About Siddharth Vinayak Patankar
Siddharth Vinayak PatankarConnect with this authorFormer senior primetime news anchor, financial correspondent, producer, and Chief Editor-Auto – Siddharth has worn many hats during his many years at NDTV. He conceived all the automobile based content for the NDTV network - including the annual carandbike Awards, and used to head the Auto Prime band of programming launched in 2014. He was a key driver behind carandbike.com – already the country's 2nd largest auto portal. Siddharth also created India’s biggest auto quiz, which ran for 7 seasons – the Mahindra AQ. Besides all this, Siddharth is the first Asian journalist to be appointed as a Director on the Steering Committee for the prestigious World Car Awards in 2016. He has served on that jury since 2011, and is now Executive Director of World Car Awards since 2020. He is also Editor-in-Chief of carandbike.
Articles of Siddharth Vinayak Patankar
All New Honda City vs 2020 Hyundai Verna: Exclusive Comparison Review
The battle of the compact sedans was certain when a new generation of the benchmark car arrives. But the Honda City has lost its grip on the segment off late, so does the legacy car have enough to beat the reigning champ Hyundai Verna?
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The Return Of The King: All-New Honda City Review
It is the new generation Honda City compact sedan, and it does not get bigger than this. Trifle-delayed yet raring to go, we test it in three variants, to tell you all the good and bad bits of this all-important model.
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Audi Q5 Facelift Makes Global Debut; India Launch In 2021
The Audi Q5 PI or midlife makeover has been unveiled. The cars looks get a bigger than expected change, with new lighting technology, updated infotainment and safety related changes forming the key highlights of the update.
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2020 Hyundai Verna Facelift Review
The Hyundai Verna gets a facelift, but its pretty significant - unlike what usually happens. So there are significant styling changes, and the car also gets a brand new engine added to the lineup.
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Exclusive: 2020 BMW X6 Review
The third generation BMW X6 packs in a whole lot more in terms of capability, looks and features. Here is the first exclusive drive review of the car in India.
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Exclusive: MG Hector Plus Spotted In New Colour; Launch In July
In the pictures you can see the exclusive positioning colour for the new model. The colour (called Starry Sky Blue incidentally), will be available exclusively on the Hector Plus only
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Exclusive: Hyundai India Receives 1700 Bookings On The 'Click To Buy' Digital Platform
Hyundai's 'Click to Buy' platform allows customers to browse, spec and choose their preferred car model from Hyundai's portfolio, and then actually proceed to buy it online.
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Gorgeous And Historic: The Porsche 911 Targa 4S Heritage Design Limited Edition
Launched as the first of four Porsche Heritage Design Editions, the limited run cars will evoke the German sports car makers glorious history of classic cars from the decades gone by. This is the first, and is based on the newly minted 911 Targa family.
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Tata Altroz Review: How Good Is Tata's First Premium Hatchback?
The all-new Tata Altroz is finally ready to make its market debut. Tata has loaded the car with a massive feature list, some segment firsts like custom packs across variants and exciting design. The car brings plenty to the premium hatchback space, even as it misses out on an automatic variant.
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Jaguar XE Facelift Review
Jaguar's compact sports sedan is back in a refreshed avatar. It attempts to make up for all that it missed in its first outing. Like any facelift, the makeover does see styling changes, but the cabin gets a major and much needed overhaul.
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Renault Kwid Facelift Review
The 2019 Renault Kwid facelift surprised many with its very extensive makeover. The car gets some new features too, and yet holds on to its inherent strengths that made this SUV-inspired entry hatchback popular to begin with.
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Datsun redi-GO Crash Test Results, Rating 2019: 1 Star Global NCAP
The Datsun redi-GO has scored one star in the latest Global NCAP crash tests of Indian made cars. The 2019 tests saw the redi-GO marginally improve the tally of its sibling - the GO, which had scored zero stars. The redi-GO got 1 star for adult protection, though the score could have been higher had there been better protection for the driver's chest area. On child occupant protection the redi-GO did better with a two star rating. But yet again the score could have been a lot higher had the redi-GO offered rear seatbelts with pretensioners and ISOFIX child seat anchors. Speaking to carandbike, Alejandro Furas, Technical Director, Global NCAP said, "Static 3-point rear seatbelts are unacceptable in 2020. The same is true for having no ISOFIX (child seat anchors). This resulted in head contact for rear passengers in the test."
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Maruti Suzuki Wagon R Crash Test Results, Rating 2019: 2 Star Global NCAP
The Maruti Suzuki Wagon R has received two stars in the latest crash tests by Global NCAP. The new generation Wagon R has scored poorly for both adult and child occupant protection.
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Maruti Suzuki Ertiga Crash Test Results, Rating 2019: 3 Stars Global NCAP
The Maruti Suzuki Ertiga has received three Stars from Global NCAP for adult as well as child occupant protection in a crash test. A base variant of the made in India Ertiga was crashed at a test lab in Germany.
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Hyundai Santro Crash Test Results, Rating 2019: 2 Star Global NCAP
The Hyundai Santro has received two stars for adult and child occupant safety respectively from Global NCAP.
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Exclusive: Renault Working On A Subcompact Sedan For India
Renault is looking at developing yet another volumes driver for India in the form of a subcompact sedan. Renault is looking to develop a car that would be India-specific, and yet have potential for exports to other regions. India-made subcompact sedans have shown much promise in Latin America, South East Asia, but most importantly in Africa.
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Exclusive: SUV Storm Coming From Volkswagen Group India Next Year
It's a bold play that has been a long time coming. Hoping to finally improve its position in the Indian auto market, Volkswagen has firmed up an SUV strong strategy. The group will unleash up to 10 new models - all SUVs - in India across 2020 and 2021.
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Renault Readying Subcompact SUV HBC For World Debut At 2020 Auto Expo
After the Triber and Kwid refresh, Renault has an eye on volumes again. Its next will be the HBC subcompact SUV that will be revealed in February with a launch later in 2020. Expect aggressive pricing, premium looks and a petrol only play with manual and auto variants.
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Fourth Generation Honda Jazz Teaser Is Promising
Honda has released a teaser image of one of the most significant debuts it will make at this month's Tokyo Motor Show. The image is of the upcoming next generation Honda Jazz and the company has not revealed much. It's more the car's silhouette than anything, but if you look closely, three things are very evident. The car appears to have a slightly lower profile with a longer wheelbase, and yet short overhangs. This tells you that while the cabin is likely more roomy, the overall length will probably still stay under 4 metres - crucial for us in the Indian context. The second is that the styling appears to move away from the last car's edgy straight lines and taller look to a more rounded and conventional proportion. The hood is longer and not as angled and the headlights are now more rounded and upswept - with a snub-nosed thick chrome grille, as seen in recent models like the Honda Civic and Honda CR-V. And thirdly, the car also seems to have cup shaped DRLs (daytime running lights) and a more horizontal and wrap-around style tail lamp cluster. And there's a shark fin antenna on the roof.
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Two Kia Models Confirmed For 2020: Carnival MPV and Venue/Vitara Brezza Rival
The Kia Carnival will be the first of two cars that Kia Motors will bring to India next year. The 2020 line-up will kick-start with the Kia Carnival luxury MPV to take on the Toyota Innova Crysta and will also include the second volumes model - QYI subcompact SUV.
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