#India

Speaking of GM’s future lineup, there’s no sign in GMI’s 2013 projected lineup of the on-again-off-again Spark city car (A-Segment) that we had heard would be here now. Hell, they’ve had the cupholders ready since 2009. So what’s the Spark up to?

Before Fiat snapped up Chrysler from the US taxpayers for a song, it saw the Indian firm Tata as another logical partner for a long-term alliance. After Tata bought Jaguar/Land Rover, the auto media was awash in rumors that the British brand would share components with Fiat’s Alfa-Romeo brand. When Tata came out with the Nano, there was speculation that Fiat’s dealers in Europe and Latin America could be used to sell the low-cost car, even rumors of a Fiat-branded version were floated. Fiat even tried to sell Tata on one of its notoriously nasty Italian plants. What did surface from Fiat and Tata’s flirtations: a joint venture in India that, by all accounts, is going not well at all. And now, with Fiat distracted by its Chrysler rebuilding project, Ratan Tata is expressing his displeasure with his firm’s Fiat tie-up, telling The Hindu Businessline

I have to admit that so far, the venture with Fiat has not been as active as we had thought… I think that Fiat has to launch more models into the market to keep dealers interested. It also has to look at its cost structure in terms of parts and components. So the joint venture needs to be looked at quite critically and until that happens, it’s not going to be optimised… As far as what else we can do with Fiat, I think Sergio Marchionne and I can really talk to each other. However, at the working level, it hasn’t quite been that way. We have looked at Latin America to do something together, but things haven’t moved as they should have done

A lot has been said about the new car potential of populous India. This time, they mean it, says J.D. Power. India surpassed France, the United Kingdom and Italy to become the sixth-largest automotive market in the world in 2010. In 2020, India is expected to become the world’s third largest auto market. This according to a special report titled “India Automotive 2020: The Next Giant from Asia,” released by J.D. Power and Associates.

The heads of the European automobile industry are assembling in London for their annual European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association meeting. While they were there, they dropped in with UK’s Prime Minister David Cameron to talk a little politics. Norbert Reithofer of BMW, Sergio Marchionne of Fiat, Carlos Ghosn of Renault, Nick Reilly of GM Europe and their leader Dieter Zetsche, president of the association and chief of Daimler, asked for assistance with fair free trade with major economies such as India and Japan, government support for the swift introduction of breakthrough technologies and less bureaucracy through lean regulations. All noble goals. But the BBC found a fly in the ointment:

A lot of people are worried that billions of people in China and India will buy cars in droves and use up our gasoline give polar bears a tan. The worry beads can hyperventilate a little easier. India’s April sales are in. And they are outstanding “grew at their slowest pace in nearly two years in April,” reports the Wall Street Journal with a sigh.

After Iran last weekend and Russia two weekends ago, we continue on our whirlwind round the world adventure, and stop in India.

Car sales in India grew a massive 31 percent in 2010 to reach 1.87 million units. Itis expected to rise a further 20 percent in 2011. The Indian market is fascinating because:

1. Market growth is not synonymous with increased fragmentation and therefore a lot of models beat their volume records month after month
2. The car landscape is totally unique and mostly composed of cars designed specifically for that country, like the Tata Nano and Toyota Etios …
3. They mostly speak (a kind of) English, so we understand them (if they speak slowly.)

Now if the thought of crazy Indian traffic is too much for you to bear, that’s ok because there are 153 more countries to explore in my blog. You will enjoy it as much as a long, happy, dancy Bollywood song, like this one.

But before we start, a must-see, the best (Indian) action movie ever? You be the judge.

Alright then, the Indian market since 1950 can be summarized in 3 models:

M

Indian automaker Tata had planned to enter the European market with an upscale version of the world’s cheapest car, known as the Tata Nano Europa. Instead, it seems Tata will hold off on its European conquest until it develops this, the Tata Pixel, a shortened (112 inch-long, 1,653 lbs!), coupe-ified Nano. Autocar reports

Group chairman Ratan Tata says the car will partly replace the previously proposed Nano Europa, once its concept-only swing doors are replaced by two conventional doors and engineering of instrumentation and controls is completed.

Don’t expect the gullwing doors or iPad-alike instrumentation to make it into production, but the Pixel will remain a four-seater and features improved handling and NVH characteristics compared to the Nano. What’s not clear is whether the Pixel’s hyper-rotating wheels will make it to market, and whether they would be likely to cause an accident in the event of a steering overcorrection. Meanwhile, despite a lingering fire problem, the Nano is now selling around 9k units per month in India, and Malaysia is on tap as the vehicle’s first export market. Whether Tata can leverage the underpinnings of its radical low-cost car for a competitive mature-market offering is still very much an open question…

Some overly excited blogs may report that Honda is exiting the growth market India. Careful. Indeed, Reuters reports that “Hero Investments has agreed to buy Honda Motors Ltd’s 26 percent stake in Hero Honda Motors for around $851 million in a deal that will see the Japanese automaker exit its joint venture in India after more than 26 years.” So are they outta there?

Raghav writes:

While searching Internet I saw your replies on Toyota Corolla. I too have few problems with Toyota Corolla 2007 model purchased in India, it has 37,000 Km on the odometer. The vehicle is serviced regularly every 10,000 km. The problems are:

1. Engine growling noise steadily increases with the RPM beyond 3,000 and this happens on all gears. What could be the reason?

2. One of the rear shock absorber was leaking and the dealer replaced just the faulty one (under warranty, car had done 27,000 km) and after that I feel the ride quality is poor. Do you think changing only one shock can cause this?

I have taken it to the dealer but their response is vague like (a) sound insulation from engine area must have become weak (b) change tires because side walls have a crack.

Ever since Volkswagen bought not quite 20 percent of Suzuki a little more than a year ago, industry observers said: “Now what?” To this day, the couple remains childless. Lately, there have been rumors that the impatient German side is pushing for offsprings, whereas the Japanese side stays chaste. Now finally, there might be results – if India’s Economic Times has the correct information.

It’s a set piece, as predictable as the Beijing Opera: A rumor, confirmed by company insiders, followed by a denial, followed by – who knows. The Jaguar Land Rover flirt with China’s Great Wall enters stage 2: Never heard of it.

Rumors of Jaguar Land Rover establishing a production base via a joint venture in China have been around for nearly a year now. Talks with Chery surfaced last October, but were never heard of again. What’s keeping them? It becomes higher and higher time for JLR to start making cars in China. Deliveries of Jaguar increased 50 percent to 2,655 units last year while sales of Land Rover more than doubled to 23,459 units, reported TheTycho. Now, JLR may have found another bride.

Automotive News [sub] reports that Global Vehicles, a firm with a contract to distribute Mahindra pickup trucks in the US, has dropped its lawsuit in US court in an apparent attempt to rescue its distribution deal. The contract between Mahindra and GV called for British arbitration of disputes, and apparently the British arbitration panel required that all claims be handled through it rather than in US courts. The dropped suit would have required Mahindra to press forward with its US launch regardless of pending arbitration. Mahindra, meanwhile, has said it is looking outside of its deal with GV for a US distributor, so it’s not clear if GV’s olive branch will even make a difference.

Car sales in India powered ahead in January. India added 184,332 passenger cars to its roads, up 26.3 percent. According to the Hindustan Times, this was “the highest ever in a month eclipsing the previous record set only three months ago.” Allow me to use this opportunity for a small lecture on the use and abuse of auto industry statistics, in Asia, and around the world.