South Korean automaker Hyundai has stated that they are on track to launch their new SUV model Santa Fe in the Indian market later this year.

Hyundai Santa Fe would arrive in India this coming October.

The idea is to have it on sale in the market during the holiday season to gain the maximum out of it.

Hyundai previously sold Terracan and Tuscon SUV models. Both of them failed to do well in the market.

Hyundai continues to do well in the budget segment hatchback market with their models like the Santro and i10. But is struggling to get people to buy their luxury models in India.

Even the new Sonata has failed to generate much sales for the company as customers are flocking towards rival models from Honda and Toyota.

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Yet another Nano car caught fire in the Capital today, prompting Tata Motors to say it will look into the cause of the incident, which comes three months after a company probe that declared the car “absolutely safe”.

“We will find out why this incident has taken place and, if necessary, take all requisite steps,” the company said, while reacting to a case of Nano catching fire in South Delhi.

Today’s incident was the sixth incident of a Nano catching fire since the car was commercially launched in March 2009.

“While this incident has taken place, you need to acknowledge that there are thousands of Nanos running absolutely normally,” the company said in a statement.

The six previous incidents were reported from across the country, including from Mumbai, Lucknow, Delhi and near Vadodara in Gujarat.

In May, Tata Motors had claimed that its people’s car was “absolutely safe”, saying a probe into fires that gutted a couple of brand new ‘Nanos’ by an expert team found ‘no manufacturing defects’.

“Each customer will be contacted personally for the check and we will be providing service free of cost, including additional protection, wherever required,” the company spokesperson had said then.

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After its successful launch in Europe, Mercedes-Benz will launch its premium sports coupe SLS AMG in India, possibly in the third quarter of this year. The price tag will be a hefty Rs5-Rs6 crore; much higher than Porche’s ‘ultimate super-speed car’, 911 GT2 RS, launched earlier this week at Rs1.5 crore.

The SLS AMG is built around an aluminium space frame body, and features an AMG 6.3-litre V8 front-mid-engine developing 420 kw and peak torque of 650Nm, with a 7-speed double-declutch transmission, and 19-inch front and 20-inch rear wheels. The car accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.8 seconds, and has an electronically limited top speed of 317km / h.

”The SLS will be available in India in the third quarter, though a date for the official launch has not yet been determined,” said Piyush Arora, Mercedes-Benz India director (technical) and board member. He indicated that the price of the sports car could be around three times the European price, thanks to swingeing import duty and other taxes. Despite this, more than half a dozen cars have already been booked.

Mercedes is expected to launch the right-hand drive for the car in Germany in July, after which exports to India should begin.

Mercedes may begin shipment of the CBUs earlier than six months – the time it took to launch the E-class in India. With 30-40 per cent of Mercedes sales coming from the northern region, the company expects bulk of the sales for Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG from here as well.

The growth of luxury sports car segment in India has been experiencing an upward trend. ”The Indian luxury car market is around 10,000 cars a year. However, with the economy getting stronger and purchase power and aspirations of buyers also rising, this size will also rise eventually,” said a dealer.

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