to subsidise the cost.