With Onam and Raksha Bandhan just around the corner, the festival season is ready to kick off in full swing. As people embrace the celebratory spirit, companies anticipate a surge in sales this year. Consumer durables firms are expecting strong growth of 40-50 per cent in the premium segment during the upcoming season. Appliance makers also foresee increased demand for cooling appliances - refrigerators and air conditioners - which were impacted by unseasonal rainfall.
The January-March quarter (Q4) results for 2024-25 (FY25) from the country's largest passenger vehicle (PV) maker, Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL), were a mixed bag, with revenues broadly in line but operating profit missing Street expectations. Given cost pressures, margins at the operating level were the lowest in the past seven quarters.
German automotive giant Volkswagen (VW) has said it will focus on the premium sedan/sport utility vehicle (SUV) segment and avoid the mass hatchback segment. "Customers don't expect anything less than a premium product from VW. "Customers expect a certain level of quality and driving dynamics. We have to stay true to that DNA. "The day we go mass, customers will reject us," says Ashish Gupta, brand director, VW India.
According to experts, even if an additional 5 per cent of people opt to buy new vehicles, it may bring a huge boost to the sector.
However, the company has not provided a timeline for the launch of the small electric car.
There are reasons behind the popularity of hatchbacks in India. They are the least expensive to buy, economical to maintain, easy to drive on crowded Indian roads, and take less space to park due to their size.
The new year will see a line of hatchbacks (including compact SUVs) hit the Indian roads. Rajesh Karkera/Rediff.com offers a peek.
With the hatchbacks selling like hotcakes, almost every car manufacturer is keen to launch a hatch in India.
Major Indian carmakers are preparing for sluggish domestic PV sales growth of just 1-2 per cent in FY26.
India's used car market, which has been growing steadily at 10-12 per cent over the last 2-3 years, is expected to reach $40 billion in FY26.
Hatchbacks in India are very appealing and easy on the pocket, which prompts majority of the middle class population to opt for them.
Unveiled in December last year, the Altroz, which is the industry's first BSVI diesel-ready car. is also the first vehicle model based on the brand's Alfa platform and the second vehicle showing the Impact 2.0 design language. Besides Altroz, Tata Motors also launched the BSVI versions of Nexon, Tiago and Tigor.
The hatchback market is getting very competitive with almost all big players flooding it with trendy models to get a piece of this lucrative pie.
Sedans and hatchbacks have both lost market share to SUVs, which now account for more than 50% share of the 4 million-odd-unit PV market in the country.
Just narrow down your search based on your budget and specific requirements.
Here is a low down on the most searched hatchbacks online across the nation in February.
The year 2011 too has a number of hatchbacks ready to be launched.
While sales of hatchbacks were quite impressive in February and March, the burden of excise duty had its toll, and in April, the figures were quite subdued.
The new Kiger has enough in it to draw you away from the hatchback you've been eyeing.
Tata Motors is seeking an image makeover with the curvaceous hatchback, Zica.
Tata Motors is the leader in the electric car market with about 62 per cent share.
The Tiago NRG is available in a single fully loaded variant that has all the features from a start-stop button to a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system, says Rajesh Karkera.
This Diwali the Indian car buyer has ample choices to decide what they want to drive home.
A farmer's family in Gujarat's Amreli district has become the talk of the town after they held a grand burial event for their 'lucky' car.
Overall, volume growth is likely to be in the range of 3-8 per cent for two-wheelers and 5-7 per cent for passenger vehicles owing to healthy demand from urban and rural areas and pending order books.
The car was expected to have a price tag of Rs 10 lakh and launch was slated for this June.
Auto majors report positive sales figs for November.
There are no official confirmed dates available but here's a look at what they have to offer.
Fiesta hatchback was launched in the US a while back and the car has been getting good reviews.
With the rapid growth of the Indian market many new carmakers are going to enter the country and the existing ones are going to come up with newer models.
Maruti Suzuki had discontinued the mid-sized sedan Baleno in 2006, which was replaced by SX4 later on.
Prices of various car models -- ranging from entry-level hatchbacks to high-end luxury offerings -- are set to rise as automakers have announced price hikes with effect from January. Carmakers cite an increase in input costs and operational expenses as the main reason to implement price increases from the next month. Industry experts, however, note that the exercise is also undertaken by automakers every year in December to shore up sales volume in the last month of the year, as customers postpone buyouts to later months to get the new year manufactured units.
However, raised prices of its sport-utility vehicles by up to Rs 11,000.
Tata Motors is banking on revotron engine to tap the petrol passenger car segment with three modes of drive.
Tata Indica, the Tata Group's big passenger car bet, was not delivering expected returns a year into its launch. Desperate, the Tata Motors brass, led by Ratan Tata, acceded to a meeting request from Ford Motors for a possible sale of the passenger vehicles division to the American auto major. Some people had advised Tata to sell the business, and the Ford officials came to Bombay House to hold talks.
Figo will be powered by a 1.0-litre EcoBoost engine.
From Fiat to Ford and Maruti to Hyundai, almost all carmakers are now opting to introduce a diesel car.
Kite is reported to launch by mid-2015.
In India, major demand is for hatchback cars.
