Global auto manufacturing majors are showing interest in Indian automobile market as car exports from India marked a fivefold increase in the past five years. With some of the world’s biggest car makers continuously making high profit from Indian market, the market is becoming a favorite zone for other big companies also.

Moreover, analysts conceive that car exports over the next three years will surge nearly 300 percent to more than half-a-million vehicles a year.

Giving further inspiration, Indian auto major Tata Motors’ $2,500 (about 1 lakh) worth Tata minicar has attracted the global attention. Moreover small cars built in local plants by Japanese and South Korean car makers such as Suzuki, Hyundai and Nissan are also witnessing high exports.

Earlier, India’s biggest car exporter, Hyundai added a midnight shift at its southern India plant to boost production 40 percent and to meet booming demand for its i10 minicar abroad. Both Hyundai and Suzuki are seeing Europe as the market for their made-in �India exports for their recently revealed subcompacts.

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Hindustan Motors has launched Japanese auto major Mitsubishi’s sports utility vehicle (SUV) Outlander in India. Kolkata-based Hindustan Mototrs plans to assembled the vehicle at its Chennai plant under licence from Mitsubishi.

With an ex-showroom price of Rs20.20 lakh, this sports utility vehicle is expected to compete with the Honda CRV.

Outlander is an ‘all wheel control’ (AWC) sports utility vehicle that supports 16 valve MIVEC (Mitsubishi Innovative Valve Timing and Electronic Control system) petrol engine. It supports advanced control systems, safety and luxury features.
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Hyundai Motor India Ltd has launched the LPG version of the Santro and has called it the Santro Eco. The LPG variant will be priced Rs 21500 higher than the existing petrol model.

The new LPG version of Santro, christened Santro eco, comes with a factory-fitted LPG kit and boasts of features that meet global standards of performance and safety, informed a company press release here.

The ex-showroom Delhi price for Santro eco (GL) is Rs 354,294 and Santro eco (GLS) is Rs 373,357.

Powered by the 1.1 litre, eRLX engine, Santro eco offers its customers a unique combination of reliable performance and unmatched fuel economy. With separate petrol (35 litre) and LPG (27.2 litre) tanks, the customers have an option to choose from both LPG and petrol mode. The LPG tank in the Santro eco has a special ‘Toroidal’ design that allows intelligent use of space and makes larger luggage room available to the customer, the release said.

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Bangalore, The latest passenger car from Maruti Suzuki, the onelitre A-Star model is expected to cost about Rs 4 lakh (ex-showroom) and will be launched during mid-November.

An official with Maruti Suzuki told newspersons that the A-Star will also be exported under the Nissan badge to Europe and the Middle East and will be called Pixo. Nissan can also sell the same car in India as well under a different brand. The new car is also perhaps the only model in the world which will have 750 variants as it will be sold across 151 countries including Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, Asia and Africa, the official said.

Maruti Suzuki is also increasing the number of engineers working in its R&D centre from the current level of 570 engineers to about 1,000 by 2010. Another R&D centre is also expected to set up shortly.

The official said Maruti Suzuki will manufacture about 1 lakh car units of the A-Star a year for the export market and 50,000 for the domestic market. The same model will be made for Nissan under a contract manufacturing arrangement. The A-Star will be the fifth world strategic model from Suzuki which means the same car can be manufactured simultaneously in other countries. Suzuki will sell the same car in Europe but under the Alto as well as under the Celerio names.

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Car maker Honda Siel Cars India on Thursday launched the third generation model of its Sedan, City, priced between Rs 7.7 lakh and Rs 8.9 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

The new Honda City would come in three different grades with both automatic and manual transmissions and would be available with a 1.5 litre i-VTEC engine.

Honda City is the one of the most successful car brands in the country. With this launch, India will become the largest market for Honda City, HSCI President and CEO M Takadegawa told reporters here.

Before India, the company has recently introduced its new City in Thailand.

Honda Motor Co. President Takeo Fukui on Thursday unveiled a new version of the City, Honda’s best-selling compact sedan in India, aiming to boost sales in this key emerging market as concern grows of a global slowdown in the auto industry.

With sales in the U.S., the world’s largest auto market, falling to their lowest levels in years, auto makers have looked to red hot markets like India and China to help pick up the slack.

But now, these other auto markets are also showing signs of weakness. In India, auto sales fell in August, the second monthly decline in a row. Sales in China also fell, marking the first decline in auto sales in two years.

“Even in India, they are not immune to the cyclical nature of the economy,” says Tatsuo Yoshida, an analyst for UBS Securities in Tokyo. “Investors have been very nervous about near term prospects of the Indian automobile market.”

Looking to draw buyers back into the dealer showrooms during the upcoming festival months in India, Honda’s new City model is part of a wave of new vehicle launches by car makers into the country’s increasingly crowded auto market.

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Following its cues from its competitors in India like GM, Hyundai, etc, Fiat S.p.A. is weighing the possibilities of earmarking its Ranjangaon plant near Pune as a global base for some of its models, especially small cars that are meant for Europe and other developed countries. Fiat India Automobile Private Limited (FIAPL) is also keen to establish a full-fledged R&D centre in the country, in association with its joint venture partner Tata Motors. Currently, the Indian arm of the Turin-based company has developed a small R&D unit at its existing plant dedicated to testing of its current models.

“It eventually boils down to standardisation of volumes. Perhaps our own low-cost car for Europe could even be made in India,” said Sergio Marchionne, chief executive officer of the Fiat group. “This facility has the infrastructure to build the Fiat brand in India. It can be an integral part of the manufacturing footprint of Fiat worldwide and that is a big issue for us,” he said.

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HYUNDAI MOTOR India Limited is ready to launch low-cost car in the country. The car manufacturer is on the way of developing its low-cost car with considerable support from its research capacity in Hyderabad for design and technical analysis.

The low-cost car will be cheaper than Santro and will carry a price tag between Rs 1,80,000 to Rs 2,25,000. This car is said to give a fair competition to Tata’s Nano and other global companies like Fiat, Toyota, Renault-Bajaj, General Motors and Volkswagen.

According to Hyundai Motor India managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO), HS Lheem, “We are serious about the micro-car market and from April this year, we have undertaken a massive feasibility study to understand the Indian customers’ mind, driving conditions, styling cues and technical specs—for the proposed small car.”
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MUMBAI: Paris-based auto major Renault has chosen India to provide a larger role in designing its ultra low-cost car that it is developing with two-wheeler major Bajaj Auto, as a growing interest in economical cars in emerging markets drives the plans of most auto majors.

This is a marked departure from Renault’s previous plans when such assignments were evenly spread across the company’s other centres globally.

Till now, if Renault had to develop any new product all the design centres across the world would work at it and Paris would take a final call. Since it’s the first time that Renault is developing an ultra low-cost car in India, it has decided that Mumbai’s design centre will provide the main design framework, with other design centres across the world providing smaller inputs for the ULC. The Nissan design team is also understood to be providing inputs on designing the small car.

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It’s a new car but will have three different names. For the first time in the Indian automobile history, the same car—made in India—will don three different badges in the global market.

Maruti Suzuki, manufacturer of the car, will brand it A-Star in India. The same car will be contract-manufactured by Maruti for Nissan Motors and called Pixo. And it will be the new Alto for Suzuki Motor Corporation in Europe. The car will be manufactured exclusively by Maruti Suzuki’s plant at Manesar in Haryana and will be unveiled by both companies at the Paris Motor Show next month at their respective pavilions.

Both Nissan Pixo and Suzuki Alto will compete against Toyota Aygo in the international market while it will be pitted against Hyundai i10, Fiat Palio and Tata Motors Indica Vista in the premium small-car segment in India. An MSI spokesperson refused to comment and said: “A-Star has nothing to do with Alto, which will continue to be the flagship model of Maruti Suzuki in India. It is a totally different segment.”

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New Kijang Innova : Reflection of Ideal Indonesian Family Car
The Most Ideal Indonesian Family Car

PT Toyota Astra Motor presents the modern and luxurious New Kijang Innova for Indonesian family. As market leader and pioneer in MPV market for more than 3 decades, Toyota keep on improving the design and feature, as well as maintaining high quality and best services for Indonesian family.

New Kijang Innova launching is Toyota ’s commitment in giving happiness and better life for everyone, by giving best product and high quality services. New Kijang Innova becomes one of Toyota innovation and best product to customers, especially MPV market in Indonesia .

”In more competitive MPV market nowdays, New Kijang Innova is a market leader in MPV class (up to 60% market share), it is because New Kijang Innova features are beyond average in MPV market and match with customer need. Therefore, we always keep on improving by giving best product and high quality services to make New Kijang Innova as the first choice for Ideal Indonesian family car. ” said Johnny Darmawan, President Director PT. Toyota Astra Motor.
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