The fuel price hike could slow demand for automobiles in the country in the short term. But in the long term, there could be a greater shift towards smaller and more fuel-efficient vehicles, as is happening in the West now, according to industry experts and analysts.
Subros Limited, India's leading manufacturer for automobile air conditioners, has entered into a joint venture with its two-and-a-half-decade-old partner, DENSO Corporation of Japan, to set up a product development centre in India.
German luxury car manufacturers, Mercedes Benz and BMW, will soon venture into the used car business in the country. While Mercedes, which has been in India for more than a decade, is announcing its plans for used cars today, BMW is expected to follow suit in a couple of months.
According to the organising committee of the Commonwealth Games, orders have been placed with Tata Motors for nearly 1,800 cars during the games and some more cars, jeeps and trucks for the Queen Baton Relay that would commence its nationwide run from June 25.
By industry estimates, less than five per cent of the passenger car market in India would comprise electric cars over the next five-seven years, at 1,75,000 units, when the industry size would double to 3.5 million units, as against over 1.6 million in 2009.
This means the already-minuscule sale of retrofitted CNG variants of Aveo, Logan, Accent, Santro, Corolla Altis and Innova is set to take a hit.
High-end multi-speed bikes, priced between Rs 20,000 and Rs 2 lakh apiece, are actually selling very well. Over 10,000 such high-end cycles were sold last year and the market is growing at 15 per cent yearly.
HMSI is now planning to introduce a 200cc bike that would battle with Hero Honda's Karizma and Karizma ZMR.
According to industry sources, states are yet to clear their previous dues of Rs 2,000 crore.
Bajaj Auto Managing Director Rajiv Bajaj said the company has, in partnership with Renault-Nissan, developed India's most fuel efficient and least-polluting car engine.
The Centre extended the deadline for implementing cleaner emission norms for two-wheelers across the country, a move that has come as a big relief for auto manufacturers, especially the country's largest two-wheeler maker, Hero Honda.
Leading banks lent 18 per cent more to car buyers in 2009-10 at Rs 33,000 crore, compared with Rs 28,000 crore in the previous year.
With most European countries withdrawing their earlier incentives for buying new cars, India could see flat growth in exports of passenger cars in 2010-11, as compared to the last financial year.
Three months after its launch, Maruti Suzuki's multi-purpose vehicle, Eeco, has notched sales figures of over 7,000 units a month.
The global alliance between Renault-Nissan and Daimler AG announced today is likely to add one more car to the list of small cars jostling for market share.
The domestic auto industry is set to hit an all-time high sales figure of 12.2 million units in 2009-10, surpassing the previous sales record of 10.1 million units in 2006-07.
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