AutoQ: Car Accessories, Battle of SUVs, New Crash Tests And More

MG Hector competes with Kia Seltos.

(Photo: MG Motor India)

AutoQ is our weekly round up of the automotive stories

1. Two Stars For Maruti Wagon-R, Hyundai Santro in Latest Crash Tests

The Maruti Suzuki Wagon-R achieved two stars for adult occupant protection and two stars for child occupant protection. Photo: Global NCAP

The results of the latest round of crash tests conducted by Global NCAP under its #safercarsforIndia program are out. In this round, four made-in-India cars were selected: the Maruti Suzuki Wagon-R, Hyundai Santro, Datsun Redigo and Maruti Suzuki Ertiga.

Global NCAP conducts its crash tests at 64 Kmph and ratings are given on a five-star scale. The Indian government has now made safety features mandatory in cars including at least a driver’s airbag, ABS, seat belt reminders (SBR) for both front seats, speed warnings and reverse parking sensors.

Car manufacturers like Maruti offer dual airbags usually on the top-end variants of its budget segment products only, while the base models get only a single airbag just to comply with the safety norms.

Read here to know how the other Indian cars fared.

2. Kia Seltos Leads Mid-size SUV Segment Sales, MG Hector Revs Up

The Kia Seltos comes with three different engine options. Photo: The Quint

While most of the auto industry has been lamenting declining sales, two new entrants to the market are raking in the cash. Kia and MG are the two brands that have started selling mid-size SUVs in the past few months, and already Kia now leads the segment with the Seltos.

The MG Hector had chalked up over 28,000 bookings within six weeks of it going on sale in July, while Kia Seltos that entered the market in August 2019 has over 60,000 bookings already.

MG has been struggling to ramp up its production, leading to long waiting times for the Hector and even a temporary stop to bookings. Meanwhile, Kia has been selling nearly three times as many Seltos SUVs in just two months.

Read the story here.

3. Bajaj-Triumph May Debut Avenger 400 to Fight Royal Enfield by 2022

Rajiv Bajaj (right) at the launch of new Bajaj Dominar. (Photo: IANS)

The first bike courtesy of the Bajaj-Triumph Motorcycles partnership in India could be the Avenger 400, and it could reportedly launch by 2022, according to media reports quoting Rajiv Bajaj on the sidelines of an event in Delhi.

Bajaj, the Pune-based two-wheeler manufacturer had announced a non-equity partnership with Triumph Motorcycles in August 2017 and was highly expected to showcase its first product by the end of 2020, but it looks like this has been pushed for a later date.

The report further claims that Bajaj and Triumph are currently eyeing the sub-500cc segment, most likely to compete with Royal Enfield, where it has been selling the Classic 350 series in big numbers for many years now. This suggests that Bajaj will want to rechristen its Avenger series, with a 400 or 500 variant, to launch a cruiser bike in the market.

Read the story here.

4. Five Essential Accessories Every New Car Buyers Should Consider

While cars have infotainment systems that integrate with mobile phones, many don’t have dedicated phone holders.Photo: iStock, altered by The Quint

Cars these days come with a lot of standard features and gadgets. What were once considered accessories, such as reverse parking sensors or infotainment systems are now mostly standard features.

Buyers who pick the top variants of most cars above Rs 7 lakh are likely to get cars that don’t require much by way of accessories. However, there are some essential accessories that every car buyer would need, whether it is an entry-level car or a luxury car.

To make things easier, we’ve crafted a list of such products and read the story here to know more.