Tata’s scooter inspiration
More detail about how a scooter accident inspired Tata’s $2500 car, from the Toronto Globe and Mail.
When scooter news breaks, we put it under a tarp in the garage.
More detail about how a scooter accident inspired Tata’s $2500 car, from the Toronto Globe and Mail.
The big news today, of course, is the launch of India’s Tata Motors’ $2500 Nano automobile. That’s right, India is building cars (there are more on the way from other makers, including a possible Renault/Bajaj collaboration) that cost half as much as a new Vespa. And Tata, who you’ve probably never heard of until this … Continue reading “$2500 Tata Nano”
The Indian government is looking to sell their majority share of Scooters India Limited, who manufactured Lambrettas until 1998, and currently manufacture the Vikram three-wheeler. Mahindra and Mahindra and Tata Motors have both expressed interest and at least one story suggests that on top of a promised $30 million relaunch of Vespa production in India, … Continue reading “SIL to be Sold,
Lambretta Future Unclear as Ever”
Veloce’s A-Z of Popular Scooters and Microcars is on sale for half-price. It’s pretty expensive regularly, but at that price, it’s a must-have, especially if you’re getting excited about Tatas and Smarts lately. 2sb reviewed it here.
78 years ago today, the first Italian helicopter, looking like a sketch from DaVinci’s notebook, broke the last of three current helicopter flight records. How does that relate to us? That primitive chopper was designed by Corradino D’Ascanio, who joined Piaggio two years later, and went on to design the world’s most famous and innovative … Continue reading “2SB helicopter news”
After months of speculation and discussion, Renault and Nissan have agreed to an automotive joint venture with Bajaj Auto to compete with Tata Motors’ budget Nano model. Manufacturing.net reports: “Sales are scheduled to start in early 2011 in India, Nissan said. The joint venture will be 50 percent owned by Bajaj, 25 percent by Renault … Continue reading “Renault/Nissan/Bajaj announce automobile deal”
Bajaj, while catching up with the Indian scooter market they abandoned a couple years ago, is now looking to catch a piece of the growing super-cheap automobile market. Forbes reports Bajaj is looking to form a joint-venture with Renault to produce an automobile to compete with Tata‘s highly-anticipated US$2,500 car.
The last month has been busy for Bajaj: On February 9, 2007, Bajaj Auto announced a demerger plan that would seperate the company into two different organizations. An automotive group would be headed by Rajiv Bajaj, with a finance and insurance group run by his brother Sanjiv. Rumors began to circulate that there is a … Continue reading “Catching up with Bajaj”
Sorry, we’ve still been a bit under the weather and busy with the impending holidays, but here are some stories from the last week to keep you up to date: Seinfeld star (and model for illnoise’s current hairstyle) Jason Alexander is getting around Australia on a Vespa. Autoblog makes a corny joke about AMCA’s bazooka … Continue reading “News bits”
Yamaha Motor UK is offering free liability insurance on its Aerox 50 and Cygnus-X 125 scooters. The insurance covers up to three family members and comprehensive insurance is available for a very reasonable upgrade fee. The scooters also include 1 year of RAC coverage (the UK’s AAA equivalent) and Datatag anti-theft markings installed.