Well, another car manufacturer has woken up from its deep slumber and taken notice of the fast growing small car market in India. This time around, it is a Japanese carmaker better known as Mitsubishi Motors. Mitsubishi is considering the launch of a compact family hatchback in India over the next three to four years.Mitsubishi is planning to bring the new small car that it is developing for the Thai market. The project, which is intended to attract investments into the Southeast country, is being backed by the Thailand government.
This car is built on a new platform and features a 1.3-litre petrol engine. Mitsubishi would likely retune the engine and decrease the capacity of the car in India, so as to avail the advantage of the excise duty norms laid out by the government.
Passenger cars lesser than four metres in length and engine capacity of not more that 1.2 litres in petrol and 1.5 litres in diesel fall under the lowest tax slots in India.
The Indian arm of the Japanese motor company, however, is denying any such plans. Pritam Saikia, head-Marketing, HM-Mitsubishi refused to offer any comments. He said, “Although India is an emerging market for Mitsubishi, it is too premature to comment on our future product plans, including the small car. Having said that, all our expansion plans are on track and we will take a call on our small car plans at a later point of time.”
The company has earlier planned to launch a compact car in India in 2011-12. But the plan took a back seat following the economic meltdown and a scarcity of funds. But as things pick up pace, the company is reviving its old plans.
The plans also included reinforcement of fresh capital to increase the production capacity at its Chennai plant to 1,00,000 units from about 12,000 units annually.
The development of the eco-car is funded by the Board of Investors in Thailand and an aggregate of Baht 8 billion, equivalent of Rs 1,100 crore, has been earmarked for the project. The project meets the criteria earlier set by the board which requires a minimum production capacity of 1,00,000 units per annum.
Small cars have always proved to bring in the much desired (or needed) sales volume for a car maker. The most suitable example would be the Ford Figo. Figo helped save the Ford boat that was sinking fast. Hope Mitsubishi small car would do the same trick for the carmaker.
Mitsubishi has been in India for more than a decade but the absence of a small car has been a major drawback affecting its market share. Mitsubishi has so far launched only its premium sport utility vehicle (SUV) and upper mid-size sedans in the Indian market. Mitsubishi currently sells the Pajero, Outlander, Montero, Lancer and Cedia in the Rs 7.75 lakh to Rs 38 lakh range.
Better late than never. What say!
Labels: Ford Figo, Mitsubishi, Mitsubishi-Cedia, Mitsubishi-Hatchback, Mitsubishi-India, Mitsubishi-Lancer, Mitsubishi-Montero, Mitsubishi-Outlander, Mitsubishi-Pajero, Mitsubishi-Small-Car, small-cars-India
