The Government had announced that India will be moving to an all electric car fleet by 2030 and car manufacturers are getting ready to meet the deadline
The Audi Q2 is the German automaker's smallest compact SUV. Placed below the Q3, the Q2 with its crossover like design was launched last year with good responses especially from growing markets like China. And to appease the Chinese auto buyer even further, Audi has recently announced plans to launch a longer wheelbase version of the Q2 specially for the China domestic market. To make it an even more interesting proposition though, Audi seems to be preparing an all electric version of the long wheel base Q2 to be sold specifically in China. China is the largest electric car market in the world and last year sold over 3.86 lakh units witnessing a 50 per cent growth over the year before!
In a heavy push towards greener vehicle production and reduced emissions, the Chinese government has banned the production of 553 cars, mainly sedans for failure to meet a certain pre-described fuel economy figure. The announcement was made by the China Vehicle Technology Service Centre and includes cars from several global automakers like Mercedes-Benz, BMW, General Motors and Volkswagen. The list also includes cars that do not meet certain new emissions standards that have been recently prescribed for cars in China. The list of banned cars has not been completely revealed though, although most on the list are said to be of the sedan body style. The ban on production has come into effect on January 1, 2018. Incidentally, in 2017, the sale of electric vehicles in China has grown by over 50 per cent to over 3.36 lakh units a year and is expected to grow even further this year.
TKM has sold over 700 Camry hybrids so far this year compared to around 1,200 sold last year. The decline is due to price increase after GST (Goods and Services Tax) implementation.
Clear water bodies dotted with 10,000 seaplanes, 'floating cities' in the form of ocean cruises and electric vehicles zipping on dedicated highway lanes -- that's the future as envisioned by Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari. For the 'go-getter' minister at the helm of affairs to overhaul the country's infrastructure, India has the potential to realise all this and much more.
The electric car is here! And for the first time in automotive history, the demand for electric cars far outnumbers the supply for them. The Tesla Model 3 is the perfect example of this with hundreds of thousands of orders still pending and eager customers waiting for their brand new cars to be delivered. And another example is the very competent Volkswagen e-Golf. In fact, such is the demand for the electric hatchback that Volkswagen have announced that they will double the production soon. The e-Golf is currently made at Volkswagen's state of the art and self sustained 'glass factory' in Dresden.
In an all time record, Volkswagen has announced that by December 31, 2017, it will make its 6 millionth car of the year. The 6 million (or 60 lakh) cars a year number is possibly one of the largest manufacturing figures ever recorded in the history of the automotive industry and is only taking into consideration the Volkswagen brand and not the Volkswagen Group as a whole which, of course, will register a much higher total figure. The production boost has been headed by the likes of popular models like the Golf, Polo, Jetta and the Passat but has also been boosted by several new launches in 2017. Since inception more than 70 years ago, Volkswagen have made a total of over 150 million cars since the original Beetle first rolled off the assembly line.
