“Form is temporary but class is permanent” collection of words often used to describe a legendary cricketer who come back from a series of failure. It applies to Pulsar too. While the bike dominated the upper segment of the indian two wheeler market like never before from 2002 to 2007. The advent of Yamaha’s R15 put the pulsar mania to back burner. As the pulsar, Bajaj Auto too hit the downhill last year.  Bajaj redevised its strategy and has come up with an all new Pulsar 220cc. Can the new pulsar revive the glory. We check out!

Bajaj Pulsar 220cc: Visually there is no spot-on difference except the contemporary all black styling.  The new pulsar retains the ready-to-attack stance of its siblings. The quarter fairing and split seats gives a distinct look. Even after being in the market for months, pulsar 220cc stills grabs eyeballs. The wolf pilot lamps and projector headlamp are not just styling elements but lightens your way even in no moon day. The side and rear profile remains unchanged. The much expected carbon fibre diffuser has not made into the new pulsar 220cc. More styling upgrades could be a welcome change but still Pulsar 220cc looks good.

Pictures of Bajaj Pulsar 220cc

Bajaj Pulsar 220cc: The four stroke, air-cooled engine pumps out 21.04 of peal power at 8500rpm and maximum torque of 19.1 at 7500 rpm. These figures are marginally higher than the old one.  But the biggest change is in the fuel delivery system. Bajaj’s first fuel injected system is gone and paves way for proven carburation system.  Pulsar 220cc mill now respires through 32 venturi carburettor. The engine is mated with a five speed transmission.

Bajaj Pulsar 220cc: Switch on the ignition key, press the electric start button (again no kick lever), the engine starts with a typical twin sprk hum.   The engine is rev-friendly and the tacho needle easily touches 11000rpm.  The exhaust note becomes raucous as the engine touches the red line. Bajaj’s patented exhausTEC chamber is bigger and the silencer houses a catalytic converter.

The absence of fuel injection is felt, there is sudden surge in power few times and the power delivery is not uniform. But the larger motor pulls away effortlessly even in higher gear. But the engine needs to be revved over 2500rpm for more enthusuastic response. The pulsar 22occ touches 60kmph in 4 seconds and 100kmph in 13 seconds. The fastest indian (as the Bajaj claims) hits top whack of 135kmph. Bajaj has also optimised the gear ratio to achieve this top speed. On the flip side, the oil cooling is not enough to cool the blistering heat emanating from the engine. Wear jeans or get ready to burn your  thighs.

Bajaj Pulsar 220cc: uses telescopic fork at the front and gas charged suspension at the rear.  Bajaj’s trademark ride quality is compromised for the sake of hanlding. The ride is stifff blame those hard split seats. The ergonomics is perfect for racy drivers on Indian roads.

Bajaj Pulsar 220cc: 260mm disc at the front and 230mm disc at the rear works in tandem to stop this beast. The bike comes to halt from 60 to stand still in just 6 seconds. Tyres use soft compound for better grip at higher speeds. 17″ alloy rims on 90/90 at the front and 120/80 is retained.  The front biased pulsar is nimble and keep the rider involving at all speeds. Though it could have better aerodynamics (the wind blows right at the riders chest) the strightline stability and cornering chracter is impeccable.  Wheelie and stoppie are cakewalk.

Bajaj Pulsar 220cc: Like any other Bajaj’s product, pulsar 220cc comes packed with list of usable features – digital speedo, split seats,split grab rail, clip-on handle bar, 3D chiselled logo, handlebar weights, projector headlamps and fairing mounted rear view mirrors.

Bajaj Pulsar 220cc: is available in four colours – blue,black,red and silver. New Pulsar 220cc costs Rs79,480 (on-road Chennai) which means nearly Rs12,000 cheaper than the Pulsar 220cc FI and 25 grand than Yamaha’s R15.

Verdict: After the test drive, when we sat to discuss about the performance of the bike. Someone said this is best pulsar Bajaj has ever built. Another objected by saying the new pulsar 220cc is good but R15 still holds the edge. Hope you got the verdict!

Chennai-based Bavina Cars India Ltd on Friday received the allotment letter for its battery-powered car plant in Ranipet. Bavina Cars has committed to invest Rs 300 crore in this project.

Mr M.K. Stalin, the Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu handed over the allotment letter to Mr S. Rajasekar, Chairman of Bavina Cars. The company will be setting up a manufacturing facility in the 100-acre plot in the SEZ (special economic zone).

The plant will produce Tamilnadu’s first electric car. Commercial production of the cars will commence from January 2011. The plant will produce 25,000 cars per year.

Bavina’s is the second battery-powered car production unit in the country after Bangalore’s well known Reva Electric Car Co.

Car maker Nissan Motor India on Thursday announced that it has reduced the prices of its products, the Teana sedan and the X-Trail sports utility vehicles by Rs 5,000. The prices of these model cars are reduced following the Budget’s proposal to reduce the excise duty on big cars.The price cut will be effective immediately.

The Union Budget, last week has proposed to reduce the additional excise duty on big cars with engine capacities of 2,000 cc and above by Rs 5,000 per unit. The positive direction taken by the government is a welcome one and most of the carmakers in India have decided to pass on the entire benefit to their customers.

Nissan would now offer its sports utility vehicle, the Nissan X-Trail Comfort with a price tag of Rs. 20,35,000 and the Nissan X-Trail Elegance with a price tag of Rs. 24,65,000. The luxury sedan Teana will come with a reduced price of Rs. 21,42,000. All prices mentioned here are ex-showroom Delhi.

The Indian unit of Sweden’s luxury car maker Volvo Car India on Thursday said it has reduced the price of its flagship XC90 sport-utility vehicle by 7-8.5 per cent (about Rs 4 lakh) to boost sales.

The new rates of the XC90 D5 is Rs 42.5 lakh, while the XC90 32 will be available for Rs 43.5 lakh and the XC90 V8 at Rs 49.5 lakh and this will be in effect from July 9.

India holds tremendous potential for Volvo brand and the company has decided to make use of the opportunities available. Volvo is also planing to provide the best possible services for the customers at the best value at the most competitive prices.

To make the total number of dealerships in the country to seven, the company has announced opening of new dealerships at Pune and Chennai.

As the additional duty excise reduction was announced in the Budget on July 6, other car makers including Hindustan Motors, Ford India, Honda Siel Cars India and Hyundai Motor India recently announced price a cut of up to Rs 6,000 on some of their models.

As you read it first at vicky.in few days back, Bajaj auto will launch the Discover 100cc soon. However contrary to 12th July, Discover 100cc will hit the market on 27th July.  “Our 100 cc ‘Discover’ will compete with Splendor and Passion,” Bajaj Auto two wheeler CEO, S Sridhar said. “We are launching this 100 cc bike with DTS-Si. This 100 cc bike will give a mileage of 80 km per litre and run for 100 km in a day,” he said. Bajaj will commence the production of this bike on July17th.

Utility and tractor major Mahindra & Mahindra is stepping up plans to launch diesel-powered pick-up trucks in the US.
The company has tied up with US’ biggest vehicle distributor Global Vehicles to sell the brand.

The company’s diesel-powered pick-ups had slow sales in South Africa, where they were launched in 2006. Compared to that, US is a mature market and the company wants to cash in on the opportunity created by the disinterest of global majors.

By competitively pricing its products in the American market, M&M plans to launch the diesel-powered two-door and four-door pick-up trucks. The SUV will be based on the Scorpio platform, completely redesigned for the US according to the stringent emission norms and badged differently. As the US is a brand-conscious market and M&M is little-known there, the company will initially target the vehicles at the ‘green consumers, tractor customers and the Indian expatriates in the US’.

Initially, the vehicles will land in the US as completely-knocked-down units. The company has a plan to make local assembling units when the sales go high.
M&M is yet to decide on the pricing, production targets and advertising spends for the US market.

Hyundai Motors India Limited on Wednesday said that it is offering a Rs 5,000 price cut on its iconic premium sedan Sonata Transform following the excise duty cut.

The government had proposed to reduce the additional excise duty on big cars with engine capacities of 2,000 cc and above by Rs 5,000 per unit in the Budget for 2009-10.

The Sonata Transform is a premium car with all the options and it had always catered to customers who looked for the ultimate luxury without having to pay exorbitantly for it. Following the price cut, the 2.4 litre Sonata Transform will now be available at Rs. 13,84,448 (ex-showroom, Delhi).

Hyundai’s price cut comes on the heels of similar cuts by other auto players including Hindustan Motors, Ford India and Honda Siel Cars India. As vicky.in already reported you, other auto makers like BMW, General Motors India and Toyota Kirloskar Motor have also said that they would pass on the benefits of the excise cut to customers.

Pictures of Hero Honda Karizma Fuel Injection (FI)

Finally the much awaited Karizma FI might be here soon. As we reported to you earlier, new Karizma might come with Fuel Injection engine. The power rating are not known, but expect some good news from Hero Honda. Apart from the engine the new Karizma FI gets a full fairing, fairing mounted turn indicators, rear disc brake,clip-on handlebars and split grab rail. The new Karizma will also get exclusive colours and expect a modest price hike.

Pic Courtesy: Anonymous reader