Numerous foreign Car makers are eyeing Indian automobile market as a profitable investment destination in the next half decade. Some notable ones are Kia Motors, Peugeot Citroen, Toyota's Diahatsu, SAIC and Changan Automotives. As India is emerging to be the third largest automobile market in the world by 2020, the sales of the vehicles is shooting up almost double every year, expected to pace even further with urbanisation and technological upgradations.
Kia Motors, straight from Korea, recently went in talks of looking for feasible locations to set up factories for the production of their cars for Indian buyers. This Hyundai Automakers' Korea based unit aims to kick start the production by 2019 and be in a position to dispatch 3 lakh units/yr. It is popular for its cheap and best cars and might choose Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat or Maharashtra for the first factory setup, nearby Hyundai's Tamil Nadu setup. Though not much has been told about the car to be brought to India or its model or variant. With Hyundai performing good with its A and segment cars, Kia's first small car to make it to India and its performance would be a thing to look forward to.
Recently, even Toyota announced to gear up in the small car segment by bringing low budget technology of Indo-Japanese Daihatsu to India. It might choose its compact SUV Sigra to hit the markets first. With Etios and Liva stading firm on Indian tastes, this might add advantage to Toyota and give it a notch up in the sub-4 meter section too. Even Terios, Xenia, Sirion and Ayla variants are in talks of making it to our country first.
Talking about PSA's Peugeot Citroen, Carlos Tavares, the Chairman spoke about "Push to Pass" project of te company at a gathering in Paris and mentioned how it plans to impetus its luxurious vehicles into Indian markets. They plan to make a pompous entry with 17 products line-up till 2021. It is still to be seen as to how this French Carmaker's plan of action will be executed in detail.
Even Changan Automotives and SAIC is discussing the setup of factories in Pune with Maharashtrian govt. They plan to expand from Indonesia to India, paving way towards Russia, Europe and finally US. But they might face a tough competition with already existing Suzuki and Hyundai motor works as they are trusted by Indian buyers as compared to the upcoming Chinese brands, which carry an image of diminished and short lasting quality. It might take them a lot of time to come out of this mindset.
Not only this, Tesla's model 3 and Hyundai's Lexus is also about to hit the markets this year. It is interesting how so many automobile manufacturers are eager to establish business in here. What is making them curious to do so? The answer is simple. Its the pace with which our country is developing, wtih more and more urban centres coming into existence. With better technology and its education available to our people, the demand is going higher day by day. And to cater this, the major brands all across the world want to grab the opportunity and make the most of the profits out of it.
