Friday, November 25, 2011, AutomotiveWorld.com
US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has announced that 46 innovative transit projects chosen for ...Any questions? Email us or call our Member Services team on +44 29 2070 9302.Our free E-Newsletter service is an excellent way of staying up to date with news and features from around the global auto industry.
» Sign up
Rate this News Article from 1 to 5, where 5 stands for
"Excellent" and 1 stands for "Poor".
09 November, 2011 South Korean car maker Hyundai has lined up 10-15 launches in India in the next four to five years, in an attempt to protect and boost its market share that is under pressure due to increasing competition.
The firm, whose market share in India has fallen to 18.3 percent from 21 percent in the past 12-18 months, plans to overhaul its portfolio with stylish so-called “fluidic” designs and enter categories where it has no presence.
“The excitement in the market is derived out of only new models and the facelifts, so you have to be continuously working towards it,” said Arvind Saxena, vice-president sales and marketing, Hyundai India. The company plans to launch a cost-saving LPG variant of Eon prompted by rising petrol prices.
Also on cards from Hyundai stable are an executive sedan positioned above Verna to take on likes of Chevrolet Cruze and Honda Civic, in addition to variants and facelifts of i10 and i20 in the next few years. Hyundai recently launched its smallest car Eon, pitted against Maruti’s global top seller Alto.
Hyundai’s planned product onslaught comes at a time India’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki has lined up 15-20 cars by 2015. Foreign car markers have also planned a parade of new cars, including 6-8 from General Motors, eight from Ford, and 10-15 from Renault-Nissan.
Backed by the strong economic growth and low penetration of cars, the passenger car market in India has witnessed a strong double digit growth over the last few years and it is expected to maintain a growth of 12-14 percent in the next five years.
However in the first six month of this fiscal, passenger vehicle sales have remained sluggish, growing at 1.84 percent as rising interest rates, firmer commodity prices and stubbornly high inflation dented demand in one of the fastest growing car markets.
“Experts said it is not surprising to see a barrage of new launches as product lifecycles get shorter and competition intensifies.” The basic genesis has to be that it has to offer value and it has to be differentiated from other products.
With Eon at the bottom end and Santa Fe at the top, Hyundai will study all segments within this range that could make sense for the Indian market, Saxena said. With widening price differential between diesel and petrol, Hyundai has not ruled out compact diesel cars in future.
Rate this News Article from 1 to 5, where 5 stands for
"Excellent" and 1 stands for "Poor".
30 June, 2011 Japanese auto major Toyota will hire 2,000 people in India this year as it revs up to bolster market share by launching small cars, pitting itself against established players such as Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai in a market which is showing signs of slowdown fuelled by rising fuel prices and interest rates.
Toyota Kiroskar, a joint venture between Toyota Motor Corp and Kirloskar Motor, will court talent from India as it looks to reduce the number of expats.
“We will require a strong manpower as we introduce new products in the volume segment for customers with different aspirations while we increased the number of expatriates in senior positions in the last two years to 75, now we intend to reduce it. They were part of the initial hand-holding,” said Toyota Kirloskar Motor managing director, Hiroshi Nakagawa.
Toyota Kirloskar added 2,000 people in the last two years to ramp up its employee strength to 5,000 when the booming automobile industry posted its record 30% growth buoyed by rising disposable incomes. Toyota’s rivals such as Volkswagen, Honda, BMW, Audi and Hyundai are offering fatter salaries to lure high performers away from established players like Maruti. Automobile industry currently employs 13 million people and this will go up to 25 million by 2016 as it requires skilled manpower to manage the complexities of growth, according to industry experts.
The move by the world’s largest carmaker by sales to go for largescale hiring stems from its desire to boost share of emerging markets from 40 percent in 2010 to 50 percent in the next 2-3 years, with its growing sales of fuel efficient small vehicles. With global markets such as Japan, North America and Europe showing signs of degrowth, India and China seem to be the focus markets for Toyota. “Indian market is much bigger for us now, than in the past,” Nakagawa said.
The company with products including Corolla, Innova, Camry and Fortuner was addressing only 12 percent of the market. With the launch of the Etios and the Liva, it has gone upto 48 percent. “The next two years, our focus will be the compact, B segment,” said Sandeep Singh, deputy MD, Toyota Kirloskar. The Etios and its variants will be the gamechanger for Toyota in the Indian market.
“Etios will be the flagship product for us. As it was developed and adapted for India, there are a lot of learnings in terms of positioning, pricing and sourcing that been taken up globally,” Singh said. The compact segment currently accounts for more than 50 percent of the car market. Last year the company sold 74,000 units and this year it would touch 140,000 units.
Nissan-Renault- the collaboration structure between Japan based Nissan and French car maker Renault is looking at a significant market share of over 5% in the Indian market by year 2014. Both the companies are targeting the addition of five new cars in their respective portfolio in the coming two years.
Nissan India is aggressively enhancing its product portfolio. The sales & service network is also being improved in the Indian market. The company had a significant debut with the launch of the compact hatchback-Nissan Micra. The company is also planning to role-out its New Global Sedan by the end of next year. These initiatives have offered proper stage for the automaker to unveil the new multipurpose vehicle by next year.
Renault India is also going to launch its solo car in the Indian market. With the launch of its Fluence sedan in the country in May 2011 the company is raring to go. The Fluence model will be launched in the price segment of Rs 10 to 14 lakh. It will be competing with models like Toyota Corolla Altis, Honda Civic and Mitsubishi Lancer. The Renault India is also contemplating to launch a premium crossover Koleos in India by October 2011, followed by 3 more car models in year 2012.
Nissan-Renault JV will be working on its highly ambitious ultra-low-cost (ULC) car project. It will work in association with the leading two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto. The ULC car will thus be launched by year 2012, in the price segment of Rs. 2 lakh and it will take on the world`s cheapest car- Tata Nano.
