Volvo bus service from Delhi to Manali : prices and timings

Manali is one of the most happening hill stations in North India and no wonder, it sees thousands of tourists coming in each weekend. Volvo buses have been operating on this route for several years and now, close to a dozen Volvo / Isuzu high end buses leave Delhi for Manali every day.

Here is a list of all the Volvo buses, their seat cost and timings
These are (sorted price wise and vary in season)

Himachal Volvo Tour bus : Rs 875.
Departs at 5pm

Dev Travel Volvo bus : Rs 875
Departs at 5pm

Manali Mail Volvo bus : Rs 875
Departs at 5pm

Royal Travels Volvo bus : Rs 875
Departs at 5:15pm

New Himachal Holiday Tour Volvo bus : Rs 875
Departs at 5:15pm

Royal Travels Isuzu bus : Rs 875
Departs at 5:30pm

Heera Himachal Holidays Volvo bus : Rs 875
Departs at 5:30pm

Raj Himachal Holidays Volvo bus : Rs 875
Departs at 6pm

Himachal Holiday India Volvo bus : Rs 875
Departs at 6pm

Himalaya Volvo bus : Rs 875
Departs at 6pm

Heera Himachal Holidays Volvo bus 2 : Rs 875
Departs at 6pm

Rana Volvo bus : Rs 875
Departs at 6:30pm

Apsara Holidays tours Volvo bus : Rs 875
Departs at 6:30pm

Blue World travels Volvo bus : Rs 875
Departs at 6:45pm

Zimindara Travels Volvo bus : Rs 925
Departs at 5pm

JBG Tour and travels Volvo bus : Rs 1050 and 1099
Departs at 5:15pm and 5:30pm

Swagatam Travels Volvo bus : Rs 1050 and Rs 1150
Departs at 5:40pm and 5pm

Continental Travels Volvo bus : Rs 1050
Departs at 6pm

City Land travels Volvo bus : Rs 1050
Departs at 6:30pm and 7pm

Laxmi Holiday Volvo bus : Rs 1050
Departs at 6:30pm

Toyota's Innovative International Multi-purpose Vehicle – IMV sales cross 5 million!

Toyota Motor Corporation, Japan today announced that the (Innovative International Multi-purpose Vehicle) IMV Series Vehicle Cumulative Global Production and Sales crossed 5 million units.

Toyota initiated the IMV project to create an optimized global manufacturing and supply system for pick-up truck, minivan, and SUV to cater to the market demand in more than 140 countries and regions worldwide.

Under the IMV project Toyota manufactures diesel engines in Thailand, gasoline engines in Indonesia and manual transmissions in India and the Philippines. These are supplied to the countries manufacturing vehicles on the IMV platform.


The IMV series vehicles are manufactured in 11 locations across the globe. For vehicle assembly, Toyota will use plants in Thailand, Indonesia, Argentina and South Africa. These are four main IMV production bases that also export IMV vehicles.

Hilux, Innova and Fortuner are the vehicles manufactured on the IMV platform are Innova and Fortuner are the two models from the IMV series that are manufactured in India.

Commenting on the IMV vehicles in India Mr. Hiroshi Nakagawa, Managing Director, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) said “We are very happy to have touched the record 5million mark in global production and sales of the IMV series vehicles. India is one of the leading IMV countries and has played an important role in the success of the IMV project. This underlines the faith that Indian customers have placed in the Innova and Fortuner through the years, that has translated into its
success in India.

“The Innova and Fortuner like all IMV series vehicles are designed to provide unprecedented satisfaction in terms of comfort, styling, handling, safety, fuel economy, and environmental sensitivity. The New Innova and New Fortuner have been very well received. The Innova and Fortuner are very successful models in India. Innova achieved cumulative sales of around 3, 28,000 units since its launch in 2005 and Fortuner around 30,000 units since its launch in 2009 added Mr. Sandeep Singh, Deputy Managing Director – Marketing, TKM .

Rakesh Srivastava appointed VP National Sales at Hyundai

Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) has appointed Mr. Rakesh Srivastava as Vice President National Sales. Prior to joining HMIL, Mr. Srivastava was Chief General Manager at Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. where he served for 15 years. An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad he has 24 years of experience, he has also worked in Goodlass Nerolac Paints Ltd and GTC Industries Ltd.
Commenting on Mr. Srivastava’s appointment, Mr. Arvind Saxena, Director - Marketing and Sales HMIL said, “We welcome Mr. Srivastava to HMIL. With his extensive knowledge of the industry we are confident that he will ably contribute with his experience in his new role.”

Bajaj to discontinue the Pulsar 220S

We have been reporting that the current line up of Pulsar range of bikes will not be discontinued when the all new generation of Pulsar debuts with the launch of the 200NS. However, the current bikes will be discontinued over the period of time to make way for more modern machines. Now, the 220F is the flagship bike of the Pulsar series, the F referring to the quarter fairing. We also saw the 220S where S stood for Street Fighter and the bike sported similar looks to the now defunct 200 DTSi. Without the bigger fairing and the 55W projector headlamps, Bajaj was able to offer a powerful machine at a great price point. However, recently, we never saw too many 220S on roads and now, a popular bike website says that the 220S might be discontinued. This is being said owing to the fact that Bajaj’s official website has no mention of the 220S in the bike manufacturer’s product portfolio. Some other sources too say that the production of the 220S has now been discontinued. It may be noted that the launch of the next gen Pulsar-200 NS is just round the car and it might be a matter of few months before the remaining of the Pulsar bikes get discontinued.
Via - motoroids.com

Continental's Safer, Less Stressful Reversing

Accidents when moving into or out of parking spaces drive up insurance companies’ costs; reversing out of a parking space often leads to serious accidents involving personal injuries. When reversing out, the usual reason for these accidents is because drivers either fail to see a vehicle or cyclist approaching from the side or they see them too late. In order to avoid such accidents, Continental, the international automotive supplier, has developed an electronic aid for this maneuver as part of its ContiGuard® safety concept. The Rear Cross Traffic Alert (RCTA) system uses the same radar infrastructure used for detecting vehicles in the blind spot (Blind Spot Detection (BSD)). The BSD sensors have been suitably upgraded in order to be able to meet the requirement for greater precision. "This new driver assistance system makes use of our unique signal processing capability which has been upgraded so as to offer additional functions. Multiple use of the sensor hardware makes new advanced driver assistance systems more economical. And the more vehicles which are fitted with these systems, the safer our roads will become overall", said Wolfgang Fey, director development advanced driver assistance systems of Continental's Chassis & Safety Division. Initial series production of the new RTCA advanced driver assistance system is planned for 2013.
Like today's BSD systems, the 'Rear Cross Traffic Alert' (RCTA) is based on two short-range radar sensors. These two eyes, which are not visible behind the plastic bumper at the right and left rear corners of the vehicle, can each monitor a 120 degree angle. In addition to the BSD function, this relatively wide arc can also be used to detect vehicles crossing behind. This assumes, of course, that the vehicle is fitted with Continental's powerful radar sensors, which generate a precise image of the vehicle surrounding.

This is why Continental has specifically upgraded its existing BSD sensors and made them more accurate. "The challenge for an electronic aid like the RTCA is being able to reliably calculate the collision trajectory of the crossing vehicle", explained Norbert Hammerschmidt, head of advanced driver assistance systems customer programs. "What we need is precise data on the crossing vehicle's direction and speed and how far away it is. The new sensor generation provides us with this basic data. If it assesses a collision between the vehicles as probable, the system will warn the driver."

In the current demonstration vehicle configuration, the RTCA is designed to detect cars, motorcycles and bicycles that are within at least 35 meters and traveling at a speed of somewhere between 5 km/h and up to around 30 km/h. It will detect pedestrians, but only those who are walking quickly and directly towards the vehicle will trigger the warning. One of the RTCA's technical subtleties is that it can also detect vehicles which are turning while passing behind. If the advanced driver assistance system detects an imminent collision, a warning will sound and LEDs will light up in the interior rear view mirror to alert the driver. The warning strategy employed can, of course, be modified in agreement with the vehicle manufacturer. One possibility might be an additional warning light in the rear roof lining, for example. Another possible action could be for the vehicle's brakes to be automatically applied.

MINI launched in India - prices explained

MINI is at home in 99 countries. And India is the 100th country that MINI will now make its home. MINI is now available in India as a Completely Built-up Unit (CBU) in MINI Hatch, MINI Convertible and MINI Countryman range in powerful and efficient petrol variants with six-speed automatic transmission.

Dr. Andreas Schaaf, President, BMW Group India said, “With the launch of MINI, we have brought the world’s most exciting premium small car brand to India. MINI is more than just a car – it is a personality on wheels – a fashion statement – and a way of life. MINI expresses a whole generation’s approach to life – it is extrovert, open and full of zest in life. No other brand exhibits the attributes and essence of a modern urban lifestyle like MINI and there is no doubt that it is one of the world’s most emotional auto brands.”

“By launching the new MINI ten years ago, we created the world’s first premium small car brand in the world. With MINI our approach was: ‘From the Original to the Original’. Since then, we have sold over 2 million MINIs and converted the MINI brand from a single-model offer to a family of six models. Three of them, namely the MINI Hatch, the MINI Convertible and the MINI Countryman are now available in India. Our main focus this year will be to concentrate on successfully establishing the MINI brand in India.” Dr. Andreas Schaaf further added.

Infinity Cars, the first exclusive showroom has been launched in Mumbai. The new MINI showroom is located at Linking Road. The customers will now get an opportunity to experience MINI in the new showroom which will display upto five cars.

The ex-showroom prices of the new MINI cars in India are as follows –

MINI Cooper : INR 25,50,000

MINI Cooper S : INR 28,60,000

MINI Cooper Convertible : INR 30,70,000

MINI Cooper S Countryman : INR 32,80,000

MINI Cooper S Countryman High : INR 35,90,000

Mahindra Duro Diesel price and review

Mahindra launched the new Duro DZ in the Indian market a few months back and followed up with a strong video campaign of the same. This featured Kareen Kapoor and the way she speaks the word DZ, it seems she is saying Diesel.
This is the same reason why most of us feel that Mahindra makes a diesel Duro and hence the huge myth about this. The fact is that Mahindra doesnt make a diesel Duro and only a petrol one.
The petrol Mahindra Duro sells for Rs 42332 (ex-showroom Delhi) and it comes with a 8Bhp 125cc engine that puts out 9Nm of torque.

Changes at Robert Bosch GmbH and Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand KG

Following 50 years with Bosch, in which he held a number of important positions in the company, Professor Dr.-Ing. Hermann Scholl is to resign from office effective June 30, 2012. At the same time, he will retire from Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand KG.


Hermann Scholl was made a junior member of the board of management in 1973 and a full member in 1975. He chaired the board of management until 2003. He has been the chairman of the supervisory council since 2003. He joined Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand KG as a shareholder in 1993, becoming a general partner in 1995. Since 2000, he has also been chairman of the shareholders’ meeting. The shareholders and the supervisory council extolled the outstanding work Hermann Scholl has done in his many years with the company. The shareholders of Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand KG have decided to confer the title “Honorary Chairman of the Bosch Group” on Scholl.


Effective June 30, 2012, Franz Fehrenbach, who has been a member of the board of management since 1999 and its chairman since 2003, will step down from the board of management. Following a resolution of the shareholders of Robert Bosch GmbH, he will join the supervisory council of Robert Bosch GmbH effective July 1, 2012. The supervisory council has elected him its chairman as of July 1, 2012. At Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand KG, of which he has been a shareholder since 2003, Fehrenbach will in future be a general partner and take over the chair of the shareholders’ meeting.

The shareholders’ meeting and the supervisory council thanked Fehrenbach for the nine extremely successful years in which he had been chairman of the Bosch board of management.


Effective July 1, 2012, Dr. rer.nat. Volkmar Denner (55) has been appointed the new chairman of the Bosch board of management. Volkmar Denner joined Robert Bosch GmbH in 1986, and has been a member of the board of management since 2006. Before he joined the board of management, Denner, who has a doctorate in physics, was president of the Automotive Electronics division from 2003. On the board of management, he was initially responsible for the Automotive Electronics, Car Multimedia, Starter Motors and Generators, and Electrical Drives divisions. Since July 1, 2010, he has been responsible for the Corporate Sector Research and Advance Engineering, for product planning and technology coordination, and for the “user experience” issue across all three business sectors. In addition, he is responsible for the Automotive Electronics and Car Multimedia divisions. Effective July 1, 2012, Denner will also join Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand KG as a shareholder.

For a number of years, Denner has focused on the issue of dynamic technological change and the opportunities arising for Bosch from services and solutions that are increasingly web-enabled. One example of this is vehicle interconnectivity.

Effective July 1, 2012, Dr.-Ing Dirk Hoheisel (53) will join the Bosch board of management. A qualified electrical engineer, Hoheisel has been with Bosch since 1990, and has held various engineering positions. Hoheisel is currently Executive Vice President Engineering at Chassis Systems Control in Abstatt, near Stuttgart. From July 1, 2012, Hoheisel will be the board of management member responsible for Automotive Electronics and Car Multimedia.