Mahindra and Mahindra, after tasting success in selling its utility vehicles in the urban market, may soon foray into the small car business, reports NDTV Profit. Mahindra is planning to invest around Rs. 1000 crore to expand its automobile business into the small car segment.

The small car segment contributes to over 70% of the passenger cars sold in India. Mahindra may be just planning to spoil the exploits of Maruti, Tata and Hyundai, who are the main players in this segment.

The new small cars, internally codenamed S101, S102 and S103, would be completely built on an all new platform. These small cars could be priced between Rs 2 lakhs to 5 lakhs. Mahindra is planning to introduce these small cars by 2013-14.

According to sources, Mahindra and Mahindra has roped in the renowned Italian design studio, Stile Bertone, to design the looks of the car. This comes as a huge relief to us, as we wouldn’t have the strength to tolerate seeing a small car penned by Mahindra’s in-house designers.

Stile Bertone helped Mahindra with the preliminary design of the Xylo.

Mahindra would mainly be targeting its arch rival Tata Motors, which is doing extremely well in the small car segment.

Mahindra is all set to enter the compact car segment with its mini-Xylo SUV soon, which is currently being tested. The response to this car might have a considerable effect on the Mahindra’s small car approach. Mahindra could also develop a new range of small, frugal petrol and diesel engines for the new small cars.

With Mahindra taking over Maini , can we also expect Mahindra badged electric cars, as Mahindra usually utilizes all the possible options when it comes to making automobiles?

Source: NDTV Profit

Hyundai’s new small car is codenamed “GB” according to reports and will be introduced in petrol and diesel formats. A 800cc sub-60hp engine will be the base model spec, which will cost roughly U.S $3,000.

Hyundai’s new global small car will be sold in Europe, Brazil, China among other countries. It will be positioned under the i10, where as in India, it will cost less than the Santro.

In September last year, H.S.Lheem, managing director & CEO of Hyundai operations in India confirmed the global small car is jointly developed by the engineers in Namyang, Korea and Hyderabad, India. The car will be built at the Chennai facility where the i10, i20 are presently manufactured and shipped to 100 or more countries, he added.

Thanks to its expertise in small cars, Suzuki has been the second largest car maker in Japan and its subsidiary Maruti Suzuki has a 54 % market share in India.

Tata Motors’ Nano priced at around $3,500 has also provoked great interest across the globe. Car makers are following the footsteps of the Indian car maker in making something similar.

All this news has caught the eyes of global majors, Volkswagen (VW) being one of them. Now VW is exploring an option to cooperate with Suzuki to boost its expertise in ultra small cars. It’s even ready to take a 10% stake in Suzuki to secure the cooperation.

The cooperation could provide a model below the upcoming cars based on the Up! concept.

VW has finally realized that the future in markets like India where all the growth is concentrated will be dictated by small cars.

The earlier rendering of the Fiat Topolino showed its strong connection to the Fiat 500. The new rendering of the Fiat’s low cost city car for Europe and Asia brings small cars like the Toyota iQ and Ford Fiesta into the equation.

Measuring 3.15 metres in length, the Fiat Topolino will be slightly longer than the Toyota iQ. To start with, a 900cc engine would be employed which would produce a more than enough 65 hp.

A bare bones Topolino redesigned to suit the Indian market using Tata’s expertise could have a 600cc petrol engine that might be manufactured in India (hinted by Fiat during the Grande Punto’s launch) in the earlier half of the next decade where the small car craze would only have magnify.

Source – Alla Guida

Honda’s mini-Jazz will be manufactured in India and Thailand, but specifically meant for the Indian market. Just like how the Accord was designed for the Americans and the City was built for the Thai market, the new mini-Jazz will be India’s turn in Honda’s book.

Codenamed 2CV, the mini Honda car will also be built in Thailand as part of the eco-car project.

What are the needs of an average Indian car buyer?

Definite needs -

• It needs be cheap
• It needs to be fuel efficient
• It needs to be spacious
• It needs to maintenance-free
• It needs to have a diesel engine (forget if the petrol engine delivers 30kmpl, somehow diesel is more efficient to many Indians)
• The depreciation value should be less because many of us think of selling our car even before buying them

The above is more or less what the majority of buyers are looking for in a car. I was tempted to add looks and luggage space but changed my mind looking at the currently most successful Alto, Wagon R’s storage spaces behind the rear seats.

For more images of the how probably it would look, visit our earlier Honda mini car post.

Source – Auto in car

Honda’s global compact car expected to make a debut by 2011 will be positioned below the existing entry-level car, the Honda Jazz. Now, reports have made this fact concrete – India will give rise to Honda’s new small car.

India was the obvious choice for Honda because of its market volume and the availability and logistical ease of raw materials like steel and plastic.

Moreover, Honda has a great run in the two-wheeler business in India. Hero Honda and Honda motorcycle & scooter have a combined market share of over 70 percent. Honda is comfortable with the Indian market being stable compared to the rest of the world.

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Mr. Masahiro Takedagawa, President and CEO, Honda Siel Cars India -

The vehicle is being developed for India specifically as the lead country. It will then enter other markets across the world, Honda has always done it, which is to create a model for a lead country and modify it appropriately for other global markets.

Honda Siel is currently holding talks with Tata steel for the supply of a particular grade of steel as part of the production process of Honda’s small car. The Rajasthan plant with a press/stamping shop is supplying critical parts for the jazz and city, and it is a likely candidate for the production of the global small car.

We say - Hyundai has gained big by making India its small car hub; let’s see if Honda can pull it off as well.

What is the VW Up!?

The VW Up! is a concept which was shown to crowds at the Frankfurt Motor Show back in 2007. Similar to the Tata Nano, the VW Up! has its engine driving the rear axle and is placed under the rear seat.

Why did it spark our interest?

Simple. VW announced it will build the Up! in India back in 2007. A target price of around $7,500 was announced and it would compete with the smaller hatchbacks, such as the Hyundai Santro, Maruti Alto and the Chevrolet Spark in India. It was also rumored back then that VW would team up with Bajaj to see the concept through to an Indian production line.

What’s the latest information on the VW Up!?

An official announcement has arrived from VW that it will use Bratislava as a production centre for its Up! family of city cars from 2011 onwards. Bratislava is in the country of Slovak, the former borders Austria and Hungary.

Will there be many variants based on the VW Up!?

Yep. You bet. You’ll have to think of exercising every bit of that platform to make a car every class of the car buyer spend. The Up! concept will be much like this Laura-Jetta game VW is playing in India. Underneath the skin, its mostly the same stuff.

The Up!’s story will be much like it because Skoda will use it to make a car, SEAT, another VW brand will make something using it. VW might obliviously use it to make a petol-electric SUV and then might pass it on to Porsche who’ll attract the critics from as far as Siberia.

What are the variants and will I be able to buy one?

VW’s announcement states clearly the twin requirements will be addressed- Variants will me made for both the entry level buyer as well as the premium customers. 3 and 5-door versions will be made. It is not clear at this point whether all the VW brands will produce both those variants, but VW is definitely bringing the low cost version to India.

Can you relate this to any developments lately?

Last month, listen to what was said about Skoda’s sub-$8000 car-

“The VW board has decided to step on the gas to roll out two small cars – one from the VW stable and another from Skoda – over the next 24-30 months. The technology for the cars have been finalised and now product development is underway”- Thomas Kuehl, Skoda Auto India operations head and board member (sales & marketing)

So there you have it. Skoda will use the Up!’s platform to roll out its small car. And if he’s talking about the Up!, Skoda could run this car out of its Indian production line at Pune, which it initiated recently.

What are the engine options? Will the mileage be good?

I’m guessing so. According to reports, the VW Up! and its family will not use the rear engine rear wheel-drive layout but instead will go with the conventional front engined-front wheel drive arrangement for better parts management across the family. Three and four cylinder engines in turbocharged and naturally aspirated formats will spin the front axle.

“The VW board has decided to step on the gas to roll out two small cars – one from the VW stable and another from Skoda – over the next 24-30 months. The technology for the cars have been finalised and now product development is underway”- Thomas Kuehl, Skoda Auto India operations head and board member (sales & marketing)

The new Skoda small car has been discussed here before, it is about 24 to 30 months away now. It will be positioned under the Fabia with a price tag of under 4-lakh rupees ($8,000).

The Czech car maker is also setting up its vendor base close to the Aurangabad plant from where the Fabia, Octavia and Laura come out of. A high degree of localization will make the Skoda small car reachable to more customers looking for an economy hatch in India.

Source- Car Trade India