Way back in 1990’s when other car manufacturers did not think much of the Indian automobile market, there was one car maker that forayed into the Indian market. We are talking about PSA Peugeot, which brought its 309 in India during the 90’s. This car, however, failed to catch the fancy of the Indians and, in 1997, the car maker pulled out of India completely. But now after almost 13 years, the car manufacturer wants to retry its luck in the Indian market.
The French car manufacturing giant PSA Peugeot-Citroen has plans to introduce two all-new low-cost vehicles that will be targeted primarily for the developing countries like China and India. According to French newspaper Les Echos, the company is developing the car jointly with Japanese car maker Mitsubishi. These two cut-price vehicles, the first one has been codenamed “global small”, and the second one, which is a mid-size sedan, is known as “M3-M4”.
As we said earlier Mitsubishi would be working with the PSA Peugeot on the small car and the platform of this global vehicle could possibly form the basic underpinnings of the Peugeot- and Citroen global small car.
According to PSA, the two new cars fall outside its short-term product line-up which starts from 2010 and concludes in 2021. Last year, however, the company announced the period of 2010 to 2013 as a phase when the company would focus on increasing profitability by expanding sales beyond its current established markets. In China, the company had a market share of 3.5 percent in 2009, and it now wants to increase it to eight percent.
Peugeot is counting big on its upcoming global small car and would target the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) markets. But, we can also expect the Peugeot small car to make its appearance into Thailand and some other countries in the Asia-Pacific region too. The production of the aforesaid global small car would take place in Russia, China and areas of Latin America.
Peugeot has had a very eventful past in India that also saw a joint venture with Tata Motors for the 307 project. This project, however, never took off. Industry experts are saying that the Peugeot-Mitsubishi matrimony could be something to watch out for as both these companies were contemplating a cross-holding of equity which eventually got cancelled.
It is said that Citroen and PSA Peugeot are expected to keep their signature styling consistent for the developing market and it is also believed that the global small car would take design cues from Citroen C3 and Peugeot 207 hatchbacks.
Recently, we had carried a post on how parts companies were pressurized when Tata Motors decided to produce 1200 Nanos in a day. We have more of such complaints popping up due to other reasons. Slow ramp-up and discrepancies in tyre prices have begun affecting output. There were clashes between key car component suppliers and the car makers. But, the issues were believed to be sorted out a month ago. Unfortunately, there have been no changes as yet and production of cars is likely to be hit at least for the next two quarters due to slow ramp-up and discrepancies in tyre prices.
The loss of important market share in the Indian market has finally prompted Honda to pull up its socks. And we are finally seeing some action from the Japanese car manufacturer. Speculations are at their peak and suggest that Honda is all set to attack its competitors in India with the launch of a few diesel engines. And, the latest that we heard definitely pleases our ears. Yes, Honda will bring the facelifted version of its flagship model Accord to India.
Ask any Indian to name a car that has proved to be just perfect for India. With a smile, you may get answers like the Maruti 800 and the Ambassador. Iconic cars like these are slowly vanishing. Not to worry, we have new cars coming in. It’s time for a change and many car makers are now bringing in made-for-India cars. Interestingly, even Fiat India is gearing up to make a splash of its own in the country’s promising small car market by launching an India-specific car. Hyundai did it two years ago with the 
