Peugeot is planning to launch its small and compact car in India and China by the year 2011. The new 5-seater car is expected to be extremely spacious and cater to the growing small car demands in the country. The car is expected to make its debut in next two years which will mark the entry of the company in the small car segment in India.
Peugeot will manufacture its small car in Turkey or Poland. The car will also make its debut in other countries such as Eastern Europe, Central Europe, Russia, Africa, Turkey and South America.
India is one of the biggest auto markets for small car segment. Small car sales in India amount to nearly two-third of the total car sales in the country. Nearly every auto manufacturer plans to introduce its small car in India which would enable to company to expand its market share. Toyota, Ford, Renault-Nissan, General Motors, etc. have already lined up the launches of their small cars in the country. This segment is currently dominated by Maruti Suzuki which occupies more than 50 percent market share.
Tata Nano will soon have a competitor from Honda Siel Cars India Ltd. Bajaj-Renault-Nissan have already announced to launch their Nano competitor in the Indian market and Honda Motor Company from Japan recently shook hands with Siddharth Sriram Group to launch a second small car in India.
The new small car will be a 600cc car that will be launched in the B or B+ segment. The 600cc K-series engine, currently being sold only in Japan, will power the new car model in India. It will roll out from the Rajasthan manufacturing facility and will be designed specifically for the Indian driving conditions.
The company also plans to launch its hatchback model, Jazz, in India which is a premium model powered by a 1200cc engine. It will be available in India by 2009.
Renault Nissan Automotive India Ltd. (RNAI), which is investing about Rs 4,000 crore in its new manufacturing facility at Orgadam, near Chennai, will be rolling out the next-generation Nissan March from this factory in 2010.
RNAI’s plant in Orgadam will start with an initial capacity of 400,000 cars per annum, and apart from domestic sales, Nissan will also be exporting cars to Europe via the Ennore port. A large number of automotive components suppliers will also set up shop near Orgadam because of the Renault-Nissan facility. Nissan Motor India Ltd., which has tied up with Hover Automotive to take care of its car distribution in the country, plans to have more than 50 dealerships in place by 2012.
Tata launched its two commercial vehicles at the beginning of this year, Tata Magic and Tata Winger, priced at Rs. 2.6 lakh and Rs. 4.7 lakh (Ex-showroom), respectively. Magic is basically a passenger version of Tata Ace to address the needs of the rural and urban passenger segment.
Winger is more popular and looks more like a version of the Renault panel van, Traffic. Dilip Chhabaria, India’s leading auto designer, has found Winger to be an attractive automobile. He now plans to modify Winger and plans to sell at least 300-400 Winger vans this year. It is a 9-13 seater passenger vehicle with front facing seats that have options like bottle holders, spot lamps, magazine pockets, etc.
The newly designed Tata Winger will cost Rs 27 lakh. The owner shall get an executive board room on wheels. It will be a completely luxurious vehicle addressing the corporate needs. It will be fitted with LCD screens, Wi-Fi, AV entertainment, etc. Highly ostensible interiors and latest technologically advanced gadgets have always been a part of DC designs and they shall accompany the newly designed model too. It adheres to BS-III norms and comes with 1.5 lakh/ 18 month warranty.
Auto components major, JBM Auto is planning to invest around Rs 245 crore at its plant in Chakan, near Pune. The company will be making body panels for various car manufacturers like Fiat, Tata, M&M and GM. JBM may also manufacture body panels and various other parts for Bajaj-Renault-Nissan’s ultra low cost small car, which will be made at Chakan and is due to be launched in 2010.
Mahindra Renault Pvt. Ltd., a joint venture between Mahindra & Mahindra and Renault S.A. of France, has announced that it has received an additional export order of 500 units of the Logan for South Africa. This is the second order, taking total order size to 1,000 units. The order comes soon after the successful dispatch of 200 units of the Logan to South Africa in September this year.
‘Since its launch in 2007, the Logan has carved a distinct niche for itself in the passenger car segment in India and is now gaining global acceptance. Auto enthusiasts in South Africa can now experience the Logan’s strong value proposition which includes solid build, performance and fuel efficiency,’ says Nalin Mehta, CEO, MRPL.
While the diesel version of the Logan has done reasonably well in certain parts of the country, the Logan’s overall sales performance in India has been relatively poor, which has resulted in Renault and Mahindra rethinking strategy, and holding back on further collaboration on newer Renault products for the Indian market.
The Renault-Nissan alliance recently took another step forward towards the electric car future, when it signed an MoU with EDF, an electric utility company based in France. The aim is to create a large scale, zero-emissions, individual transport and travel system. While this will first be set up in France - by 2011 - the system will later be extended to other European countries, Japan and hopefully Asia, including India.
Renault-Nissan, together with EDF, will develop an ‘electric mobility operator,’ which will supply customers with the infrastructure to recharge their electric vehicles. The goal is to have this infrastructure in place when the first Renault-Nissan EV is launched in 2011.
‘In 2011, we will be able to provide our customers in France with high-performance and affordable electric vehicles,’ says Carlos Ghosn, President and CEO of both Renault and Nissan. With half a dozen companies working on EVs for the Indian market, we’re sure the day can’t be too far off when Renault-Nissan will also look at spreading their EV infrastructure in this country.
In another interesting development, EDF has also agreed to partner PSA Peugeot Citroen, to support the development of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids. The cooperative agreement covers several technological programs, including the definition of business models capable of driving the commercial development of electric vehicles, new energy storage technologies, such as lithium-ion batteries, and vehicle recharging systems and protocols to enable vehicles and the network to communicate during recharging, as well as the standardization of these systems and protocols.
