Car Articles

The craze for small cars might be in its zenith here in India, But Right now, the big car makers are thinking of switching over to sedans. Toyota, Honda, SkodaAuto, Nissan and the rest are all busy working on cost-effective sedans. Sedans are passenger cars with two rows of seats and enough space in the rear compartment. The major reason for Indians to prefer small cars to the sedans would be the cost. The high rising prices of the sedans become too much of a burden on the average working Indian. Car manufacturers must have thought over this and will be bringing in a change in the Indian car industry.

Car makers are all coming out with new compact cars. The compact cars will be out over a period of 12-18 months. The manufacturers are investing huge sums on these cars as they are being developed from scratch. The same platform will be used for developing sedans as well. Car makers believe that the strategy will shorten the time for return on investment incurred on development of the platform.

The premium sedans of most companies are priced very high, and hence, the market too is relatively smaller in size. So, the manufacturing of low-cost sedans may help. The mid-size or A3 segment of cars showed a 11 per cent increase in sales during the second half of 2009. More than 190,000 cars were sold post April last year. Considering the Indian car market, the demand for sedans may not be as great as that for compact cars. But in spite of everything, a steady growth of sedans has been registered over the recent years. Entry-level sedans like the Swift Dzire and Indigo CS with prices very low have been in constant demand. It goes to show that sedans priced low, may be below Rs 5 lakh, are still affordable to the average middle-class Indian.

Cars like the Ford Ikon and Fiesta, Hyundai Verna, Chevrolet Aveo, Fiat Linea, Maruti SX4 and Mahindra Renault Logan have also survived in India. Although in small numbers, these cars manage to find buyers. Last year, Tata Motors transformed its presence with the launch of the Tata Indigo Manza. The semi-luxury sedan came with a striking price and found takers.

Toyota Kirloskar Motors at the recent Auto Expo in Delhi displayed a compact model. The company will be initiating the production of a sedan based on the same concept compact car. Not much info about the price has been revealed. The company has remained tight-lipped, but says that it will be in the same range as the Swift Dzire. So, it may cost somewhere in the range of Rs. 4.9-5.5 lakh.