South Korean carmaker, Hyundai has revealed that it is planning to enter the Compact SUV and multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) segments in India. While there is no official word, it is rumoured that the company will launch a compact SUV sometime next year.

The compact SUV segment has been growing at a fast pace with players like Ford and Renault leading the way. Additionally, Mahindra has been readying a new vehicle and Maruti, Honda, Tata and Volkswagen are expected to jump into the fray as well. Hyundai will not want to be left behind.

The MPV segment has also seen good growth. With Hyundai's competitors, Maruti and Honda doing well with the Ertiga and recently launched Honda Mobilio respectively, it is obvious that it's only a matter of time before the Korean manufacturer enters the segment. Nissan's budget brand, Datsun is also gearing up to launch the GO+, which will make the competition even stiffer.

In the last two years, Hyundai has launched five new models, including the Elantra, Grand i10 Grand  Santa Fe, Xcent and Elite i20. The company's market share has grown from 20.4% in the period January - July 2013 to 21.6% for the same period in 2014.

Source: Economic Times

Note: Images used for representation purpose only.

Honda has shifted its focus from offering premium vehicles in India to products catering to the mass market. Recently, the company launched the Mobilio - a people carrier, making it Honda's fourth car in the sub 10 lakh rupees category, after the Brio, Amaze and City, with the CR-V being the company's only premium offering in India. Honda has now begun development of two more vehicles - a small hatchback and a compact SUV. Both these new cars will be based on the same GSP platform as that of the Brio and Mobilio and are likely to hit the showrooms by 2017.

The small car will be priced below Rs.4 lakh and will compete with cars like the Maruti Wagon R, Hyundai i10 and the Chevrolet Beat. The hatchback segment contributes to nearly 51% of total car sales in the country and this new car from Honda is expected to drive significant volumes for the company.

The sub 4 meter compact SUV is a rapidly growing segment in India and Honda will develop the new compact SUV to compete with Ford's EcoSport, which has received an over-whelming response from Indian car buyers. Big players such as Maruti, Mahindra and Hyundai too are expected to introduce their offerings in this segment soon.

Honda is focusing on expanding its dealership and service network from 107 to 150 cities in India, by March 2015.

Clearly, the company now aims to penetrate into the volume segment in India and it has been successful with this strategy too. Recently, Honda was the 3rd largest selling automobile company in India in June 2014, overtaking M&M. Adding products from these two new segments to their existing product line, the company aims to increase its market share to double digits in India.

Source: The Economic Times

Volkswagen India is said to be in the final stages of approval of a project concerning the development of a sub 4-metre sedan. Shortly, the company is expected to reach out to vendors with the request for quotations for the supply of components. If the project, which is codenamed VW251\2, gets the final approval, the first lot of new vehicles could roll off the production line in 2016. VW may hire an Indian company to design the sub 4-meter sedan. Apart from the sedan, Volkswagen is also considering a sub 4-metre SUV.

Not to be left behind is Nissan Motor India, which is believed to have planned 10 vehicles for India by 2016-17. Among these, a sub 4-metre Sunny and sub 4-metre SUV are likely to be on the company's priority list. Nissan is, at the moment, studying the trends of sub 4-metre segment and working to arrive at the right price-value equation. Nissan India's Japanese parent is yet to give a go-ahead to the project.

In India, sedans and SUV less than four metres long attract lesser duties. This is reflected in their selling prices, which are considerably lower than those measuring more than four metres in length. The sub 4-metre sedan and SUV segments as a result are proving to be very lucrative for car manufacturers. The Maruti Suzuki Dzire leads the sedan race followed by the Honda Amaze. Hyundai has recently launched the Xcent and the Tata Motors is not far from introducing the Zest in the market. Ford displayed the Figo Concept sedan at the 2014 Auto Expo, which could be put on the roads soon as well. Coming to SUVs, Ford dominates the segment with its EcoSport crossover.

Source: Economic Times

Nissan wants to increase its market share in India from 1.1% to 10% over the next 3-4 years. For that, it plans to tap into the lucrative sub-four-metre sedan and light SUV segments.

The company has revealed that it has plans to focus on the two segments and launch vehicles accordingly. Nothing is known about these products at the moment, but we expect the Micra hatchback to be used as a base for the same.

The automobile industry in India is going through the worst slump in its history. However, the compact SUV and compact sedan segments have seen tremendous growth. This is because, passenger cars with a length of less than four metres, attract substantially lesser excise duty than those longer than 4 metres. This has made sub 4-metre SUVs and sedans popular in the country, which in turn has prompted more and more manufacturers to produce them. The Maruti Dzire and Honda Amaze are currently dominating the segment. Other manufacturers Ford, Fiat, Hyundai, Tata Motors, General Motors, Volkswagen and Skoda have either displayed sub 4-metre sedans and SUVs that will be launched in the near future or revealed their intentions of entering the segment.

Source: Business Standard

The compact SUV market in India is growing at a fast pace with Ford leading the way and other major players like Toyota, VW and Maruti Suzuki gearing up to jump in the fray in the near future. Now it appears that General Motors wants to get a piece of the action as well.

If a report on Autocar India is to be believed, the American auto giant intends to unveil a Chevrolet-badged, compact SUV concept, based on Gamma 2, its global small car platform, at the Auto Expo in February 2014. The car is likely to be powered by the same 1.3-litre, 77 bhp, diesel engine and 5-speed manual gearbox, which are found in the Sail and Enjoy. GM can be expected to keep the length of the SUV under 4 metres to benefit from the lower excise duty in India. 

Other cars to be displayed at the Chevrolet pavilion will include a facelifted Beat, the Corvette C7 Stingray, Camaro and Trailblazer.

Note: Images used for representation purpose only. Image coutesy: Leo Andrade Design

Honda has confirmed four new cars for the Indian market in the form of the 2014 Jazz hatchback, the new City sedan, the Jazz-based compact SUV and a 7 seat MPV (possibly based on the Brio platform). Buoyed by the Amaze compact sedan's success in India, particularly that of the diesel engined model (Nearly 80% of the Amaze car models sold by Honda have been diesel powered), the Japanese car maker will bombard the Indian car market with diesel engined cars.

The 1.5 Liter i-DTEC turbo diesel engine, a derivative of the 1.6 Liter i-DTEC EarthDreams motor that powers the European Civic and CR-V models, is expected to spearhead Honda's diesel car blitz. According to the HinduBusinessLine, all four upcoming Honda cars for the Indian car market will feature diesel engines. The first car in this quartet will be the next generation, Honda Jazz hatchback. The car, based on an all new platform, will be available with petrol and diesel engine options for India. Click here to read more about the 2014 Jazz. 

The new Jazz platform will underpin two other Honda cars in the form of the 2014 City sedan and the compact SUV. The 7 seat MPV, which is expected to be based on the Brio platform, will take on the likes of the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga and the upcoming Chevrolet Enjoy Compact MPV. The Brio based MPV could make its debut in Indonesia later this year. All four of the new Honda car models are expected to be launched in India by the end of 2015. 

Once all four of the new cars are launched in India, the Jazz and Brio platforms will play host to 3 cars each. The Jazz platform will underpin the Jazz hatchback, City sedan and the compact SUV. The Brio platform will underpin the Brio hatchback, the Amaze compact sedan and the upcoming 7 seat MPV. Cars based on the Jazz platform will come with premium price positioning while the Brio platform based cars will be models aimed at garnering the big volumes.  

By jumping on to diesel power in a big way, Honda India hopes to take advantage of the sharply skewed Indian car market, in which buyers have been showing a preference for diesel powered cars. Diesel engined cars are inherently more fuel efficient, have better resale value and come with lower running costs (based on current prices of petrol and diesel) when compared to petrol engined cars. However, the future could bring its share of challenges for diesel cars as the Indian government's diesel deregulation program could restore parity between petrol and diesel prices. 

 Images courtesy Kodansha-BC and TheophilusChin