21.Lamborghini Murcielago
Lamborghini recently ended the highly successful series of their flagship super car, the Murcielago, with the Superveloce variant. However, the car to replace the Murcielago is already under development and will be launched this year. Codenamed ‘project 83X’, the car is rumoured to be named Aventador or Jota and will have a 6.5-litre V12 engine producing about 700 PS of raw blasting power. It will still have a top speed of over 300 km/h with Lamborghini’s distinct design characteristics. The change, however, will be in the power-to-weight ratio and engine efficiency. The car will be lighter by about 100 kg than its predecessor with an all-new carbon-fibre chassis to facilitate higher acceleration and better handling. Smarter cars are the way of the future. The new car will make its début at the Geneva Motor Show in the second half of this year so the Indian launch is expected by the end of this year.
22.Hyundai i30
After the i10 and i20, it is now the turn of the i30 to set its dainty feet, or wheels, on the aggressively fought Indian hatchback scene. Powered by a DOHC four-valve, 1.4-litre engine, the i30 puts out a maximum power of 80.2 PS and maximum torque of 137.2 Nm at 6,200 rpm and 5,000 rpm respectively. Design-wise the i30’s looks do not deviate much from the existing line-up and instead merely accentuate the car’s aesthetics qualities. Ventilated disc brakes upfront and conventional discs at the rear do braking duties and are mounted to 15-inch wheels all-round. The kerb weight of the i30 is 1,198 kg and its tank capacity stands at 52 litres. Transmission is via a five-speed manual and Hyundai claim a drag coefficient of 0.27 cds for the i30.
23.Hyundai ix20
The ix20 was first unveiled at the Paris Motors Show. Adopting a new design language that Hyundai refers to as ‘fluid sculpture’, this mini-MPV joins its siblings, the Sonata, Tucson and Concept RB as part of the new design direction. There are four engine options on offer, two petrol and two diesel burners with power ranging from 75 PS to 125 PS. There are a host of safety features being offered as part of standard equipment, namely, . ESP, ABS, integrated stop and go technology (ISG), low rolling-resistance tyres, alternator management system (AMS), hill start assist and Hyundai’s own Blue Drive technology. Hyundai are also offering a five-year triple care warranty programme for the ix20. We expect it to be priced between Rs 8 and 10 lakh when it makes its way here later this year.
24.Piaggio small car
According to rumours, Italian auto giant Piaggio, who make utility vehicles in India, are planning to launch a small car in India this year. The concept car, codenamed NT3, was displayed at the EICMA Motorcycle Show in Milan. The car is 2.4 metres long with four wheels and a seating capacity of three (one front, two rear). This small car will have three power plant options – 200 cc and 300 cc internal combustion and 300 cc hybrid with fuel efficiency of over 25 km/l. This car will compete with Tata’s Nano and Bajaj’s under development small car. The price is expected to be above Rs 1,00,000.
25.McLaren MP4-12C
The world’s first view of this car was in these pages. And finally in 2011 we get to drive it. Is McLaren ready? Are we? By Chris Chilton
next year, nearly four years after CAR pulled off a massive coup – and the rug out from under McLaren – by nabbing pictures of the original 12C clay model, we will finally discover whether it has been worth the wait. 2011 will be a massive year for McLaren, beginning with deliveries of the first customer cars and culminating in the launch of a GT3 racing version and preparations for an attack on Le Mans 18 months later.
But before any of that happens, there’s still some work for McLaren’s engineers to do on the company’s first road car since the epoch-making F1. The 12C road car is essentially complete, but the engineers are busy putting thousands of miles on validation prototypes to ensure the reliability of its hydraulically interlinked suspension, seven-speed dual clutch gearbox and 600PS twin-turbo 3.8-litre V8 that will fire it to 100 km/h in just 3.2sec and on to a top speed of 322 km/h.
Also under the spotlight are the various electrical components, such as the track day telemetry system that records video footage and data of your hero laps – data that you’ll eventually be able to compare with Lewis and Jenson’s times. These VP test cars, like the first production cars that follow, have been assembled alongside the F1 cars in the production area of the existing McLaren Technology Centre, recently vacated by the unlikely-to-be-sorely-missed SLR. Once the first 100 or so (around 10% of the year’s full production) are constructed, build will switch to the new McLaren Production Centre across the lake. That’s currently just a bare shell, albeit a very stylish one, but ultimately will be tooled up to deliver 4000 cars a year by the middle of the decade. That’s why McLaren has been busy touting the 12C around the world and finalising the appointment of the last remaining dealers who will comprise a retail structure built from scratch.
But while the road car is going through its final paces, McLaren has also been busy working on a stripped-out competition version destined for GT3 racing in late 2011, and another even more extreme GT2 variant destined for Le Mans in 2013. The cars will be built by Donnington-based CRS, a company with masses of experience racing Ferrari 430s in the same classes. It’s no coincidence that former McLaren F1 Le Mans racer Chris Goodwin, the man responsible for the way the 12C road car drives, has raced Ferraris for CRS in the European GT3 championship. Something tells us he’s ridden his last horse.
26.Maserati
FIAT are bringing one of their exotic brands, the Maserati, to India. Maseratis will be available in India through a CBU import route from the first half of 2011. The models expected to be launched are the GranCabrio , GranTurismo series and the Quattroporte range of cars. Expected price range is between Rs 1 and Rs 1.5 crore. Maseratis are V8 power supercars, originally a subsidiary of Ferrari, which is a part of the FIAT group.
