What explains India's love affair with SUVs? They are not exactly "value for money" -- the watchword for brands across segments -- nor always practical. Is it for the badge value? Or the butch imagery associated with SUVs? Maybe both, says Alokananda Chakraborty.
Indian passenger vehicles market registered record wholesales of 43 lakh units in 2024, with companies like market leader Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Tata Motors, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, and Kia posting their best-ever annual domestic sales. The continued growth of SUVs, along with rural markets playing a key role in driving up car sales, helped the industry better the previous best of nearly 41.1 lakh units posted in 2023.
Tata Motors is actively considering tapping into some of the export markets beyond South Asia, for its range of electric vehicles (EVs) as it sees an opportunity of selling affordable EVs in markets outside India. The export plans will coincide with the commercial launch of the Curvve - an electric SUV concept that broke cover on Wednesday, in two years from now, Shailesh Chandra, MD, Tata Motors PVs and Electric Mobility, told Business Standard. "We are actively thinking of the international markets and we would like to go with a portfolio of products. "We have identified a few markets and in a couple of years, we should commence the same," said Chandra.
Dealers said the discounts this March are higher than the same month in the previous year.
Maruti will launch its first electric vehicle (EV) in the next financial year (FY24), and will roll out six EVs in the country by FY30, the automaker's parent firm Suzuki said on Thursday.
'The favourable rupee-dollar exchange rate, there are opportunities we can tap.'
The SP Concept SUV will be the first of the products to be rolled out from the company's plant in Andhra Pradesh, where it has invested USD 1 billion. The plant will have a capacity of 3 lakh units annually.
Audi plans to focus the Indian market, including deepening market penetration and increasing sales volume.
The Mercedes-Benz GLC 220d 4MATIC, the SUV former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry was riding in on Sunday, comes with various safety features to protect passengers but just like other high-end cars, it has no airbags for rear seats.
Auto Expo 2023 may not trigger a fresh rally in automobile stocks, say analysts, as this year's edition lacks participation from major listed players. It is also owing to the focus on electric vehicles (EVs), a segment where four-wheelers have minuscule market share. "In the passenger vehicles (PV) segment, Maruti Suzuki India and Tata Motors are the only listed players.
This number is more than the total number (1,071) of electric cars sold in India in calendar year 2019. MG has stopped registrations for the ZS and will cater to 2,409 of the total bookings.
A loud sound was heard at around 1 am outside Kalia's residence near Shastri Market in Jalandhar, police said, adding that no one was hurt in the incident.
Tata Motors on Wednesday reported a 22 per cent fall in consolidated net profit to Rs 5,578 crore for the third quarter ended December 2024, impacted by s decline in revenue from its passenger and commercial vehicles divisions. The company had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 7,145 crore in the same quarter last fiscal, Tata Motors said in a regulatory filing.
Hyundai Motor India expects SUV sales to account for 65 per cent of its overall volumes in 2024, while it gears up to enter the EV segment early next year, aiming to garner 20 per cent of its total sales by 2030, its COO Tarun Garg said on Tuesday. The automaker, which got around 60 per cent of its overall volumes from sports utility vehicle (SUV) sales last year, plans to invest Rs 7,000 crore on its second plant at Talegaon, according to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. The company officials however declined to comment on the matter.
The company, which already has around 66 per cent market share in the hatchback segment and about 50 per cent in the overall domestic passenger vehicle segment, currently sells Vitara Brezza and S-Cross in the SUV segment. In an interaction with PTI, MSI managing director and CEO Kenichi Ayukawa acknowledged that there was some lag in launching new products due to the pandemic but the company is now on track regarding new model launches.
'A lot of players such as Maruti and Hyundai are entering the market in the first and the second quarters of 2025.'
'Two would be premium products and three would be mainstream products.'
India's second-largest passenger vehicles firm will be valued at Rs 1.59 trillion at the top-end of the price band of Rs 1,865-Rs 1,960.
Travelling from South India to Kashmir in December was magical for Ganesh Nadar as he feasted his eyes on the beauty of the snow-capped Himalayas.
'We participate in the design/development of components and systems for electric vehicles, internal combustion engines, and hybrid vehicles.'
A new XUV, a new logo, and a big bang at the launch! Mahindra revealed its keenly-awaited XUV700 in Chennai on Saturday.
M&M also showcased its new format next generation 'dealership of future' designed by Pininfarina.
Rajesh Karkera/Rediff.com takes the XUV 400, the first electric SUV from the Mahindra stable, for a spin and comes away impressed.
'This case is not a good example of intellectual property strategy for either sector.'
The new Duster will go head-to-head with popular models like Hyundai Creta, Kia Seltos, Volkswagen Taigun, Skoda Kushaq, Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara, Toyota Urban Cruiser Hyryder, MG Astor, etc in the highly competitive mid-size SUV segment.
The company said that while the first quarter numbers were at the pre-pandemic levels, it saw a growth of 34 per cent in sales compared to the April to June period of 2020.
Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Tata Motors reported a decline in wholesales in September as the companies curtailed dispatches to dealers to reduce inventory build-up amid a decline in demand. Maruti Suzuki India reported a 4 per cent dip in total domestic passenger vehicle wholesales last month to 144,962 units compared to 150,812 units in the year-ago month. The auto major said sales of mini segment cars, comprising Alto and S-Presso, grew marginally to 10,363 units against 10,351 units in September 2023.
The soaring prices of metals like lithium, nickel and cobalt, which are the primary constituents of the cell, as well as supply chain bottlenecks, are also pushing up the cost of batteries
The electric vehicle evolution in India's passenger vehicle market has remained frozen in time and may see limited adoption over the next decade, experts say.
From Mumbai to Silvassa in Daman, and back.
While traditional automakers in India are reeling under a global shortage of semiconductors, the country's electric vehicle (EV) makers, too, are now facing a shortage of lithium-ion batteries, a key raw material. The soaring prices of metals like lithium, nickel and cobalt, which are the primary constituents of the cell, as well as supply chain bottlenecks, are also pushing up the cost of batteries. Battery manufacturers say that prices have been increasing every quarter since the beginning of 2021.
Japanese auto major Nissan has roped in Bollywood actor John Abraham as brand ambassador for its standout models to be launched in India including sportscar GT-R and Hybrid SUV X-Trail.
'We are going to have hybrid cars, which, as far as I know, none of our competition is working on, and this includes ethanol.'
Although it has not announced the price bookings, sources say it could be in thousands.
The Centre should provide a clear regulatory pathway that it will follow so that automobile companies can plan their investments and car launches accordingly, Venkatram Mamillapalle, managing director (MD) & chief executive officer (CEO), Renault India Operations, said on Tuesday. Renault is planning to launch five cars - including a B-plus segment sport utility vehicle (SUV), a C-segment SUV and an electric vehicle (EV) - in India in the next three years, he told reporters. In early 2022, the ministry of road transport and highways had announced that cars in India would be required to have six airbags from October 1, 2022.
Hybrids have helped Maruti acquire leadership in SUVs, a segment that was never its forte. Toyota has also risen with the hybrid tide to clock its highest-ever annual sales in 2023.
It is immediately not clear how GST will impact the mass car market. Experts, however, say the level of tax on smaller cars will have to be at a differential to the sedans.
'In terms of incentives, if you think about it, hybrids are a 20-year-old technology.'
'While we have done a few thousand kilometres in India, most of the testing and data collection and analysis has been done in the US, Japan and Europe.'
The company has the largest car park in EVs in India, estimated to be around 170,000 units. As a pilot, it has already started work with used online car marketplace Spinny.
