OnCars India Buzz: 8 June 2012

- Two days ago we reported that finance ministry was mulling additional taxes on diesel cars, to curb usage by private vehicles. As expected, the automobile industry has opposed the move, citing it will affect the growth and investment in auto sector.

- Till now, only the mass market carmakers were complaining about the slack in sales; however, even the luxury carmakers like BMW are worried about slow down. At the launch of new Mini showroom in Delhi, the German manufacturer has confirmed that they are expecting 20 per cent growth this year, as against 45 per cent in 2011-12.

- We caught the new Tata Indica XL on test. This extra large hatchback with the passenger cabin from the Indigo is mainly for the taxi market. Click Here for photos and more details of the Tata India XL.

- The Italian supercar maker, Ferrari has requested filmmaker Vidhu Vindo Chopra for a special screening of their new movie ‘Ferrari ki Sawaari’. Ferrari wants to ensure that their brand is depicted in the right way in the film that releases on June 15.

- And it seems that the bankrupt Swedish carmaker, Saab, is finally sold. No it is neither Mahindra, nor any of the Chinese companies. If the reports are to be believed Swedish company called the ‘National Electric Vehicle Sweden AB’ has taken over the operations. Official confirmations are expected later this month.

- Even though there are hardly any details to be revealed of the new European 2013 Skoda Rapid, the Czech carmaker has now released teaser images to give us a bit more clarity on the parts that were under tapping.

- Volvo plans to take on the Mercedes C63 and BMW M3 with the Polestar Race tuned version of the S60 sedan. They have already built a performance concept road legal car and are currently evaluating the development of the S60 for racing.