Former senior primetime news anchor, financial correspondent, producer, and Chief Editor-Auto – Siddharth has worn many hats during his many years at NDTV. He conceived all the automobile based content for the NDTV network - including the annual carandbike Awards, and used to head the Auto Prime band of programming launched in 2014. He was a key driver behind carandbike.com – already the country's 2nd largest auto portal. Siddharth also created India’s biggest auto quiz, which ran for 7 seasons – the Mahindra AQ. Besides all this, Siddharth is the first Asian journalist to be appointed as a Director on the Steering Committee for the prestigious World Car Awards in 2016. He has served on that jury since 2011, and is now Executive Director of World Car Awards since 2020. He is also Editor-in-Chief of carandbike.
I've driven it, and I can say it with a large-heaped tablespoon of confidence - it's the best Mahindra yet. Considering what it is meant to be, it's a pretty darn good car too.
Jitters, excitement - it is at times like these that one truly understands the meaning of such words. The occasion was after all a big one - the flag-off of the first ever around-the-world drive from India certainly qualifies as big!
You know how you think you know it all, and not in an egotistical way either - and yet you don't? That's how we all felt - maybe more so in a combined sense - when we descended on a workshop to take us through the vehicles that will be our companions through the GLA Adventure.
The thing I will never forget is thinking, "Is he serious?" when I first spoke to the marketing head at Mercedes-Benz India about the possibility of us using Mercedes-Benz cars for a global drive I was keen to undertake under the Auto Prime umbrella at NDTV.
The compact SUV segment in India has experienced rapid growth in recent years. Case in point, the arrival of cars like the Renault Duster, Ford EcoSport, and the Nissan Terrano - these cars have taken the popularity of this segment to an entirely new level.
Tata-owned Jaguar Land Rover has been planning big for some time now. From being a near-boutique player in its days under Ford, JLR has charted a clear global strategy to expand operations, volume sales and its footprint worldwide.
Hyundai is calling the Creta, the perfect SUV, and yes of course that is a bit of a stretch! But is there some truth to it? The only way to really figure that out is to put it to the test against the segment benchmark - the Renault Duster.
Despite the fact that the Indian car market has been down for some time now, there has never been a lack of buzz or anticipation around certain new products. The Hyundai Creta certainly qualifies with flying colours in that department.
We compare the 1.2 i-VTEC CVT and the 1.2 Kappa Dual VTVT manual
Mercedes-Benz enters the land where SUV meets Coupe with the GLE Coupe. We drive it to find out if it'll challenge the segment leader - the BMW X6
The new GLE is going to replace the ML-Class in India later this year. We drive it to see what it's all about
The first impression of the Creta is that the car is very well proportioned. It doesn't look too compact, and also looks very agile and sporty in its stance.
It's the segment that everyone wants a piece of. The red hot compact/sub-compact SUV space is exactly where the Indian consumer seems to want to be. I have to say though that that's not just an Indian phenomenon, but the craze for the compact SUV in developed markets sees a slightly bigger vehicle in play.
Driving around the world. Sounds like a simple enough idea. But does it mean following the equator when possible?
It is not often one gets the chance to live his dream. And when it happens more than once it is extra special. That is still how I feel every time I go back to Maranello to test a new car coming out of Scuderia Ferrari. Goosebumps all over - every time!
Mercedes-Benz is replacing the GLK worldwide with the GLC. After a very successful and profitable run for the GLK compact SUV comes to a close with 1.5 million units sold, the new SUV will aim to achieve even greater sales as it is for the first time the car will be offered also as a right hand drive model (for sale in Commonwealth countries).
Under the hood is the 4.0 TFSI V8 which has 560 bhp and 700 Nm of torque. It can do 0-100 kmph in 3.9 seconds, which is nice and quick isn't it? That makes it just a shade above some Porsche cars!
As Bajaj fights to regain marketshare, it is seeing traction for its products, and will therefore have to expand capacity at its Chakan plant.
Given the growing interest in the entry premium car space, I can now share with you that we will also have the regular V40 very soon. And here's why this is important from Volvo's perspective.
The Q7 has been a massive hit for the four-ringed Bavarian. The SUV was launched way way back in 2006, and so really a second generation has been due since at least 2013 if not slightly earlier.
