A(3)s good as it gets

IIPM PUBLICATION

In the Rs.5-8 lakh range, there is an intense battle going on between Maruti Esteem, Tata Indigo, Honda City, Hyundai Accent And Verna, Ford Ikon and Fiesta and GM’s Chevrolet Aveo. Ford has captured much of the windfall last year, as it registered a gain in domestic sales by over 47% to reach 39,822 units for the year ending March 2007 and is now literally Breathing down the leader Honda’s (sales of 40,464 units) neck. Even traditional laggard GM has shown some bite with sales increasing by a huge 128% to reach 10,726 units. The main losers were Maruti Udyog and Tata Motors (of Rs.1 lakh fame!) with sales decline of 7% and 12.8% respectively.

The players look upbeat for the future as well. From the fifty car launches scheduled for this year, over half are anticipated from the A3 segment. The Suzuki SX4 and Mahindra Logan have already made a mark in the industry. The SX4 has specially been designed for upcoming markets like India, Eastern Europe and Turkey. For Mahindra-Renault, things couldn’t have been better. Renault’s Logan, which was doing exceptionally well in overseas market, is now being produced to suit Indian roads. Even Fiat, which had earlier failed to penetrate Indian market, is now planning to get in Linea and Grand Punto in 2008. Even premier brand Skoda is coming up with Fabia in A3 segment.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative