This could be make or break product for the company.
Move aimed at removing confusion among private buyers
Amid a shift in mobility trends and people increasingly opting for less polluting energy sources, sales of compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles increased more than 82 per cent in the past five years. A total of 729,902 CNG vehicles were sold in 2022-23 against 400,825 in 2017-18, according to VAHAN Dashboard. Though the increase in sales of CNG-powered vehicles has been significant, their share in overall vehicle sales remains minuscule as is the case with EVs.
On a cloudy Monday this month, Mohammed Irshad flew from Kochi to Gurugram to attend an exclusive investor networking event. Among a handful of founders selected for the event, Irshad was to pitch his peer-to-peer learning start-up Notespaedia for funding in front of top venture capital investors such as AngelBay, Elevation Capital, and Inflection Point Ventures. He failed to woo them, but the feisty entrepreneur was determined to continue his hunt.
About two dozen car & SUV models and two-wheelers lined up for launch
Why Kia is keen to drive into India? The Korean automobile maker plans to carve out a niche for itself in the crowded Indian market with its compact sedans and SUVs.
This is the first time a global company is looking to introduce an SUV in this price segment.
The partnership will look to expand Ford's reach in the fast-growing Indian market and improve M&M's access to global markets
A weaker rupee against the US dollar and the Japanese yen along with margin sustenance pressures have forced companies to raise prices.
Most top car makers are offering discounts, targeted specifically at government employees. About 5 million employees are expected to benefit from the government's move to raise its employees' salary by 70 per cent. The revised pay scales will be effective January 2006, which means they will get their pending salaries in bulk. Auto makers are hoping they will use the lumpsum payment to make a down payment for a car.
Harman, the premium global audio and infotainment group, which retails brands such as JBL, AKG and Harman-Kardon, is training Indian engineers based at its research and development centre in Bangalore to work on audio components for brands like BMW and Audi. This business contributes an estimated $600 million to the company's sales.
Sales of commercial vehicles rose 8.59 per cent to 56,140 units in September, SIAM said.
India has exported passenger vehicles worth $268 million to the US in three months ended June
Maruti Suzuki is the big exception, with double-digit surge in volume
Auto, tourism exceptions but major sectors otherwise saw decline in FY13 inflows.
According to experts, Tata Tiago JTP and Tigor JTP -- a sedan and hatchback -- are not only powerful and faster than every other car in the segment, but also in the segment above, including their peers Maruti Baleno RS, Volkswagen Polo and others.
Big brands like Hyundai, Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M), Toyota and Renault have lost share.
Pricing will be competitive, along the lines of the Maruti Celerio and the Hyundai Grand i10
The company is looking to exploit the upper B+ segment, which has seen high demand growth since the launch of Maruti's Swift, followed by several models like the Hyundai i20, Fiat Grande Punto, Maruti Ritz, Volkswagen Polo and Nissan Micra.
S-Cross has seen a 22 per cent drop in dispatches in September.
Car sales likely to touch record 3-mn mark by the end of March.
In the domestic market, the car has been well accepted and currently the company has over 80,000 bookings for the model.
Japanese automobile company Mitsubishi Motors may launch a compact car in the B segment in the country. The car is expected to hit the roads in three years. Though Mitsubishi sells Pajero SUV and Lancer sedan in India, they have not generated adequate volumes for the Japanese automobile company. The compact car will take on Maruti Swift, Hyundai Getz, Skoda Fabia, Fiat Palio, Chevrolet U-VA and Ford Fusion
The new car, which would come in four variants and two options, is priced between Rs 2.57 lakh and Rs 3.53 lakh.
India has a history of jugaad, and retrofitting vehicles is one such manifestation of the legendary Indian skill. Not so long ago autorickshaws and small Marutis used to strap on subsidised LPG cylinders and power themselves to a cheap ride. There were the odd explosions, lives were lost, but the jugaad continued. Then compressed natural gas (CNG) was introduced in Delhi following a court order. Initially, customised CNG kits were fitted to conventional (internal combustion engine or ICE) autos cheaply, enabling commuting at less than half of what you would cough up for diesel. The industry is better organised now with Suzuki and Hyundai designing CNG-fired vehicles, and Mahindra and TVS manufacturing liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)-powered three wheelers.
Tata now occupies the fourth slot with the incremental volumes from the Tiago
Urban and rural FMCG sales growth data for the last five quarters show the latter outperformed the former consistently.
Maruti is not an online outlier, of course; other heavyweights have rolled out similar services. But as an analyst pointed out, Maruti's all-India roll-out has significant impact given that it accounts for over half of all cars sold, reports, reports Pavan Lall.
Chinese automakers Great Wall Motors, FAW Haima Automobile, and Changan Automobile, after dithering about entering India for some years, have been encouraged by the robust sales performance of the late entrants Kia Motors and MG Motors even in a slowing market.
India's first home-grown mapping company MapMyIndia is looking to list in the public market by raising around Rs 1,200 crore at a Rs 6,000-crore valuation. Sources said the company is ready with its draft red herring prospectus documents and is likely to file as early as next week. While the money will be used for business expansion, it will also give MapMyIndia's early investors, including Qualcomm, PhonePe, and Japanese mapmaker Zenrin Co., a chance to exit. The Verma family, which founded the company, will continue to remain promoters.
Fiat India Automobiles Ltd, a 50:50 joint venture between Italy-based Fiat SpA and domestic auto major Tata Motors, plans to position the car in the premium hatchback segment along with Maruti Suzuki's Ritz, Hyundai's i20, Skoda's Fabia and to be launched Honda Siel's Jazz, the company said.
The Italian car company Fiat's much-awaited launch of the year, Grande Punto hatchback, which is expected to take on Maruti Suzuki's Swift and Hyundai's Getz, will not be priced close to the two models.
Paris-based international advisory firm Mazars predicts four per cent growth in India's automobile sector this financial year.
FMCG players -- Dabur, HLL, PSU BPCL, Korean car maker Hyundai, liqour barron Vijay Malaya's Mcdowell and TVS motors -- are among the major companies found to violate Advertising Standards Council of India code.
Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and Hyundai stand to gain the maximum, given their large portfolio of products in the sub-4 meter segment.
One can see the scale of recalls going up as the market expands.
Auto makers, who enjoyed a record-breaking sales run over recent months, are now bracing themselves for upheaval, led primarily by changing government policies and rising inflationary pressures.
