Fiat Punto Sports Launching Tomorrow

Fiat India will launch the Punto 90 HP Sports version on May 18^th, 2012. The Punto 90 HP Sports will likely be offered only in the top-end Emotion variant and may be priced Rs. 30,000 (approx.) more than the regular Punto (75 Bhp) diesel Emotion variant which is priced at Rs. 6.84 lakh.

The Punto 90 HP Sport version is expected to come with cosmetic changes like chrome accented interiors, chrome exhaust tip, specially stitched gear knob,  gear lever cover, color coded ORVMs, door sills with ‘Punto’ letters embossed and ‘Sport’ branded body decals. The 90 HP Sports version will likely be made available in three colors namely, bossa nova white, exotica red and hip hop black.

Punto Sports at Auto Expo 2012
The Punto 90 HP Sports version will be powered by a 1.3-litre Multijet diesel motor that puts out 91.7 Bhp (93 PS) of power and 209 Nm of torque unlike the ordinary Punto which is powered by a 1.3-litre Multijet diesel motor that puts out 74.9 Bhp (76 PS) of power and 197 Nm of torque.
Performance wise, the Punto 90 HP offers more power on tap but still exhibits a turbo lag below 2,000 rpm and hence to keep the engine in the power band, frequent gear shifts are needed in city driving conditions.
Out on the highway, the Punto 90 HP performs better than the Punto (75 Bhp) as it accelerates faster to reach three digit speeds and it also has a better power-to-weight ratio, improving the mileage a little. The claimed mileage of the Punto 90 HP is 20.5 Kmpl which is slightly better than the claimed mileage of Punto which is 20.3 Kmpl.
Fiat launched the Punto 90 HP in the year 2010 and the car attracted a few enthusiasts who wanted more power and torque on the Punto diesel to fully exploit its handling characteristics.  In 2012, Fiat gave a minor cosmetic facelift and launched the 2012 Punto. And now, Fiat is gearing up to launch the Punto 90 HP Sports edition on May 18^th with cosmetic upgrades, targeting enthusiasts who are looking for powerful diesel hatchbacks.

Mercedes Benz M Class

Mercedes-Benz India has launched the new 2012 M-Class SUV priced at Rs. 56.9 lakh for the ML350 CDI variant and Rs. 66 lakh for the limited AMG edition. The M-Class will be made available to customers from July 2012 onwards, while the limited edition, of which only 100 will be made, is on sale now.

The new M-Class looks clean, sharper and more elegant than its predecessor. The new M-Class is 23 mm longer and 15 mm wider than the outgoing model. The interiors of the new M-Class have many changes such as redesigned AC vents, new central console layout and refreshed instrument cluster.

The ML350 is powered by a 3-litre, six-cylinder, common-rail diesel motor that puts out 258 Bhp of power and 619 Nm of torque. The engine is mated to a 7-gtronic (7-speed) automatic transmission. The new ML 350 can accelerate from 0 – 100 Kmph in 7.4 seconds and reach a top speed of 224 Kmph.

The new M-Class comes with a long list of standard equipment such as ECO start/stop function, reversing camera, active parking assist, airmatic suspension, tail lights featuring LED fiber-optic technology, attention assist feature, memory seats, thermotronic auto climate control, media interface,  electric parking brake and electric sliding sunroof. The airmatic suspension has an auto leveling feature which keeps the vehicle at the same level no matter what load it is carrying. It also allows the driver to select various comfort settings of the suspension.

The M-Class features an all-wheel drive system with selectable low-range gearbox as well for challenging off-road conditions. It can handle tarmac and testing off-road conditions with equal ease. The M-Class will face stiff competition from the segment leader, Audi Q7 and the BMW X5.