Force India are hoping to improve in their new VJM01 car

Force India raced as Spyker last season before being bought and renamed by a group headed by billionaire Mallya.

The Ferrari-powered VJM01 has the same basic chassis as used by Spyker last year but has aerodynamic changes.

"We can confidently state Force India will move up steadily in progress," Mallya said.

Spyker scored just one point and finished 10th overall in the 11-team championship - after McLaren were stripped of all their points for a spying controversy.

Mallya, speaking at the unveiling of the new car in Mumbai, admitted: "We inherited a team whose performance was not that great.

"It is a huge task of performance improvement that is exhilarating, challenging and also satisfying."

Force India's new car will be tested for the first time in Barcelona on 25 February, and the test drives will be spread over three days.

The experience of the drivers - Italian Giancarlo Fisichella and German Adrian Sutil - provided value to the engineering team, Mallya said.

Sutil was the most successful driver from last season's team, which was known as Spyker, while Fisichella joined Force India from Renault.

Force India's budget for the season has been set at $120m (�61.7m), an increase of $50m (21.7m) from last year.