June 19 - India got its first hybrid car on Wednesday with Honda rolling out a petrol-electric version of its Civic sedan. The car will be more eco-friendly and fuel efficient (for its class) than any other in the market but will remain a niche product, the Times of India reported.

With a price tag of Rs 21.5 lakhs (approximately US$500,000) twice the price of the petrol Civic, it virtually makes the country’s search for green and fuel-efficient options a non-starter.

 May 16 - The Indian car crazed consumer has never had it so good before. The Indian automobile landscape is sporting the best and the cheapest. And the icing on the cake, is the marriage between technology and price. Automobiles will be powered with the best technology yet sport most consumer-friendly price tags. From a four-wheeler, coming at meagre price of Rs 1 lakh (US$2,350) to the high-speed luxury super bikes that will lighten you purse of Rs 50 lakh (US$120,000). The Indian market is ready to nurture these new age mean machines and get used to the variety in price ranges, reports the Economic Times.

Experts believe that with a wide variety of options, for customers price will become the most important deciding factor and only then can auto makers garner volumes. So the niche bikes are expected to garner annual sales of only 3,000 units annually in India. As far as the Nano story goes, the number of customers opting to drive around in it could be in lakhs. “While the high-priced bikes would satisfy the niche segment, Tata Motors’ product would be commuter-driven.  

May 13 - Close on the heels of the Tata's US$2,500 Nano announcement, Nissan Motor Co. of Japan and its French partner Renault SA will form a joint venture with Indian motorcycle maker Bajaj Auto Ltd. to produce a minicar in India that will cost as little as $2,500 reported the Wall Street Journal.

The budget car, which would cost 100,000 rupees in India, is so far only known as "Codename ULC." The joint venture would be 50 percent owned by Bajaj Auto, 25 percent by Renault and 25 percent by Nissan, a statement said.

The ULC will be produced at a factory to be built at Chakan, Maharashtra, in western India. It will eventually produce 400,000 units a year, the two groups said. Mr. Ravikumar, Bajaj Auto's vice president in charge of business development said the car will be exported using the global sales network of Nissan and Renault.

 April. 7 - Foreseeing an energy crisis in the near future, India is expected to spend US$300 billion on oil exploration and production over the next five to seven years M.S. Srinivasan, the Oil Ministry's top official told Bloomberg on Sunday.

The exploration and production business will become a US$5.2 trillion industry in the next five to seven years, Srinivasan told reporters in Mumbai. India, Asia's third-biggest oil consumer, is competing with countries such as Nigeria to attract exploration by global producers as domestic output falls.

The South Asian nation, the world's fastest-growing major economy after China, depends on imports for 70 percent of its oil needs.

 Apr. 1 -  Two of India's heavy weight auto makers seperately announced on Monday that they would be pumping in Rs 75 billion (US$1.9 billion) into India's already booming auto sector.

While Ratan Tata controlled Tata Motors pledged to invest Rs 60 billion (US$1.5 billion) into ramping up their existing manufactuing unit and building a vehicle testing facility over 4-5 years at Chakan, near Mumbai, Mahindra & Mahindra promised the Maharashtra government they would invest Rs 15 billion (US$375 million) in addition to to the Rs 25 billion (US$625 million) that they have already earmarked to make commercial vehicles at a greenfield site at Chakan. The total sum of Rs. 40 billion (US$1 billion) will be utilized towards the development and production of all vehicles slated to be rolled out from the proposed Greenfield.

The investment by Tata Motors is the single largest investment by the automobile sector in the state.

Mar. 26 - Making auto history yet again, Ratan Tata inked a multi-billion-dollar deal with ailing U.S. automaker Ford to buy luxury British icons Jaguar and Land Rover. Signed and seal on Tuesday the deal will be officially delivered to the press on Wednesday. Both Jaguar and Land Rover are expected to be sold to Tata Motors for US$2.3 billion.

Tata Motors is India's top vehicles maker, controlling more than half of the country's truck market and nearly 20 percent of its passenger car market, and is keen to expand beyond Asia. With this latest acquisition Tata motors is positioned to cater to Indians across economic strata’s, placing himself in the unusual position of making two of the world's most prestigious brands along with its least costly cars (Nano).