PhotoGallery: 2019 Lexus LC500h image gallery

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TVS’ Michael Metge wins 2019 Baja Aragon

Michael Metge took his second consecutive Baja Aragon victory, winning the 2019 edition of the Spanish event in a dominant fashion. The Sherco TVS rider moved into the lead on the first day itself after winning both the Super Stages, which covered a total of 250km. He further added to his advantage on the second and final day of the rally, setting the fastest time in Super Stage 3. A 3rd place finish in Super Stage 4 helped him seal victory with a total time of 6hr 30.21 min.

“I am thrilled to be finishing at the top for the second time. Baja is a great learning ground as the stages are long and challenging. I am grateful to Sherco TVS Rally Factory Team for the support. I had a solid outing with my teammates Lorenzo, Harith, Aravind, and Aishwarya and I wish them the best for the future rallies,” said Metge.

In addition to Metge, Sherco TVS fielded four more riders for the event. Lorenzo Santolino impressed on his rally return, after recovering from an injury sustained in the 2019 Dakar Rally, and completed the 2019 Baja Aragon in 4th place overall. Indian rider Harith Noah was the next best finisher for the team, with an overall ranking of 7th, while Aishwarya Pissay finished 24th overall and 5th in the women’s category. Unfortunately, Aravind KP suffered a crash at the end of Super Stage 2 and had to retire from the rally.

Hero MotoSports also participated in the event with two riders – CS Santosh and Joaquim Rodrigues. CS Santosh endured a challenging rally where he suffered GPS and rear-brake issues on the first day. Day 2 was equally tough as he suffered a crash in a high-speed zone and lost his front brakes. Nevertheless, he managed to complete the rally with a commendable 10th place overall ranking. His  teammate Joaquim Rodrigues lost a chunk of time after crashing out on the first day and damaged his bike. He returned the next day and completed the final two stages in 6th and 9th place, respectively, placing him 25th in the overall standings.

Ashish Raorane, who competed in the 2019 Baja Aragon as a privateer astride a KTM EXC 450, also successfully completed the event in 21st place after battling some mechanical issues.

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PSA Group India sets up technical centre in Chennai

Betting big on its India growth strategy, PCA Motors India, part of the PSA Group, today opened its new India Technical Center (ITC) in Chennai.

The new India Technical Center, according to the carmaker, will play a key role in smoother and more efficient working of the employees of Groupe PSA India. Working together as one single team in a large, open facility will boost the capacity of the group to accelerate further in India. Eric Apode, senior vice-president, PCA Motors India, was present at the launch.

The ITC is located in a specific building area, Chennai One, which is part of one of Chennai's Special Economic Zones (SEZs). The new centre will house departments of Research and Development, Programs and Projects, Global Purchasing Hub, Supply Chain, Process and Manufacturing Engineering, Quality, KD Excellence Center and Product.

The PSA Group's technical partner – TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) – being located in the same zone, will help to enhance the synergy and the efficiency of the work.

Commenting on the launch, Emmanuel Delay, executive vice-president and Head of India-Pacific, Groupe PSA, said, “The new India Technical Center is an important step for the development of the PSA Group in India, and is definitely an asset to grow the group’s business in the India and Pacific region."

"This is part of our strategy to develop a global network of state-of-the-art technical centre, strategically positioned in India, to support a customer-oriented agenda," he went on to say. "With the new centre, we are focusing our investment in creating a cohesive work environment to accelerate our growth. This unified approach will improve speed, efficiency and effectiveness of our employees, while enabling us to address evolving consumer needs more quickly in the future. Our investment in ITC further emphasises the importance of India to our global business.”

Eric Apode said, “The new India Technical Centre is the next strategic step for the PSA Group in India. It will allow the group to accelerate its growth in India quickly, through the development of new products and deployment of our strategy in and outside India. The area around our new centre is popular for housing dozens of international and Indian companies; this gives the Group strong confidence of attracting Indian talent to the new ITC. The Monozukuri philosophy – the art of creating objects in an efficient and effective way – is now taking shape with our new India Technical Centre, which will benefit group operations domestically and globally.”

The new office has been designed and built in a frugal manner, in what the company says is "consistent with the spirit of scalability corresponding to the India project." Going forward, the "state-of-the-art centre will also house a workshop for styling, architecture and assembly of prototypes."

Also see:

Citroën developing Creta rival for India

Made-for-India Citroën compact SUV coming in 2021

Citroën to bring its new ‘La Maison’ dealership format to India

Citroën C5 Aircross SUV: 5 things to know

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Bajaj Pulsar, Platina, V15, Discover, Dominar prices hiked

Bajaj has hiked prices of the Dominar, Discover 125, V15 Power Up, and the entire Pulsar and Platina range in India. The increase in prices ranges from anywhere between a couple of hundred for the Platina 100 (KS) to Rs 6,000 on the Dominar 400.

Bajaj’s entire Pulsar range, including the most affordable model, the Pulsar Neon ABS, has seen a hike of up to Rs 2,950. Both, the Platina 100 and Platina 110 have also gone up in price by up to Rs 1,000. Both the drum and disc variants of the Discover 125 have seen a hike as well. Lastly, the recently-updated version of the V15, called the Power Up, also makes it to this list.

Find the updated price list below:

Bajaj price list (ex-showroom, Delhi)
Model	Old price	New price	Increase
Pulsar Neon	Rs 68,250	Rs 71,200	Rs 2,950
Pulsar 150	Rs 84,461	Rs 84,960	Rs 499
Pulsar 150 Twin Disc	Rs 88,339	Rs 88,838	Rs 499
Pulsar 180F	Rs 94,278	Rs 95,290	Rs 1,012
Pulsar 220F	Rs 1.05 lakh	Rs 1.07 lakh	Rs 2,000
Pulsar NS160	Rs 92,595	Rs 93,094	Rs 499
Pulsar NS200	Rs 1.12 lakh	Rs 1.13 lakh	Rs 1,000
Platina 100 (KS)	Rs 40,500	Rs 40,896	Rs 396
Platina 100 (ES)	Rs 47,405	Rs 48,429	Rs 1,024
Platina 110 (Drum)	Rs 53,376	Rs 53,875	Rs 499
Platina 110 (Disc)	Rs 55,373	Rs 56,371	Rs 998
Discover 125 (Drum)	Rs 58,000	Rs 58,752	Rs 752
Discover 125 (Disc)	Rs 61,500	Rs 62,253	Rs 753
V15 Power Up	Rs 65,626	Rs 66,739	Rs 1,113
Dominar 400	Rs 1.74 lakh	Rs 1.80 lakh	Rs 6,000

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Auto Expo 2020 dates out

The next edition of India’s largest auto show – the Auto Expo – will begin on February 5 and end on February 12, 2020. Auto Expo 2020 will be held at the India Expo Mart in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, like the 2018 and 2016 editions of the motor show. While the motor show will only open to the public on February 7, the 5th and 6th are press days.

What remains a question mark at the moment is manufacturer participation at the 2020 Auto Expo. As is known, the auto industry is in the midst of a slowdown at the moment and it is likely many car and bike makers will opt out of the motor show, altogether. The high cost of participation in India's largest motor show has also been a stumbling block for manufacturers in the past. Still, you can expect a strong show from Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and Mahindra as well as Hyundai, Kia, Volkswagen and Skoda.

Among the major unveils at Auto Expo 2020 will be those of the production-spec Tata H2X as well as Volkswagen and Skoda’s SUV for India; the next-generation Hyundai Creta could also make its debut at the show.

Also see:

Best cars at Auto Expo 2018

Auto Expo 2018: Our star cars

Auto Expo 2018 car and SUV image gallery

Auto Expo 2018 bikes and scooters image gallery

Best scooters at Auto Expo 2018

Best bikes at Auto Expo 2018

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Benelli Leoncino 500 India launch in early August 2019

Benelli India is all set to launch the Leoncino 500 in early August 2019, possibly within the first week. The company has begun rolling out teasers on its social media platforms and as we reported earlier, this is the Leoncino’s road-oriented version for India.

The Benelli Leoncino 500 is a scrambler style motorcycle, powered by a 499.6cc, liquid-cooled, fuel-injected, twin-cylinder motor that develops 47.6hp at 8,500rpm and 45Nm of torque at 5,000rpm. A tubular steel trellis frame wraps around the engine and the motorcycle is suspended by 50mm USD forks at the front and a monoshock at the rear with a remote adjuster for preload.

It gets a 320mm dual-disc setup at the front, with four piston-brake calipers and a 260mm single disc at the rear with a single-piston caliper. The standard motorcycle has a kerb weight of 207kg.

The 500cc Leoncino is available in three different variants – Standard, Trail and Sport – across International markets. In case of India, as we mentioned, Benelli is waiting to gauge the response to the standard Leoncino 500 before it decides to bring in the other variants.

In International markets, the Benelli Leoncino 500 and the Benelli TRK 502 are priced quite close to each other. However, in India we expect a bigger price gap between the two models as the Leoncino will sit at the entry point of Benelli’s 500cc range in India.

Considering the competitive price of the Benelli TRK 502 (Rs 5.10 lakh) and TRK 502X (Rs 5.50 lakh) we expect the Benelli Leoncino 500's ex-showroom price to be around the Rs 4.5-4.8 lakh mark.

All prices are ex-showroom, Mumbai

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Honda e gets full-width digital display

As we approach the official unveil of Honda’s first all-electric vehicle – the Honda e, which will take place at the 2019 Frankfurt motor show – the carmaker has begun sharing more details about its electric hatchback. The new information confirms that the production-spec Honda e will get a full-width digital display built into the dashboard, comprising five HD digital displays.

Of the five displays, the one right in front of the driver is an 8.8-inch digital instrument cluster which provides key information like power levels and charge status, selected drive mode and more. A large portion of the dashboard's real-estate is taken up by the two 12.3-inch displays in the centre of the dash, which feature a variety of applications from its customisable interface as well as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto support, as standard. The dual screens also allow two applications to run side-by-side, and offer the ability to switch content between the two screens, if desired. The infotainment system will feature Honda’s AI-based personal assistant as well, which will be able to respond to basic commands.

The last two displays are positioned at either edge of the dashboard and essentially serve as rear-view mirrors, since they display the feed from the side-view cameras. Honda will also provide an application for the electric hatchback that allows users to control functions such as climate control, security and location monitoring, battery-charge and a driving-range monitors, among others.

Mechanically, the Honda e all-electric hatchback will feature a 147hp electric motor and will also use a 35.5kWh, liquid-cooled battery that Honda claims should have a range of over 200km. Honda is also expected to offer rapid charging as part of the package, which should allow for an 80 percent charge in less than 30min, although the carmaker is yet to reveal the car's exact maximum charging capacity.

Honda has not made any announcement regarding plans to launch the Honda e EV in India; but by the end of 2019, it will go on sale in Japan and selected European markets. Honda displayed the Honda EV Sports concept at the 2018 Auto Expo, which could imply that the all-electric hatchback may be introduced in our market in the future. Closer to home, Honda has launched a new mid-spec V trim of the WR-V at a price of Rs 9.95 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).

Also see:

Click here for all Honda models, prices, reviews, images, videos and more

Honda e's electric powertrain revealed

GST on electric vehicles cut from 12 percent to 5 percent

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