Oktoberfest In India
As Herr Schmitt reported yesterday, it looked like it was going to be a bumper month for the Indian car market. In his article he mentioned that market leader, Maruti Suzuki posted a 39 percent gain, which is impressive considering production constraints is preventing them from selling any more. But let’s have a look at the other players in the Indian motor market.
DNA India reports that number 2 in the Indian car market, Hyundai, recorded its highest ever sales of 34,725 vehicles for the month of October. That represents a 23 percent increase from last year when the sold only 28,301. Tata, number 3, also had a great October with sales rising 22 percent to 24,478 units. Toyota also had reason to celebrate with their sales jumping 17 percent to 6,602 units. This is a bit of a subdued number, but Indian sales figures will be worth watching in 2011 when Toyota will have released their long awaited Toyota Etios. As I’ve reported before, Toyota is launching a market-wide assault. So stay tuned for that. Ford’s sale also exploded with their Figo being a bit hit. Ford sold 9,026 units from 3,458 a year earlier, that’s an increase of 161 percent! General Motors’ sales jumped 36 percent to 10,051 units with the Beat and Spark proving popular. But all of this was small potatoes as Honda killed everyone with sales jumping 43 percent to 505,553 units. Why so big? Well, their units had 2 less wheels. That’s right Honda’s Hero joint venture beat them all. Despite booming car sales, the two wheeler is still king in India. I also noticed that in the article Fiat’s sale figures weren’t there. I wonder why?
No totals for the Indian market yet, they are still counting their good fortunes. All in all, it looks like 30 percent or thereabouts, at least.
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Just checked out the Honda site. A 100cc Honda scooter for $850. That's incredibly cheap. If you managed to separate the engine from the rest of the body (to avoid tariffs) and send it to the states, you would have an amazingly cheap vehicle to run.
I know this is The Truth About Cars. But it would be interesting to see how India's two wheel market stacks up with China's. India has a far richer history with two wheel vehicles and they have made some very competitive models... Bajaj and improved Vespa designs come to mind.
Good report on Chinese 2wheeler industry here. Numbers appear understated. A lot of two and threewheelers are made in local shops from parts.
What is absolutely amazing is the Chinese development in the eBike sector. According to recent reports , China buys 98% of the worldwide eBike production. There are literally thousands of manufacturers. If you want good ones, let me know.