Small Cars: India to have smaller size but bigger ambitions

Sandeep Singh
Posted online: Thursday, January 10, 2008 at 0000 hrs

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 9: The small car segment in India is witnessing some widespread structural changes. After decades of being confined into the paradigm of a low cost no frill segment, the benchmark is being pushed from both ends. Today, Skoda Fabia with a price tag of over Rs 7 lakh plus stretched the bar higher. Tomorrow the Tata’s Rs 1 lakh car will push it a few notches lower. The story on small cars is still being written and with 200 journalists from abroad- a first for an Auto Expo in India—the world is watching.
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Fabia, has defined itself into a new segment— super hatchback segment, is priced between Rs 4.99 lakh to Rs 7.68 lakh, thus raising the bar for small cars. On the other side Tata will pull down the floor price of small cars by almost Rs 1 lakh.
The costliest hatchback till date has been Hyundai Getz Diesel that is priced at Rs 5.69 lakh. The segment this year will thus range between Rs 1 to 7.68 lakh.
Giving Fabia company would be Honda’s small car next year. The Japanese automaker is building its second plant that shall see the roll-out of its small car Jazz sometime in 2009. Jazz will also spice things up in the premium hatch segment.
“The small car segment started to broaden with the entry of Swift and Getz which created the foundation for cars like Jazz and Fabia. Going forward these cars will pave the way for even more premium small cars in the range of Rs 10-11 lakh,” said Honda Siel Cars India senior GM marketing Jnaneshwar Sen.
At the lower spectrum even Tata’s car will have a companion in Bajaj’s Lite that was showcased on Tuesday. This car may be priced a little more than Rs 1 lakh but will belong to the same segment and will be developed in collaboration with Renault-Nissan alliance. Even Hyundai is looking at entering this segment with their own ultra low cost car.
With a whole range of permutations and combinations possible the small car segment shall have more than a dozen products, very soon on the street corners. And almost every urban commuter shall hope to own a four wheeler of his own in the coming days, months or years to come here in India.