AutoQ is our weekly round-up of the top automobile stories
Harley Davidson to Soon Launch 338cc Bike, Will Rival RE’s Classic
Harley Davidson has been missing in action for some time and new reports this month suggest the company is finally ready to leave its comfort zone to launch new bikes with a lower-displacement engine.
The American two-wheeler manufacturer is renowned for its macho-style cruiser bikes but it has struggled to find the right mix between selling popular bikes and making money off it. And now, it seems ready to leave its legacy behind, and follow the model that’s worked quite well for manufacturers like Royal Enfield, by offering bikes with a small engine.
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Tata Altroz Hatchback Scores 5 Stars in Global NCAP Crash Test
Tata Motors has scored top marks in Global NCAP’s crash test rating yet again. This time it is the Altroz hatchback which is going to be launched in the coming weeks.
Tata Altroz is the second model from Tata Motors to get a five-star rating from the Global New Car Assessment Program (Global NCAP) crash tests after the company’s Nexon SUV got a similar rating in October last year.
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NHAI Allows Free Passage At Tolls If Your FASTag Cannot Be Read
From 15 January, vehicles using the national highways in India will mandatorily have to pay toll electronically through RFID stickers issued by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) called FASTag. These radio-frequency identification based tags are linked to mobile wallets from various payment providers to automatically pay tolls at the tollbooth.
However, if for some reason the RFID scanner at the tollbooth is not able to read the tag properly on a vehicle, NHAI has issued a notification that such vehicles should be allowed to pass for free.
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Bajaj Chetak Electric Scooter Launched, Prices Start at Rs 1 Lakh
Bajaj Auto Limited has revived the Chetak brand for its scooters, but this time it’s electric. The Bajaj Chetak is back as an electric scooter, available in two variants. Prices start at Rs 1,00,000 for the drum brake Urbane variant and Rs 1,15,000 for the disc brake Premium model. It can be booked for just Rs 2,000 from 15 January in the cities of Bengaluru and Pune.
The scooter sports a retro design, similar to the lines of the original Bajaj Chetak, which had been in production since 1972 and was discontinued in 2005. It had a two-stroke internal combustion engine till 2002, after which it used a four-stroke.
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Will Fastag Put Tollbooth Attendants’ Jobs at Risk?
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has made Fastag mandatory from 15 January which means that all vehicles crossing inter-state tollbooths needs to have these RFID-based tags on their windshields.
Fastag is an electronic toll collection system deployed by the NHAI (National Highways Association of India) across India. Fastag uses Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to make payments directly from the customer’s digital wallets that makes the whole process cashless and efficient.
Fastag makes the entire process of toll collection automatic which leaves us with a very important question. What is the tollbooth attendant doing if the entire process is automated?
Watch the video here.
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