Coming in 2015: Sports car Edition

2014 has been a year of growth in the Indian automobile industry with manufacturers from around the world expanding their India line-ups, significantly. The next year is expected to be more of the same, though manufacturers are going to offer more choices, including launching more performance oriented models, something that the Indian market has a serious dearth of.

2015 Audi TT

The last generation TT, launched internationally in 2006, was sold in India and had a decent amount of takers. With the new generation, the German brand has made a serious effort to bring back the excitement of the original. Looking much sharper than the last gen model, the new TT will come with a 2.0-litre TFSI motor in two states of tune; 227bhp and 306bhp, and while a 181bhp 2-litre TDI engine is on offer abroad, it won’t be available in India. The petrol mill will come mated to a six-speed S tronic transmission and Audi’s quattro all-wheel-drive system. A low kerb of 1230kg should make this sports car a firecracker on the road. Expect a price tag north of Rs 55 lakh (ex-showroom, Mumbai).

2015 BMW M3

We knew that BMW India would be launching more M versions, and here is the M3, priced at Rs 1.19 crore. This is the fifth-generation of the M3, M division engineers laboring over it for four years to make for one of the most extensively developed M cars ever. Like it’s Coupe sibling (see below), both the M3 and M4 look like aggressive beasts, staining at the leash. The new twin turbo 3.0-litre inline-six is brilliant, cranking out 425bhp and 550Nm of torque which peaks at an incredibly low 1850rpm and stays flat all the way to 5500rpm. This is transmitted to the rear wheels via a dual clutch automatic, while the engines driving modes are switchable at any time. The M3’s pricing may be a bit much but one has to remember that it has been brought to India in completely built units.

2015 BMW M4 Coupe

Like its sedan sibling, the M4 Coupe was launched recently, priced at Rs 1.22 crore due to the fact that it is a CBU. Besides the lack of rear doors and a slightly different roof line, the M4 is virtually a clone of the M3. A serious improvement in terms of weight and rigidity over the last generation M3 Coupe, the M4 Coupe gets the same twin-turbo 3.0-litre inline-six producing 425bhp and 550Nm of torque. The M3 finds a rival in the Mercedes-AMG C63 while the M4 rivals the Audi RS 5 and the Porsche 911 Carrera.

2015 BMW M5

BMW has had an M launching spree in India, and it started with the 2015 M5, priced at Rs 1.35 crore, ex-showroom pan-India, and brought in via the CBU route. At the heart of the M5 is a twin-turbocharged 4.4-litre V8 engine that peaks at 552bhp between 6000 and 7000rpm, and churns out 680Nm of torque from just 1500rpm. Power is sent to the rear wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, (we won’t get the six-speed manual as yet). Equipped with the dual-clutch, the M5 sprints from 0 to 100kmph in 4.3 seconds, and continues on to a top speed that is electronically limited to 250kmph.The 2015 M5 will go up against the 557bhp Mercedes-AMG E 63 (priced at Rs 1.29 crore ex-showroom, Mumbai) and the 553bhp Audi RS 7, costing Rs 1.31 crore, ex-showroom Mumbai.

2015 DC Avanti

India’s first real sportscar, it has been the buzz of the town for over a year. Slated to launch in early 2015 at a price of approximately Rs 35 lakh, the mid-engined sportscar will be powered by a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged engine, which makes 248bhp, and 241Nm of torque. The Renault sourced engine is mated to a six-speed manual transmission that sends power to the rear wheels. The space frame chassis is a relatively heavier one adding to make for a kerb weight of 1562kg, and may blunt performance, but DC does claim a 0–100kmph time of about 7 seconds. With price tag north of Rs 30 lakh for a mid-engined sportscar, the Avanti doesn’t really have any rivals in India, though from a price-to-sportiness perspective, its competition would include the Fiat Abarth 595 Competizione, Mini Cooper S, and Audi’s TT.

2016 Jaguar F-type AWD

We’ve all read and heard enormous amounts about the F-type, everything from the ‘good to be bad’ campaign starring Tom Hiddleston, to its ballistic

The range-topping F-type R Coupé is powered by Jaguar’s 5.0-litre supercharged V8 engine in 543bhp/680Nm tune, delivering acceleration to 100kmph in 4.2-seconds, and a top speed of 300kmph (electronically limited).

The F-type S Coupé and F-type Coupé are powered by Jaguar’s 3.0-litre V6 supercharged petrol engines in 376bhp/460Nm and 335bhp/450Nm tunes respectively, enabling 0–100kmph times of 4.9/5.3-seconds, and top speeds of 275/260kmph.

The 2016 model will come with an all-wheel drive, standard on 543bhp F-Type R. AWD will be optional on mid-level F-Type S models, which run the 376bhp V6. The system sends all of the supercharged engine’s torque to the rear axle in default mode, but it can also be split with up to 50 per cent going to the front axle when needed. Jaguar has even added subtle visual differentiators to the the AWD models, fitting them with body-coloured sills and a new hood design. The penalty is that the AWD system adds almost 80kg to the curb weight. The expected price for the V6 S is Rs 1.28 crore while the V8 R should be Rs 1.70 crore. The AWD versions will obviously come at a premium.

2015 Mercedes-AMG GT

This one has also been doing the rounds with everyone asking if it’ll finally knock the Porsche 911 off its pedestal. Also rivaling the Jaguar F-type, the GT and GT S get the same twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 motor, though the GT gets it in a 456bhp/600Nm tune, while the GT S gets it in a 503bhp/650Nm tune. Both trims have their engines mated to seven-speed dual clutch transmissions that deliver power to the rear wheels. The GT does the 0–100kmph run in about 4 seconds and hits a top whack of 304kmph while the more powerful GT S shaves 0.2 seconds off in the 0–100kmph run and can reach 310kmph. Expect an ex-showroom price tag of about Rs 1.8 crore for the base GT, and a Rs 2.0 crore tag for the GT S.

2015 Mercedes-AMG C63

The second car from the German manufacturer to drop the Benz surname, the Mercedes-AMG C63, had been unveiled before its official debut at the 2014 Paris Motor Show. There, they showcased the all-new Mercedes-AMG C63, and a higher-output C63 S.

The big news is that the 2015 C63 finally cedes natural aspiration in favour of turbocharging. A pair of turbos are strapped in the V of the new 3,982cc M177 power unit, both smaller and lighter than the old 6.2-litre. Predictably, it’s also more efficient than before — by 32 per cent — and out-punches the old engine too. As standard, the C63 now produces 469bhp between 5500–6250rpm and 650Nm plateau between 1750–4500rpm. In S form, those numbers climb to a 503bhp power peak (3bhp more than the outgoing Edition 507 range-topper) and 700Nm. All this is sent to the rear wheels via a revised version of AMG’s Speedshift MCT 7-speed automatic (now with quicker shifts) and a locking diff — mechanical in the C63, electronic in the C63 S. The C63 saloon reaches 62mph in 4.1 seconds — one tenth quicker than the Edition 507 — while the C63 S is a tenth quicker still.

While the C63 S version may not come to India, we expect the standard C63 to be priced on-par with its rivals (the BMW M3) at around Rs 1.3 crore.

2015 Nissan GT-R

Yes, the Godzilla is coming to India next year and we couldn’t be more excited. The R35 model boasts of the same 3.8-litre V6 twin-turbo that punches out a meaty 542bhp and 630Nm of peak torque. Power is delivered to all four wheels, while rapid shifts are taken care of by a six-speed dual clutch transmission. o-100kmph in 3 seconds and a top speed of 310kmph means that this Japanese sportscar will be more than a match for its more expensive rivals. It’s expected to cost upwards of Rs 2 crore and compete against the Porsche 911 Carrera 4 (and 4S), Ferrari 458 Italia , and the Audi’s R8.