Punjab government buying new cars to replace the ageing Ambassador and Mitsubishi Montero, Rs.80 crore projected cost of the new vehicles
The State government of Punjab has approved a purchase order of over 400 luxury cars. The vehicles would be for the serving chief minister, state cabinet members, legislators and bureaucrats. The total cost of the cars would be around Rs. 80 crores. The new order would consist of as many as 16 Land Cruiser SUVs, out of which two would be bullet-proof for the chief minister Amrinder Singh.
Additionally, there would 13 Mahindra Scorpio cars for his staffers and 14 Maruti Dzire, Ertiga and Honda Amaze for the officers on special duty. The 17 cabinet ministers would get Toyota Fortuners or SUVs from the same segment. All the 97 legislators would be given Toyota Innova Crysta MUVs.
Currently, the chief minister uses eight Hindustan Ambassador cars along with six Mitsubishi Montero. The ministers use the Toyota Camry sedan while legislators use the old generation Innova. The Toyota Land Cruiser is the flagship SUV of the Japanese brand and is quite popular in India too.
The luxury SUV is imported as Completely Built Units (CBU) to India and cost more than Rs. 1 crore. The Land Cruiser is powered by a 4.5-litre V8 turbocharged diesel engine that generates a maximum power of 262 Bhp and 650 Nm of peak torque. It gets a 6-speed automatic transmission and full-time 4X4 drive system. It is a seven-seater SUV.
Next comes the Toyota Fortuner, which is the best-selling car in the segment since its arrival in India. The new-generation Toyota Fortuner looks quite advanced and gets European looks.
It is powered by a 2.7-litre petrol engine and a 2.8-litre diesel engine options. Both the manual and automatic transmission are available with the Fortuner. It also offers 4X2 and full-time 4X4 drive layouts. The price of the Toyota Fortuner starts from Rs. 27.23 lakhs, ex-showroom.
The Toyota Innova is the most popular MUV in the Indian market and is known for its extreme comfort and space. The Innova Crysta is powered by the same 2.7-litre petrol, 2.4-litre diesel and 2.8-litre diesel engine options. Innova offers the automatic transmission with both petrol and diesel engine options. The price of the Innova Crysta starts at Rs. 14.63 lakhs