Small goes big, big goes small

Dozen two-wheelers, 30 passenger cars and CVs unveiled.

Small car makers moved on to unveil bigger vehicles and premium automobile manufacturers hedged bets on compacts at the 11th edition of the Auto Expo, which started here today. Over a dozen two-wheelers and 30 passenger and commercial vehicles were unveiled today.

India’s largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL), which has seven of its 14 products in the compact category, unveiled a concept sport utility vehicle (SUV), XA Alpha. With the global launch of Ertiga tomorrow, MSIL will foray into the multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) space.

Managing Director and CEO Shinzo Nakanishi said, “We need to create new segments to increase sales. Utility vehicles account for 14 per cent of the passenger vehicle market and we have negligible presence in the category. The launch of Ertiga would be a test case to gauge customer needs for bigger vehicles.”

Compact cars constitute 60 per cent of all passenger vehicles sold in India. With high interest rates and fuel prices hitting hard entry-level consumers, the segment recorded an eight per cent drop in sales between April and November.

“In the last six months, four small cars have been launched, including the Hyundai Eon. There is only so much the market can absorb,” said Arvind Saxena, director (sales & marketing), Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL). HMIL today took the covers off its concept MPV, Hexa Space, and put on show cross-over UV Veloster and a refreshed Sonata. While India is unlikely to shift significantly to larger vehicles over the next five-seven years, rising aspiration levels in urban centres have created a new segment of buyers willing to upgrade to premium vehicles.

German automakers, which have straddled the market with limousines and SUVs, announced the introduction of small cars to rev up volumes. While BMW introduced four variants of Mini, priced Rs 24.90-31.99 lakh, Mercedes announced plans to bring in B-Class hatchbacks by the year-end and A-Class cars next year.