The charm of small cars in India has not fizzled out and it is making carmakers create history every month. Yet the leaders in the segment are already moving on to a different terrain. India’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India, largest automaker Tata Motors and Volkswagen’s Skoda are planning to enter the crossover vehicle segment in India.
Tata Motors is all set to roll out the Tata Aria, which has been developed from Xover concept, in the last quarter of 2010. According to some reliable industry resources, we have come to learn that Maruti’s first crossover based on its R3 concept and Skoda Roomster will fight it out in the Indian market by next year.
Crossovers, or multi-utility vehicles as they are popularly known, are positioned between larger sports utility vehicles and smaller hatchbacks. As a result they bring out the added advantage of having small car comforts and the rough & tough attitude of an offroader.
“As the market shifts towards compact cars, MUVs are gaining ground with their higher utility and lower cost of operations,” says Sandeep Singh, deputy MD (marketing) at Toyota Kirloskar Motors, maker of Innova crossover.
The crossover segment, which is currently being dominated Toyota Innova and Mahidra & Mahindra’s Xylo, witnessed a growth of 41% to 1.5 lakh vehicles, or close to 10% of the country’s passenger vehicle market, last financial year.
Industry experts say that increased incomes, higher aspiration levels, more young buyers and multi-purpose utility act as the main catalyst in boosting the sales of crossovers. Another major factor of the high sales of crossover vehicles is that they are priced lower, Rs 6-11 lakh, than SUVs coming at Rs 8-25 lakh and more.
“There is a complete transformation with MUVs generating a huge demand of late with changes in urban demography and the emergence of rural markets,” says Anjali Jajoo, auto analyst at Mumbai-based Angel Broking. “Its growth is also helped by the buoyant economy as a high number of these vehicles are used for commercial operations.”
Now, if you remember, these three new vehicles, Maruti’s R3 concept, Tata Aria, and Skoda’s Roomster MUV, based on its Fabia hatchback platform, were showcased at the Delhi Auto Expo earlier this year.
“We are facing huge customer discontent as waiting for the Innova go up to three months in many regions now,” says Toyota’s Sundeep Singh. The company is working out the possibilities of increasing the production of the Innova. Mahindra Xylo, which is priced at the entry level, also suffers from a delivery waiting of two-months. Tata Aria is expected to be bigger and roomier than both. It is 4.85-meter long and can comfortably accommodate seven adults while still offering ample cargo area.
