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State of the art Porsche center opens in New Delhi

Porsche has opened its first retail outlet in the country in Delhi and has unfolded plans to expand to other major cities, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh and Chennai by next year. The company plans to double its target to sell over 200 cars in the country in the next calendar year, and will source these models as CBUs from Germany. The main focus will be on the SUV – the Rs 66 lakh Cayenne. The company is also planning to roll out a four-door coupe, the Panamera, in 2009 – likely to be tagged at around Rs. 1 crore. Porsche will be offering its entire product line to cater to its high-profile customers, and will import the Boxster, Cayman, Cayenne and Carrera, in all its different variants.

GM looks to boost volumes

GM India has put off its plans to launch the Cadillac and Hummer vehicles in India. The company will not be launching the vehicles as they address a very niche market and do not generate big volumes. The company is also looking to boost volumes significantly with the launch of its mini-car, the Chevrolet Spark in April 2007. The car is based on the once-popular Daewoo Matiz platform and will compete

with Hyundai’s Santro, Maruti Udyog’s Wagon R, as well as its New Zen. The Chevy Spark will be manufactured in GM India’s Halol plant initially, where it is scaling up production from 60,000 units to 85,000 units. The Halol plant will be able to produce only 2,000 units of the mini car every month. GM has a few other launches lined up including the Aveo U-VA hatchback very soon. The U-VA will come fitted with a 1.2 litre engine that will enable it to benefit from excise duty cuts.

CICI Bank estimates used car market size at Rs. 10,000 crores

The leader in new and used car loans, ICICI Bank, in its quest to organize the used car market, held its first car mela in New Delhi during this past month. Several of ICICI’s partner dealers presented over 100 used cars covering all segments from small to luxury cars. Interested buyers also had the option of test-driving the vehicles they were interested in.

Mr. Ravi Narayanan, Group Business Head – Vehicles, stressed ICICI Banks focus on used car financing, and pointed out, “The used car market is estimated to be worth Rs. 10,000 crores annually and is growing at 15% CAGR.”

VW spells out its India strategy

Volkswagen will start manufacturing cars in India from mid 2007, by using the manufacturing facility of group company, Skoda at Aurangabad. The Aurangabad plant will roll out both Skoda and Volkswagen models till the proposed plant at Chakan in Maharashtra becomes operational. The company is expected to have small cars in its line-up for India and sources say that it is also looking to export cars to other markets as well. VW plans to invest $410 million (Rs. 1,850 crores) in India. They also plan to debut an India specific Polo-derivative in 2009. This car will fight for volumes in the premium hatchback market alongside rivals like the Swift, Getz and the soon to be rolled out Aveo U-VA. The car will be pitched in the Rs 4-5 lakh range to give current and future rivals a run for market share.