Analysts were waiting anxiously for April sales numbers in India. India is an important growth market. It is far behind China, but it is waking up. Last year was the best in six years. Car sales in India had been up 25 percent to 1.53m units in the fiscal year ended March 31. Everybody had been expecting sales to ease as government stimulus measures are withdrawn and loan rates increase. Early data coming from India indicate that the market is not abating.
Maruti Suzuki rules the market in India, two out of every three small cars sold in India are Suzukis. Today, Suzuki said that they sold a total of 93,058 vehicles in April, a 30 percent rise from a the same period in the year before. As goes Maruti Suzuki, so goes India.
Domestic sales of Maruti Suzuki were up 23 percent, exports skyrocketed by 89 percent. This also might have something to do with the trend described below.
Higher prices, caused by higher taxes, rebounding steel prices and stricter emission rules could not dampen the robust demand in the country, says The Nikkei [sub] that keeps a close eye on the subcontinent.
Maruti’s rival, Hyundai Motor India Ltd., also announced an up month for April. Hyundai’s domestic sales in India were up 28 percent to 28,501 units. 23,519 units were exported, a tepid 6 percent rise.
GM India is up 100 percent in April. But with only 10,601 units sold, they are nobody compared to Suzuki. The rise is accredited to the recently launched Chevrolet Beat, 3852 units left dealers’ lots during April.
The biggest percentage gainer is Ford India. They more than tripled their April sales. To not overly impressive 7,509 units.
India is owned by Maruti Suzuki, with Korean Hyundai next. All the others are bit players. It will be a few years until India comes close to the importance of China, but with a population of more than 1.1b, this is definitely the market where you want to be in the long run.
I hear the Tata Nano is burning up the market.
“Everybody had been expecting sales to ease as government stimulus measures are withdrawn and loan rates increase.”
Who is this everybody?
While, India is an important growth market it ain’t fun to play in . Analysts, from NY times to The Economists, have been saying India is the future and everything, but they can never get their stuff together to get there. If they are so good then their current economic standing should be like that of China but it’s not. It’s ridden with bombings and tensions between a caste system, Pakistan, and China. Russia just sold India some weapons as wholesale prices because of China’s military emergence.
I also don’t think they have the infrastructures to sustain the growth anyway if there is or will be any major growth. Sure their middle class are growing and are empowered by money with the economic growth but there aren’t enough jobs out there to give to them anyway. It’s, the growth/future, just at the ebb like some sort of mirage but in reality it’s ain’t going to get there anytime soon. China’s yuan is also killing their growth which India’s Prime Minister is trying to get them to appreciate it. I’ve been looking at their stocks for about five years now and they do terrible. Their tech industry is up and down, it’s going up now but seriously their programming skills lacks basic and fundamental software engineering skills.
So, to your “this is definitely the market where you want to be in the long run” comment, there are too many things that can fudge up their market. Markets can’t handle the unknown factors, in fact they do it terribly, and India have too many unknown factors. Russia was suppose to be the next big thing a while back too. But their declining population have killed their economy and Nissan pulled out. Putin demanding money from Nissan didn’t help either.
If anything, Vietnam is a good market to stick for the long haul. Not that I’m from there causing me to consider this, but because they don’t have crazy conflicts that India have that can fudge up the market. USA is also a good market to stick to ^_^, not because I’m living here, but because it’s the only developing/first world country to still have a positive birthrate well into the 2020s where as Japan, Europe, Russia, S. Korea, and China have declining birthrates.
And India doesn’t have any good cars. Ok one, Ian Callum’s XK, due to Tata taking over Jaguar.
India has one huge advantage: They are part of the Commonwealth former British colony group of countries that acquired rule of law, democracy, and some English language proficiency. Been able to work on the same team with engineers from Bangalore with not that much language related communication difficulty. Time zone difference was the major problem.
Seems like mythicalprogrammer is pissed of India because, some Indian programmer kicked his read-end at work. BTW, most of the ‘facts’ is your post are half-truths at best.
Ford is up because of their competitively priced Figo. Next month, we should start seeing VW on the charts as sales of their just released Polo begins to take impact.
What profit (or loss) are Ford and GM making when selling so few cars in such a large country? I mean with those numbers the cost of the overhead (advertisement, dealer network, shop training etc.) is huge.
In addition this probably is not a very high margin per car market.
Since when do they (try to) sell cars there? I almost think Ferrari (which is a niche player) sells more cars :-)
India is the market that the US automakers should be making the play for, not China. China, with it’s ridiculous rule that foreign companies have to have a 50/50 joint venture equity partner is just dangling quick profits as a lure for future pain. What happens once the Chinese equity partner figures out it can go it alone, steals all of the IP (as the Chinese are known to do) and the US company is left holding its proverbial dick?
India is the side to be on. There is going to be major military conflict in Eurasia at some point in the near future. Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Turkey, and a handful of other nations have too much going on and too much riding on dominance of the region to play nice. While China has dreams of being a superpower India doesn’t seem to include global supremacy in it’s list of goals. India is the smart bet, even if it seems like it will take a bit more work at the moment to make things happen.
Suzuki’s dominance is due to the fact that Maruti started out as a joint venture of the Indian government and Suzuki to produce indigenous Indian cars. Essentially they were the first modern car company in India.
By now, the government has divested all its shares and Suzuki controls the company. Maruti is a major strategic asset of Suzuki and like everyone else, they plan on using India as an export hub to the rest of Asia. Unlike everybody else, they’re already well established on the subcontinent.
If I’m not mistaken, a large amount of Maruti’s sales are still for the Maruti 800, a car that is now a bit dated.
One thing the Indian market does have is competition. After Tata announced the Nano, Renault hooked up with three-wheeler mfg Bajaj to make a low cost car, and Hyundai has also said they’ll be making a cheap small car.
It’s a completely different market than Europe or the US, or even China. To give you and idea, one of Tata’s big sellers is the Ace mini pickup, very popular with farmers and small business owners. It has a 700cc engine that puts out 16hp.
16HP, and it’s rated for about a ton.
I’m always bemused by people that think their F150 needs 300 BHP.
America was built with massive dumptrucks with less HP/TQ than a current Honda V6.
Delusions of grandeur and all that…
It’s possible to use a 600-700cc motor for most uses. Towed my car once with a 600cc Suzuki pick-up. But you’ll have to put up with some really un-american speeds… say 30 mph or less… and at full load these things drink gas like crazy.
The 800 constitutes around 10% of Maruti’s sales in India and an even smaller portion of its overall production when one factors in exports. It used to be Maruti’s biggest seller a few years ago but not anymore. Its biggest seller in India is the Alto.
My goodness, there are some well-reasoned, logical arguments in the nether regions floating above.
Can’t agree with all since there are conflicting arguments but my lack of agreement OR agreement does NOT (of course) make the written opinions above right or wrong or left.
Never been to India and have no desire to go there but from the little read about the place seems to be a bureaucratic nightmare not conducive to the creation of a modern 1st-world nation-state.
Me thinks that before contemplating the manufacture of personal motorized transportation devices that, perhaps, rototillers that assist in the growing of comestibles might be a growing market or, if that need is filled, small low-powered “mules” that assist farmers in various ways as labor-saving devices may be the best utilization of resources to ensure India’s burgeoning population is fed.
Then work on the byproducts of feeding to keep the water disease free and reduce the impact of hordes of humans upon the environment.
Best would be urging the human herd to cease whelping so many pups.
Imagine if their HUGE herd was MUCH smaller and remained that way.
More room for everybody!!!! More resources.
And, the “wonders of diversity” and multi-culturalism that causes so much strife across the planet (and may eventually tear the USA apart despite the ongoing brainwashing that (gag) “diversity is our strength”… heaven forbid that common bonds be given any impetus)
and reveals that strife in India and Sri Lanka may be curtailed by having extra room to allow disparate beliefs, cultures, religions etc. to dwell apart and be able to not be forced to coexist where peaceful living may require the iron fist of a dictatorial warlord (as seen with Iraq and Sadaam Hussein).
Respect the rototiller!!!!!!
Power to the 3-point hitch!!!!!
All hale the mighty water pump and well drilling device!!!!
The back-hoe and skip-loader, even small scaled-down versions, can be a wondrous friend to civilization.
And far fewer humans can result in the individual being of far more value to society than being a speck among billions.
Ford Figo is good overall, excpet for the below mentioned factors:
AC Compressor right behind the front grill – very prone to damage even in a minor bump
Sluggish pickup in 1st & 2nd Gear – alomost to the point of engine stalling, very frightening in Indian Cirty Driving & Traffic conditions
Shifting Gears is not so smooth
Low mileage on Highway – only 12 Kms approximately
Low Road Clerance for driving over Bangalore Road Humps – scrapes the Hump very easily if not taken over the hump very very carefully at dead slow speeds
Headlight – not so bright as required
Windscreen reflects the Dash Board that superimposes the image of the Vehicles in front causing co-ordination and distance confusion when maneuvering traffic
I have personally taken up the issue with Ford and the Dealer directly, and they have assure dme to look into the matter and “try” to “rectify” the issue after due testing – hoping they do, if not I have to opt for a change in Car again
Thank you & Regards,
Sudhakar G k
destiny.karmic@gmail.com