Hot wheels

It’s a recession, right? Not the time for hot sexy wheels and a spate of spiffy new cars on the road. Wrong. The newspapers and news channels may be spewing bad economic news and painting pictures of doom and gloom —but that’s not stalling the country’s top automakers.

Get ready for a spate of new launches and glittering new autos. Everything from Porsche’s first four-door sports sedan, the much-awaited Panamera, to the cutesy little Honda Jazz. (It’s called the Honda Fit in other markets).

“The Indian automobile industry continues to be among the most promising car industries across the globe in spite of the recession,” says Thomas Kuehl, board member, sales & marketing, ŠkodaAuto India.

The new models hitting the roads come in all shapes, sizes — and, of course, makes. Would you like to drive the stunning Panamera Turbo with its unique interiors, which has a central console that runs from the dashboard to the rear seats? The Panamera Turbo costs a cool Rs 2.1 crore. Or how about the latest BMW 7 Series saloon at around Rs 93 lakh? As for those with a, shall-we-say, more modest budget, there’s General Motors’s (GM) new mini-car, expected to cost around Rs 4 lakh.

The biggest battles will probably be seen in the compact car segment, where a spate of new hatchbacks are revving up and getting ready to hit the road. In the mid-market segment too, you’ll have new sedans like the Chevrolet Cruze.

The automakers are hoping these new cars will help to kickstart sales, which stalled in 2008-09, growing by a mere 1.3 per cent. Look at the buzz generated by the Nano, after all. Certainly, the auto companies are hoping that some of that excitement will spread to other segments too. Says Jnaneswar Sen, vice-president, marketing, Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI): “New car launches during the lean phase, especially those that meet new consumer demands, will play an important role in boosting sales.”

Indeed, luxury car sales have already accelerated in the first quarter of 2009. Benoit Tiers, managing director, Audi India, which sold 384 cars or 76 per cent more cars in this quarter over the first quarter of 2008, believes this market is “maturing very fast”. “We’re optimistic that this growth trend will continue,” he says.

Hatch it up

Take a look at the new wheels racing into the premium hatchback space, where car-makers are packing in the features of a sedan into a compact car.

Honda, which is riding high in the sedan space, is shifting gears to enter what has been Maruti Suzuki’s and Hyundai India’s turf so far with its new Honda Jazz. The spacious five-door car, coming in mid-2009, will be pitted against large hatchbacks like Hyundai’s new i20, the Škoda Fabia and the long-awaited Grande Punto from Fiat.

“We’ve established leadership in the premium segment. Now, we plan to consolidate it with the Honda Jazz, our premium compact car. It will be the first of its kind in India,” asserts Sen. He believes the car’s “combination of style and practicality” will differentiate it in the crowded marketplace.


Meanwhile, Fiat India Automobiles will finally launch the Grande Punto in the June-September quarter. “The Grande Punto was the European Car of the Year in 2008. We have no doubts that it will do well in India too,” says a Fiat India spokesperson.

The Grande Punto is based on the Linea platform, and it’s likely to come in two petrol versions (1.2-litre and 1.4-litre) and with a 1.3 multi-jet diesel engine option too. It will sport frills like Fiat’s Blue & Me in-car bluetooth system too so that you can use your cellphone handsfree.

But will value-for-money-seeking Indians pay over Rs 5.5 lakh-Rs 6 lakh for a hatchback? After all, a sedan like the Swift Dzire costs just Rs 5.6 lakh(base model, ex-showroom, Mumbai).

Honda’s Sen feels that the Indian consumer, exposed to the latest international trends, is changing. “While a good chunk of car buyers still head for the traditional family cars, a growing section is now willing to experiment with new designs and concepts,” he says.

Market leader Maruti Suzuki also believes that the Indian market is evolving. “People are opting for more feature-packed cars within a segment. They’re looking for ‘premium-ness’,” says a company official.

Keeping that in mind, the country’s largest car-maker is bringing more choice to hatchback customers. After launching the A-Star in November, it’s now bringing another premium hatchback — the Maruti Splash or Ritz as it will be called in India.

The tall-body car with high seats is built on the Swift platform. It will be positioned a little above the Swift (which ranges from Rs 4.2 lakh to Rs 5.4 lakh ex-showroom, Mumbai), and will be powered by Suzuki’s new KB series engines. Expect a diesel version too.

Meanwhile, Škoda India has lined up variants of the Fabia like the Fabia 1.2 Elegance, out soon.

Small is big

Now, if you’re one of those people who’ll only drive a small car that has pedigree, there’s news for you too. For coming up by 2009-end is the iconic Volkswagen Beetle.

Meanwhile, the battle royale for the entry-level small car, which everyone from Toyota to Ford to Nissan-Renault to Škoda is gearing up for, is still a couple of years away. But GM India ain’t waiting. It’s launching a brand new petrol mini-car by year-end. This one’s likely to cost around Rs 4 lakh.

“It’s a brand new car and will be launched globally in India and some other markets,” says P. Balendran, vice-president, GM India. And no, he adds, “We’re not competing with the Nano, that’s in a completely different segment.”

Cruise control

GM will also drive in a new compact sedan, the Chevrolet Cruze, by September. The car made its debut as the Daewoo Lacetti Premiere in Korea last October.

“The Cruze will be positioned above the Optra,” says Balendran. The base-model Optra costs around Rs 8.2 lakh ex-showroom in Mumbai.

You can expect other sedan variants too like the new Laura from Škoda, which is expected by mid-2009.

Come September and you’ll also see a spanking new SUV from Toyota Kirloskar Motors, the Toyota Fortuner. (It’s called the Toyota Hi-Lux in some markets). Powered by a 3-litred advanced common-rail diesel engine and based on the Innova platform, the Fortuner will be priced around Rs 20 lakh. Incidentally, ŠkodaAuto too will launch an SUV, the Yeti, early next year.

Luxury on wheels

Meanwhile, the luxury car-makers are steering full-speed ahead too. In fact, Mercedes-Benz India, BMW India and Audi India have already launched several new cars this year.

Mercedes, for instance, launched its new M Class SUV and a limited-edition E-Class too recently. “India has a huge latent demand for luxury cars,” says Suhas Kadlaskar, director, corporate affairs and human resources, Mercedes-Benz India, pointing out that the Indian market for luxury vehicles is barely five per cent of the Chinese luxury car market.

One sign of the change, he adds, is the falling age of its entry level Mercedes C-Class (which costs around Rs 25 lakh) buyer. The new C-Class buyer is just 35-37 years on average today as compared to 50-55 in earlier years.

Meanwhile, its nearest rival, BMW is even more aggressive. In January alone, BMW launched its luxurious all-new BMW 7 Series saloon, the 750Li, priced at a cool Rs 93.3 lakh, the new BMW 3 Series cars and a diesel variant of its compact luxury SUV, the X3.

Then in February came its spanking new sports activity coupe, the X6, which combines the sporting elegance of a BMW coupe with the power of a BMW X model. Now, coming up by mid-2009 are two more models of the BMW 7 Series, the 740Li and 730Ld.

Meanwhile, Audi India’s Tiers expects the company’s sales to grow by 30 per cent in 2009. Some of this will come from new launches. There’s a new version of its luxury sedan, the A6, due in May. And in June, Audi will launch its compact SUV, the Q5.

Now, if you want to drive into more rarified realms with a true-blue sports car, check out the action at Porsche. After launching its new Boxster and Cayman models and a diesel Cayenne this year, Porsche is now bringing the Panamera to India. Porsche will first unveil this four-door sports car at the Shanghai Motor Show starting tomorrow. And it will bring it to India by September-October.

“Most of our customers have dreamt of owning a Porsche since they began their career. It’s this passion that’s driving them even when the market is sluggish,” says Rod Wallace, managing director, Precision Cars India, the official Porsche importer for India.

The luxurious Panamera is fired by a V8 power unit and has several first-in-the-world features like an automatic stop/start function, whereby the engine switches off automatically when the car comes to a standstill. And yes, it’s priced from a cool Rs 1.44 crore (ex-showroom Mumbai) for the base Panamera S to Rs 2.05 crore for the Panamera Turbo.

Clearly, then, with cars ranging from Rs 4 lakh to Rs 2 crore, there’s enough on offer coming up for car lovers in the months ahead.


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