For most kids in the world, the biggest joy will be to drive the bike he or she always dreamed about. But how about a Ferrari F430? No, not a toy one; a real-life one with a 483-horsepower, V-8 engine under the hood and that sprints to 60 mph in just 4.5 seconds. Yeah, that one.
Apparently, to these two Indian children, who look no older than 8-years old, this powerful supercar is a toy. This is all too evident with just how well they handle this machine on the public roadway.
Apparently, the two childrens’ parents were there, or at least some adults were there filming, so we can only assume they had permission. However, we cannot stress enough to you just how stupid it is to let your kids take control of any car, let alone a powerful supercar. Especially when the need the New York City telephone book to see over the steering wheel…
This new dealership means Lamborghini now has two outlets across India, a country which has been booming over the past few years and isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. As a result, wealthy business people are looking to splash their cash on exotic sports cars, much like their compatriots in China and Russia.
In addition to this opening, Lamborghini also announced the launch of a new subdivision of the brand being Lamborghini India. Lamborghini India will be the sole importer of Lamborghini’s into the country, obviously discounting the few high-end importers which may be situated in India, and if this second showroom boosts sales then Lamborghini is likely to open further dealerships across India.
Furthermore, this latest announcement comes after Lamborghini confirmed late last year that it was targeting to improve sales in India, as the number of millionaires is set to double before 2015 and Lamborghini expects sales of luxury automobiles to sky rocket in excess of five times their previous rates.
Unfortunately for Indian buyers, the Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 will cost almost twice as much as it does in the U.S. due to the very high import taxes.
After a barely revealing teaser image of their new supercar, DC Design of India has debuted its Avanti supercar at the 2012 Delhi Auto Expo. The Avanti - whose name is a reference to the Studbaker Avanti from Tintin comics - will be put on sale at a starting price of $56,277. Initially, DC Design will only build 200 units per year, but it hopes to gradually increase production to about 2,000 units a year.
The new Avanti looks to have taken its design inspiration from vehicles like the Ferrari 458 Italia or the latest array of Lotus concepts with its aerodynamic slopes and aggressive angles, but its performance figures are far from the realm of these popular supercars.
Initially, it will be powered by a Ford four-cylinder turbo engine that delivers a total of 265 horsepower, mated to a six-speed dual-clutch transmission. Even its weight is too far off, especially considering that its body is made of aluminum and its body panels in fiberglass. It weighs in at 3,440 pounds, which allows the drivetrain to sprint the Avanti from 0 to 60 mph in less than 7 seconds.
If DC Design would have promised a really cool sports car and delivered the Avanti, then we would have been excited about it. As of right now, the only thing supercar-like for this vehicle is the outlandish look, and that’s not something everyone will enjoy.
Next time, it may be better for them to under-promise and over-deliver.
UPDATE 5/1/2013: Per a report from Economic Times of India, DC Design plans to build a new manufacturing plant in Sanand, Ahmedabad district in Gujarat state, India. We expect this site to be the new production site for the Avanti, which means a production model may finally be right around the corner.
Every year, we’re treated to a number of completely new supercars that are built from all corners of the world. 2011 offered a number of those babies in the form of the Hulme F1, the Vision SZR, and the TranStar Dagger GT-D Outlaw.
Now that we’ve flipped over to the new year, expect a lot more of these little-known exotics to come out of the woodwork, with the first example coming from - of all places - India.
The car is being built by DC Design and is expected to be the showcase car of the upcoming Delhi Auto Expo. Little details are known at this point, but we did get an initial teaser that gives us a sneak peek of what the car will look like. Judging from the silhouette, it appears that it’s being developed as a mid-engine supercar with a unique profile and a jet-style cockpit.
Under the hood of this still-to-be-revealed supercar is a Honda-sourced V6 engine that is being prepared to receive an output of around 400 horsepower. Combine that with a svelte frame and you’re looking at a car that’s poised to impress the auto world.
DC Design is looking into building around 300 initial examples of the supercar at a price that’s being hinted at around $56,000.
It’s not often that a car sells for $850,000 and gets considered one of the biggest bargains in automotive history. But if the car in question is the famed “Star of India” – it’s a one-off 1934 Rolls Royce Phantom II 40/50 HP Continental All-Weather Convertible – then you kind of understand why that selling price is ridiculously cheap for this car.
You see, this car is one of the rarest vehicles in the world, which gained notoriety when the Maharaja of Rajkot had it built with some pretty fancy coachwork made by Thrupp and Maberley and finished with saffron ochre and polished aluminum wings.
About a year ago, the car was on sale for an eye-popping €10 million – that’s about $14 million based on current exchange rates. After making its way to a number of auctions, the rare Rolls Royce was finally snagged for a ‘paltry’ $850,000 by an Indian man who – get this – turned out to be one Mandhatasinh Jadeja, a former prince of Rajkot and an actual grandson of the Maharajah. Turns out, Jadeja brought the “Star of India” Rolls Royce as a present to his father on his 75th birthday, effectively bringing the multi-million dollar Rolls Royce back to the family for the first time since the Maharajah sold it back in 1968.
We don’t have $850,000, but if we did and we found out that we could scoop up this car for that amount, we’d be running to the bank faster than a wasted teenager making a beeline for the bathroom. That’s how much of a bargain that price tag is. Of course, the fact that it ended up with its rightful owner does sort of bring a small tear to our eye, albeit a manly tear.
Bugatti must be really confident in the buying power of the rich folks of India considering that the company has introduced the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport in the country despite the ridiculous 110% import tax tacked to items like foreign exotic cars.
Add the car’s cost to the tax it comes with and to be able to purchase a Veyron in the country would mean that you would have to pay a staggering $3.6 million. Apparently, Bugatti is undeterred by the mammoth tax cars like the Veyron will be given, opting to focus more on the huge potential of the spending power of wealthy locals, which, according to analysts, could reach $14.7 billion as fast as 2015.
Satya Bagla, head of Exclusive Motors Pvt., the company that carries high-end brands Bugatti, Bentley, and Lamborghini, said that the Indian market, specifically the wealthy, are beginning to open up their bank accounts. “People have more spending power and are getting more aware of owning beautiful things,” she said.
“They are more ready to show their wealth.” Must be nice.
Although you’ve probably never heard of the Tata Safari, it’s a pretty big seller in other parts of the world. For 2011, there is a new model, although it still appears to be stuck in 1999. It will go on sale in India in the early part of 2011, followed by Europe later in the year.
The new model will pick up where the old one left off, but with more technical updates, a new design, and more attention to fit and finish. This means that the price will rise, but Tata is debating on continuing the production of the previous model, as a low cost variant. Hard to imagine BMW doing that with one of their models isn’t it?
The 2011 Tata Safari SUV will be based on its sibling Aria’s platform which will make the car more rigid and a better handler. The new model will also have lots of space and will be loaded with features such as a leather-wrapped steering wheel, a silver finish on the center console, Climate Control, and much more.
Tata will also use some of the technical know how from JaguarLand Rover on the new Safari to help sales in Europe. The motor should be 2.2-liter four-cylinder diesel with 140 horsepower.
Now this is what we call a real truck. It might not wear the Ram, Ford, or Chevrolet badge, but it’s just as good. The monster looking Bolero is a favorite of police, military, and some citizens who feel the need to be big and tall on the public roads, similar to driving a Hummer in the United States.
Now that the truck has been around 10 years, Mahindra are releasing a 2011 version truck with all the goodies that one might need to tame the Indian wilderness, such as a wicked light bar, a snorkel, tow loops, and a pick-axe.
According to the automaker, the Bolero is the best selling truck in India. It sold around 70,554 units year, which is quite a remarkable feat. This is certainly one of those vehicles that you either love or hate. Arnold Schwarzenegger types will love it, while green folk will believe it to be the anti-Christ. Either way, it sure does look neat.
Tata Motors may have a slew of SUVs on its portfolio, not to mention owning Land Rover, but the Indian-based automaker is finally ready to dive into the crossover market with the launch of the Aria.
The crossover is powered by a 2.2-liter diesel engine that produces around 140 horsepower. It also comes with a number of features including traction control, ABS, ESP, six air bags, and a higher ride height that makes it look more like an SUV than what’s classified as a crossover.
The Aria’s interior is also chalk-full of high-end features including power mirrors, rain sensing wipers, a GPS nav-sat system, automatic climate control, height adjustable seats, glove box chiller, and Bluetooth. The features seem fitting for a vehicle Tata describes as a “luxurious creation with the finesse of a sedan and the muscle of an SUV all blended in one car.”
Tata has yet to release pricing and availability of the Aria crossover, but according to the brand, the car will most likely be sold in India exclusively.
Now here’s something you don’t see in your newspapers everyday.
Volkswagen has a new and ingenious advertising ploy, one that involves a newspaper, an audio chip, and a voice recording. Yeah, we’ve never seen this one before.
The German manufacturer recently teamed up with Indian newspaper, The Times of India, for a pretty unique advertisement that allows you to listen to a voice-recorded message while looking at a whole page ad for Volkswagen.
Talk about a morning jolt, huh? Apparently, the voice-recorded spiel begins talking when you open the page to where the advertisement is as shown in the video. The message isn’t all too clear, but it’s unmistakably a promo message for the new Volkswagen Vento.
We don’t know a good deal about how Volkswagen and The Times of India were able to make this work, but according to the people of Wired, the ad apparently uses a photodiode – it’s an object that controls an electric current depending on the presence of a light source - on the audio chip. The message is then activated whenever a reader opens to the page where the advertisement’s ad and stops as soon as he leafs through to another page.
That’s a lot of electrical information that just passed in on one ear and came out the other, but if you want to see how the ad works, you can do so by checking out the video.
