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17 Jul 2013

What's the car market like in India?

That might seem like a strange question but I regularly flick through several international websites to see what's going on in the world, and one of the more interesting is Indian motoring website www.cartoq.com

The Indian car market is hugely different to that of Europe, US and UK.  In India small, or rather cheap, cars are king.  Cartoq recently published an article entitled "Big ticket car launches in the past three months" which focussed on the market they believe most important - low price, high volume.

The only luxury car in Cartoq's list is the Mercedes A Class.  In India it retails for £24,000 (2,200,000 Rupee) and has sold 400 units since it was launched at the end of May.  Cartoq calls the A Class a super luxury hatchback and reckons that this is a new segment in the market.

Another European car is the Polo GT.  It sells for £8,846 in India - which Cartoq reckons is overpriced but despite that it is selling well.

Fiat don't seem to be doing any better trying to sell a mid-sized car in India than anywhere else.  The Fiat Linea T-Jet costs £8,400 and has been well reviewed but has only managed to sell 174 units in June.  In a country with a population of 1.24 billion that's a pretty poor show.
Honda, on the other hand, can't make enough Amazes to satisfy demand.  The Honda Amaze costs from £5,425 but Honda can only make 6,000 a month and demand for the compact saloon is outstripping supply.
Ford knew it was on to a winner when it took the Ecosport out of its native Brazil and sold it worldwide.  The Ecosport costs £6,532 and Ford can produce 10,000 a month - yet there is already a 6 month waiting list.
The Mahindra Verito Vibe represents domestic Indian manufacturers in the list.  It costs just £6,200 and is a hatchback created from the previous generation Veriton saloon.  Cartoq reckon Mahindra were hoping that the Verito Vibe would boost sales but they've remained fairly flat since its launch.
Cartoq is a great website, and is published in English, if you want to have a look at what is going on in one of the world's largest car markets.

This link takes you to all the recent new car launches on the Indian market.

All images: Cartoq