The auto industry in India gets a lot of attention from the media, which includes newspapers, magazines, online portals and most of all, television news channels. A lot of experts feel that the popularity of a particular car brand directly depends on the amount on space it occupies in reports covered by any section of the media. Several surveys are carried out by different research firms, who try to analyse how a particular brand has fared in terms of popularity among people. The phenomenon of news channels has taken the country by storm in the past decade. In the modern day scenario, where everyone has access to a television, news channels have really high TRP. Numerous shows are held on these channels, which talk about latest models and their performance.
Now, according to a recent survey conducted, car makers Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and BMW had a combined share of around 50 per cent in the space on shows related to automobiles. According to statistics, the Maruti Suzuki had a share of 20.5 per cent, BMW had 16.08 per cent and Hyundai contributed around 13.17 per cent. The rest of the space, which was around 62 hours, was occupied by all other auto makers. This survey also did a segment wise bifurcation of the space shared by cars on television shows broadcasted on news channels. Surprisingly, the Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) segment took up around 50 per cent of the space on these shows. Industry experts feel that firms have realised the importance of making their presence felt through these shows as they have a large number of viewers. It is said that human behaviour makes a big impact on potential customers. Being praised by prominent journalists on national television is something that every car maker would want.
Industry experts are of view that the trends that have emerged from this survey is quite understandable and justified. Maruti Suzuki is the country's largest passenger car maker and also the most popular brand in the country. In the month of August, Maruti Suzuki launched the Sitngray hatchback in India, which is based on the WagonR model. Any launch by Maruti Suzuki in India is always looked forward to and the car is always expected to do well. Thereby, it was only obvious that Maruti Suzuki would occupy the space on television shows. Apart from this, Maruti Suzuki was also in the news for the possible launch of the XA Alpha SUV, which might hit Indian showrooms by next year.
Maruti Suzuki was closely followed by German luxury car maker BMW, which has become increasingly popular over the past few years. The BMW 1 Series premium hatchback was launched in India on the 3rd of September and was talked about a lot in the month of August. Luxury car makers in India have, surprisingly, done well in the year 2013, wherein the overall market has been battling a slowdown. The BMW 1 Series has been launched to give competition to the likes of Audi Q3 S and Mercedes-Benz A-Class. Hyundai, ranked third after Maruti Suzuki and BMW, recently launched the Grand i10 in India, which is touted to perform well in the Indian car market. The Grand i10 has been slotted between the i10 and i20 hatchbacks and will compete with the Stingray. Apart from this, Hyundai has been in news due to its plans of overtaking Maruti Suzuki in the passenger car segment.
