• Volkswagen India have launched the 2012 race Polo that will run for the Polo Cup season. The new car Polo R has a 1.4 litre 180bhp petrol engine mated to a 6 -speed sequential paddle shift gear-box, a significant development over the outgoing version.

• Indian racing prodigee Aditya Patel has won the Nurburgring 24 hours event with his team Pro Handicap e.V. driving the iconic Audi TTS in Germany.
• Market analysts IHS Automotive and Cyrrus AS have derived that it would be better for Fiat to tie-up with Suzuki after the Tata-Fiat JV ended earlier this month. With a lot to gain for Fiat and not much for the market leader Suzuki except for the engines, we wonder if Maruti Suzuki would be open for such an alliance. Globally though, the alliance could be a win -win with Suzuki going ahead to break-up with Volkswagen and Fiat's acquisition of Chrysler.
• Fiat auctioned its first car of the limited edition Fiat 500 America series via Twitter. German Twitter user Adelheid D. Keiper won the number one car of the limited edition series with the winning tweet for 15,165 Euros.
• The 1991 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato Sanction II coupe, one of the only four ever made, was sold for $10.3 million i.e. about Rs 54 crore at the Bonhams auction yesterday.

The CarWale Daily Fuel is your quick daily dose of automotive news from India and around the world. If you want to know whatever's in the news but want it short and sweet, here's your solution.

The CarWale Daily Fuel is your quick daily dose of automotive news from India and around the world. If you want to know whatever's in the news but want it short and sweet, here's your solution.

Bentley announces 60 units of a special edition Mulsanne Jubilee to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond jubilee. A special red, white and blue theme will run through the interiors to highlight Bentley’s Britishness will be showcased at the Beijing Auto show.

Land Rover to unveil the special edition Land Rover, announced in 2011 with Victoria Beckham, at the upcoming Beijing Auto show.

 The new 1-series M from BMW has been seen testing at the Nurburgring track. Named the M135i, it is powered by a 320 BHP mill to fuel the hot hatch battle with the Mercedes A25 AMG and Audi RS3.

 Lamborghini has named its SUV after an extinct medieval species of wild bovines ‘Aurochs’ also pronounced ‘Urus’. The new Lamborghini is set to carry the legacy of the Bulls.

 Mini Clubman, launched at the 2012 Geneva Motor show, set to go into production very soon. The road version will resemble the concept in most aspects.

 Hot wheels have created a RC replica of Ken Block's rally spec Ford Fiesta. RC enthusiasts could have all the drifting fun with just eight AA batteries that power this radio-controlled masterpiece.

 The Dusseldorf manufacturing plant if Mercedes Benz completed 50 years of producing great cars.

 Ford India has started ‘I pledge to drive safe’, a social campaign to spread a word on the importance of safe and eco-friendly driving.

 Volkswagen launched the Polo Sedan in Malaysia. The car (Vento in India) will be built and exported from India as a CBU. The double-barrel headlights of the Polo Sedan would be much appreciated in the Vento.

 Mr. Michael Perschke, head Audi India, inaugurate the third facility ‘Audi Delhi- West’ in the capital of India, New-Delhi.

 Mahindra XUV 500 proved its off-road capabilities by claiming the top two positions at the Dakshin Dare rally 2012. The two cars were driven by ace Indian rallyists Gaurav Gill & co-driver Musa Sheriff and Lohit Urs & co-driver Chipong Chiwan. The XUV also is the first diesel car to win the Dakshin Dare Extreme.

 Daimler is hoping to carry forward the international market alliance with Nissan-Renault, for commercial vehicle market, into India.

Vishnu Prasad who is now in his second year in the racing series was the quickest driver the whole weekend right from practice. The driver started the first race on pole position and held that position till the chequered flag. He was followed Mihir Dharkar and Saif Mir.

The second race though was the most exiting race that people have witnessed in the Polo Cup. Alisha Abdullah started on pole due to the reverse grid concept. Vishnu Prasad climbed back to first position in a exiting bumper to bumper race, Mihir Dharkar too kept up with him and finished in second place. Though its a first time that a girl has made it to the podium in the Polo Cup and Alisha Abdullah has created history in finish at third spot amogst the boys.

The VW group has published record sales for the first almost. The VW Vento has been very well in India too. VW reported strong growth in India, where 28,100 (7,900; +256.7 percent) vehicles were handed over to their new owners. “Developments in the first quarter were excellent. Growth regions such as China, India or Russia again produced a strong performance. And delivery figures for our innovative and young model range remained high in the mature markets in Western Europe and North America as well,” Group Board member for Sales Christian Klingler said in Wolfsburg on Friday.

VW reported a new all-time high for month of March with 767,200 vehicles delivered.  The company handed over 1.97 (January-March 2010: 1.73) million vehicles from January to March, a new all-time high for this period. The Group brands delivered 621,800 (505,900; +22.9 percent) vehicles to customers in the Asia / Pacific region, of which 548,500 (457,300; +19.9 percent) were handed over in China, the region’s largest single market.  

The Group grew deliveries in the South America region as well: In the first quarter VW handed over 220,900 (214,600; +2.9 percent) vehicles to customers. The situation in the North America region was also positive, with 143,900 (122,100; +17.9 percent) vehicles delivered. On the US market, 92,800 (80,000; +16.1 percent) were handed over to customers.

The VW Group also reported growth in Europe. In Western Europe (excluding Germany), 532,000 (499,000; +6.6 percent) vehicles were handed over to customers. The Group brands reported an increase of 30.7 percent in Central and Eastern Europe, delivering 109,200 (83,500) vehicles in the region in the first quarter. On its home market of Germany, the VWGroup achieved 5.0 percent growth, delivering 267,300 (254,400) vehicles.

The Golden Steering Wheel was instituted way back in 1976 in Germany. Then on, it has now become most sought after prize not just by automobile manufacturers in Germany, but the whole of Europe.

The Indian edition of the award saw the addition of new categories this year. For the Consumer Favourite category winners were decided by an online voting process carried out on CarWale.com which saw nearly 2.5 lakh users cast their votes.

Besides, the awards had an eminent jury as well. The jury which comprised of editors from Auto Bild India in addition to enthusiasts, engineers and racers drove and evaluated over 60 automobiles before putting down their points to finally come up with a winner in a number of categories including the Hatchback, Sedan, SUV/UV and Imports. The jury for the first time ever also judged motorcycles to find the best that was on offer in the year 2010.

And the winners of The Golden Steering Wheel 2010 are:

With the growing market in India, Audi is planning to bring out the A1 soon. The A1 will have the same family of engines as used in the Polo and the Fabia. BMW has already done well  with the introduction of the X1 in the Indian Market. The smallest and the cheapest car from the BMW stable has been well received in India and the A1 might just share a similar fate. Audi is already geared up to strengthen its dealer network and maybe we will see this car in the market by the end of this year. Stay tuned for more updates!