Small car market in India will foresee new entrants in the coming years. This year General Motors has already launched Chevrolet Beat, Ford has introduced Figo and Volkswagen has launched Polo as their small cars. Hyundai’s new i20 diesel and Nissan Micra are new models still expected in the current year. Honda’s new small car and Toyota Etios are expected by early 2011.
Apart from the recent developments in the international auto scenario, more car models are expected in the developing markets especially India. Volkswagen-Suzuki tie up is already contemplating to develop a small car for the Indian market where as Maruti Suzuki has already ramped up its R&D center in India. MSIL is planning to launch a special “made-in-India” car by 2012.
Renault is planning to launch its successful car model Clio or Twingo in India in next two years. The car is built on Nissan’s B platform and is already extremely successful in Europe.
Daimler had earlier launched the Smart Car in the international market. Now Daimler and Renault-Nissan have formed an alliance internationally. Daimler is also planning to develop a cost competitive small car for the emerging markets. “This alliance could help in developing a cost-competitive product for emerging markets,” said a Daimler official working closely with the alliance.
Senior officials at Renault and Nissan said while the alliance may not have an immediate impact on India, it could leverage on R&D and source components from low-cost destinations.
All in all, the small car market never looked so active!
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