Tata to mark its presence at Geneva with Safari Storme and Manza Hybrid

Tata to mark its presence at Geneva with Safari Storme and Manza Hybrid

Everyone knows that the new owner of the renowned brands Jaguar and Land Rover is an Indian manufacturer that specializes in commercial vehicles. Now, we have beentalking a lot about the upcoming motor show and it showcasing exciting products from many popular car manufacturers. Among the crowd of supercars, luxury cars, et al will be the humble Tata Motors.
Tata showcased the Manza hybrid and Safari Storme at the Indian Auto Expo last month. Back at the Expo, Mr.P.M. Telang, Managing Director – India Operations, had said, “ With the Safari Storme, the iconic Safari becomes a contemporary SUV suited to the desires of today’s SUV lovers.” He hadalso said, “As importantly, we are displaying our progress with alternate fuel technologies towards a morecomprehensive portfolio for the future.”. Now, these two will make their European debut at the Geneva Motor Show. The Manza Hybrid concept puts to use a hybridpowerplant coupled with a diesel motor. Talking about the Safari Strome, it may noted that the Storme shares quite a lot with the Aria crossover and Tata is surely hoping to get some image makeover by coming up with this worldclass product. Some time back, we talked about Tata’s future plan to use next gen Aria’s components in entry level Land Rover vehicles

Jeep CJ

Jeep CJ

The open tops of the original civilian Jeeps meant little in the way of occupant protection. Lacking safety devices like a roof, doors or a structurally supportive windscreen, passengers can be flung out of these Jeeps in an accident or even while just driving down the road. Having actually ridden in more than a few CJs, we can safely say that the only thing that kept us inside the vehicle and not splattered across the road was the power of positive thinking. Had we actually had an accident in one of these CJs… well, DOT workers would have been scraping us off the asphalt.

BMW Isetta

BMW Isetta

BMW’s Isetta city car is unique for its microscopic size, bubble canopy and front-mounted passenger door. As if driving a car the size of a cat wasn’t treacherous enough on today’s Expedition-filled roads, a collision with anything would result in a horrific yet embarrassing death. By having only a thin wafer of sheet metal in front of the occupants, the closest thing resembling a crumple zone on the Isetta would be its occupants’ feet. Should an Isetta owner somehow make it through life without his car kneecapping him, there is still the problem of being able to escape the car should the door be blocked by another car, a wall or a slight gust of wind.

Ford Explorer

Ford Explorer

It’s not so much a problem now, but Ford’s popular Explorer gained a sudden spike in negative press when the SUVs seemed to start barrel-rolling down the freeway for no reason whatsoever. Turns out the OEM Firestone tires were to blame. While Ford and Firestone continue to blame each other over who really is to blame for this fault, the fact is that the tread on the Firestone tires would separate from the tire while driving at speed, resulting in a blowout, which, in turn, would result in an X-Games-worthy flip.

DeLorean DMC-12

DeLorean DMC-12

If you see a DeLorean hit 88 mph, you will certainly have witnessed a rare event. Mainly because it’s rare to see a DeLorean anywhere, let alone one breaking the speed limit. But just as people like to speed, people invariably find ways to roll cars – even those with low centers of gravity – and there are few vehicles deadlier when upside down than a DeLorean. Provided the stainless-steel structure survives the impact, escape from the vehicle is nigh impossible. While resting on its roof, the DeLorean’s doors absolutely cannot be opened, and those cool side windows quickly turn dangerous, as their diminutive size prevents passengers from escaping through the window. Rollover victims are trapped until they are met by either the Jaws of Life or the sweet kiss of death.

Ferrari 458 Italia

Cars today are safer than ever before. Going beyond the standard intelligent seat belts and airbags for every part of the body, today’s cars can park themselves, keep themselves within their lane and automatically hit the brakes should a panic-stop situation arise. While most vehicles have benefited from billions of dollars of safety research, there are still a few cars on the road that aren’t so safe. Some of these vehicles present genuine dangers to occupants; others are just perceived as dangerous. While not all of these cars are guaranteed to kill you, they’re pretty much deathtraps.

Ferrari 458 Italia

The F458 Italia is undoubtedly one of Ferrari’s most beautiful creations, but like Kristanna Loken in T3:Rise of the Machines, this beauty hides a deadly danger. No, this Italian exotic doesn’t turn into a man-killing creation from future, but it does have a nasty tendency to spontaneously combust. It turns out that an adhesive in the rear wheel arches and heat shield would catch fire, deforming the assemblies themselves, which would then ignite upon contact with the exhaust manifold.

Bajaj makes clarifications about Discover 125 ad campaign

Bajaj makes clarifications about Discover 125 ad campaign

Just a few days back, we reported about Bajaj Auto Limited deciding to take arch rival Hero Motocorp head on with one of its latest ad campaign for Discover 125. In Europe and America, its common to see automakers gunning for each others’ heads with ads which have direct / indirect references to rival products. Be it Nissan mocking Ford engineers in Brazil, Audi mocking BMW for always being second in shootouts or BMW using Japanese art forms to depict the superiority of the S1000RR over all the Japanese bikes – the corporates from the Western world love bringing their mutual melee out in the open, entertaining the audiences liberally in the process. Now Bajaj Auto seems to be making a few clarifications about this latest ad campaign.

Bajaj Auto Managing Director, Mr. Rajiv Bajaj has said, “Our campaign is based on a consumer research interpretation and has nothing to do with taking on Hero.”
However, comments on this ad campaign sound very different in nature to what Bajaj’s MD recently said.
Prathap Suthan, chief creative officer of iYogi, a global remote tech support company says, “Now Hero is without the safety helmet of Honda. So it is the best time for Bajaj to inflict maximum damage on the leader that is weak and vulnerable.”
Readers would remember that even Mahindra two wheelers did something similar with their first ad for the Stallio, where Aamir Khan made references to the Karizma by using phrases like ‘Toofan se topi laati hai kya’.  That the product wasn’t good enough, and mahindra ended up making a mockery of itself in the end is a different story altogether. With the newDiscover ad, Bajaj Auto seems to be making indirect references to the (Super) Splendor and Passion, the two competitors of the Discover. The ad asserts that the Bajaj product has better acceleration and power than the corresponding Hero Motocorp products. The owners of the vehicles admit that they’re riding compromised vehicles, but have learned how to live with the sad situation. It’s all been portrayed in a very interesting (and annoying for Hero Motocorp) manner.
“As part of an internal discussion, we felt that if you are not a leader, position yourself and re-position the leader by projecting yourself as the opposite of a leader… that’s what we are doing,” says Bajaj.
Mr. Saurabh Uboweja, director of brand consulting firm Brands of Desire says, “For the first time in a decade, Bajaj is sniffing an opportunity to challenge the numero uno. By projecting buyers of Hero bikes as meek and compromising, Bajaj is also highlighting the weaknesses of Hero MotoCorp’s withdrawal of Honda and its tech platform.”
It may be noted that Hero MotoCorp is silently witnessing all this. Is this the silence that precedes a storm?