2 posts tagged “compact cars”

Many car manufacturers are entering the small car market segment. The companies with big names like Maruti-Suzuki, Honda, Volkswagen, Fiat, Ford and Toyota which are anticipated to hit the car market restoring the record for as much as 75% of car sales by 2010.

In order to help the buyers the car manufacturers are offering bulky discounts to ease their existing stocks and for the easy entry of new cars in India.

The forthcoming new cars would have variants loaded with most advanced features like ABS, automatic drive, and airbags. These elite cars come in the range of Rs 3 lakh - Rs 5 lakh (excluding the Rs 1 lakh marvel Tata Nano).

So to avail the benefits of the subsidized excise duty for small cars, the car models under-4m would sport engines below 1200cc in petrol and below 1500cc in diesel.

There is going to be a sizzling competition between the car manufacturers in the small-car sector. Whereas Maruti-Suzuki is set to roll out Splash and A Star by year-end and Hyundai is set to introduce i20 at the same time. Even Fiat Grande Punto is expected before the end of the year and Tata Motors is also ready to hit the Indian market with its new version of its Indica, which has been one of the popular cars in the market.

Volkswagen is all set to make its presence in the Indian market. The auto manufacturer is now ready to launch an array of compact cars in India. Although the auto manufacturer has made a late entry, it has planned to make a remarkable pace in the Indian industry.

Like many other car manufacturers even Volkswagen thinks that India is an important market for it. The company also wants to create brand equity for Volkswagen in India before stepping in for mass volume segment.

However the main target would be to launch the premium cars first and then stride into the small car segment. Presently the company also has many brand stores in the country.

Moreover Volkswagen has been selling only premium cars in the Indian car market. Now it’s equipped to hit the Indian roads with its compact cars also. However the company has made an investment of Rs 2400 crore for a Greenfield plant at Chakan in Maharashtra. This manufacturing plant would be the main capability for its forthcoming cars.