'SUV is a very intensely fought category, unlike hatchbacks and cars.'
Tata Motors recorded its highest-ever monthly retail sales in November on the back of robust demand for its sports utility vehicles amid the festive period, according to a top company official. In an interaction with PTI, Tata Motors passenger vehicles managing director Shailesh Chandra said the automaker retailed around 53,000 units in November, which was 8 per cent higher as compared to October this year and 30 per cent up as compared to sales in November 2022. The company also witnessed strong sales performance in the 47 days long festive period this year with registrations of around 79,374 units, up 18 per cent over the same period of last year.
Alto, the Maruti brand synonymous with small cars, introduced the new generation K10 on Thursday, aiming to consolidate its position further amid shrinking demand for hatchbacks. With prices starting at Rs 399,000 and going up to Rs 533,500 (for manual transmission), the new model claims fuel efficiency of 24.90 km per litre. The Japanese car maker, which has been selling 100 Altos every hour for the last 22 years, had discontinued the model in February 2020.
Automakers Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra and Audi India on Monday announced plans to hike prices of their passenger vehicles in January 2024 citing reasons, including cost pressure driven by overall inflation and increased commodity rates. Besides, Tata Motors and Mercedes-Benz India are mulling increasing the prices of their models from January. The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India, which sells a range of vehicles from entry-level small car Alto to multi-utility vehicle Invicto, priced between Rs 3.54 lakh and Rs 28.42 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), on Monday said the price hike would vary from model to model.
Though Maruti Swift remains on top of the list, Hyundai Grand i10 is catching up Soon.
If electric cars with a real range of more than 400 km are launched, the anxiety regarding the charging points will come down, and more people will buy EVs.
Posco Daewoo, the South Korean conglomerate whose Cielo sedan and Matiz hatchback were once the pride of Indian car owners, is looking to re-enter India. And its return journey is riding on plans to sell electric bikes and e-cycles. The company termed India's robust economic growth and surging consumer demand as reasons behind its comeback plans, saying they make India "one of the world's most promising consumer markets," according to Y S Choi, general manager, Posco Daewoo South Korea.
Maruti's strategy for the SUV segment is to arrest the decline in customers for entry level hatchbacks.
The safest car in its segment is now available in a 7-speed automatic transmission avatar, named as the Altroz DCA (Dual Clutch Automatic), says Rajesh Karkera/Rediff.com.
Passenger vehicle sales in India touched a record high of 41.08 lakh units in 2023, growing by 8.3 per cent over the previous year driven by SUVs, which accounted for almost half of the total dispatches from manufacturers to dealers. The record sales have been achieved despite an increase in the average price of vehicles to Rs 11.5 lakh last year as compared to Rs 10.58 lakh in 2022. Market leader Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motor India, Tata Motors and Toyota Kirloskar Motor reported their best-ever annual sales in 2023.
Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) will keep consolidating its existing product line-up, including hatchbacks, while bolstering presence in the fast growing SUV segment to power its way back to 50 per cent market share in the domestic passenger vehicle market, as per a senior company official. The country's largest carmaker, which has seen its market share drop to 43.38 per cent in FY22 from 47.7 per cent in FY21, aims to bring in multiple SUV products with focus on new technologies like hybrid powertrains in order to enhance fuel efficiency, making them comparable or better than diesel-powered models that are currently being sold in the market, especially by its Korean rivals. With no intention of making a comeback in the diesel segment, MSI is also focusing on increasing its play in the CNG segment to bring in additional volumes.
Although it has not announced the price bookings, sources say it could be in thousands.
'The Indian govt's initiatives on EVs are very strong and customers want to buy EVs. This will make the country's conversion to EVs faster than other markets, and I hope even faster than the US'
'At around 16:20hrs [local time] a car collided with the gates of Downing Street on Whitehall,' the Met Police said in a statement.
Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Tata Motors reported their highest-ever dispatches to dealers last fiscal, enabling the domestic passenger vehicle industry to log in best-ever performance to date. The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India reported its highest wholesales to date at 19,66,164 units, up 19 per cent from 16,52,653 units in 2021-22. Its domestic dispatches rose to 17,06,831 units in 2022-23, up 21 per cent from 14,14,277 units in 2021-22 fiscal.Hyundai Motor India said its overall wholesales last fiscal were the highest ever since commencing operations in the country.
Recently Honda launched Brio AT, which was welcomed splendidly by the young auto-freaks in India.
Maruti Suzuki India is eyeing a leadership position in the SUV segment as it continues to add new products across various sub segments, a top company official said on Wednesday. The country's largest carmaker has bolstered its presence in the high volume entry and mid level SUV segments with new Brezza and all new model -- Grand Vitara. "In every segment except SUV, we are the market leader by a distance. "It is only in the SUV that we are behind, so we need to catch up. Clearly, we have to become number one in the SUV space also," Maruti Suzuki India MD and CEO Hisashi Takeuchi said in an interaction on the sidelines of the global unveiling of Grand Vitara.
Diesel is 40 per cent cheaper than petrol and some of the diesel cars are 30 per cent more fuel efficient as compared to their petrol variant.
Reliance Industries, headed by India's richest man Mukesh Ambani, has bought an ultra-luxury Rolls Royce hatchback costing Rs 13.14 crore.
Tata Motors on Wednesday said it has expanded the Tiago range with the launch of a new sporty trim, Tiago NRG, with price starting at Rs 6.57 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). The new sporty version of the hatchback comes with high ground clearance, bigger tyres, body cladding and roof rails to give it a SUV look. The Tiago NRG is powered by 1.2 litre petrol powertrain (86 PS power) which comes mated to five speed manual and AMT (automated manual transmission) transmission. The model has a four star safety rating by Global NCAP.
The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Thursday said it is planning to increase vehicle prices from January next year to offset the impact of the rise in input costs. The price increase would vary from model to model, the auto major said, without sharing the details.
That means a manufacturer looking at a market like India needs to decide whether small, cheap cars or small, expensive cars or both will work better for them, says Pavan Lall.
It is a perfect city car for both your daily office commute and fun weekend drives.
The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India on Monday said it will hike prices across models from next month amid rising input costs. In a regulatory filing, the company said, ".... over the past year the cost of company's vehicles continue to be adversely impacted due to increase in various input costs." Hence, it has become imperative to pass on some impact of the additional cost to the customers through a price rise, it added.
Baidu and the Chinese automaker Geely unveiled a prototype of an AI powered fully autonomous EV hatchback ROBO-01 under tbe brand name Jidu in Beijing on Wednesday, June 8, 2022.
Market leader Maruti Suzuki is putting finishing touches to its plan of finding its feet in what is being hailed as a battle of epic proportions in India's fastest-growing passenger vehicle segment, reports Arindam Majumder.
Tata Motors on Wednesday launched its Tiago EV with introductory prices for first 10,000 customers ranging between Rs 8.49-11.79 lakh
While some of these hatchbacks have been around for years, a few were recent additions.
India is sceptical that Tesla might import into the country cars made in China. Tesla executives were in India last month and appear to have proposed a factory in the country. But do not be surprised if that does not happen in a hurry.
Open order books in February breach 700,000; wait period for some models exceed a year.
When you say the Kawasaki Z1000 hits the three-figure mark, you need to be talking about 200 kmph, because it's in speeding that the humongous machine feels at home.
So let us take a look at the three automatic transmission hatchbacks that are available in the Indian market today.
The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India on Monday said it has hiked prices of hatchback Swift and CNG variants of other models by up to Rs 15,000. The price change for Swift and all CNG variants is owing to an increase in various input costs, Maruti Suzuki India said in a regulatory filing.
While Mercedes-Benz India expects 25 per cent of its India sales to come from EVs in the next four years, BMW says it estimates around 10 per cent of sales to come from those in the near future.
Company officials said it would not be possible to share details, as the study had just begun.
If you want a premium car where you will take to the driver's seat very often this one's for you.
A strong demand for diesel SUVs has bumped up the contribution of these variants to Hyundai Motor India's sales to a three-year high, a company top official told Business Standard. The local arm of the South Korean carmaker has benefitted after some leading manufacturers - including car market leader Maruti Suzuki - pulled the plug on diesel models amid tightening regulations. Hyundai has also gained from the changing travel preference -people are frequenting getaways and taking to the road a lot more than what they did before the pandemic. This trend has been fuelling overall SUV sales.
With the Indian car market growing at the rate of 30 per cent no car maker wants to miss the opportunity.
The country's largest automobile maker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Monday said it will hike prices of its cars in the second quarter of the current fiscal due to increase in the input costs. "Over the past year, the cost of the company's vehicles continue to be adversely impacted due to increase in various input costs. "Hence, it has become imperative for the company to pass on some impact of the above additional cost to customers through a price rise," Maruti Suzuki India said in a regulatory filing.
Among the key concerns of the Street is market share losses in growth segments, led by higher competitive pressures.
