Our friends in Argentina inform us that Renualt-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn, has addressed members of the international media and expressed interest in setting up a plant in Brazil that will roll out the ULC (Ultra Low Cost car). Renault aims to sell more affordable cars to increase its presence in the country.
Meanwhile in India, Bajaj has not yet made up its mind on how to position the product since the company has learnt a thing or two fighting a losing battle in the 100cc segment of motorcycles in India. It does not want to repeat the same mistake by competing in a segment that is dominated by another brand where opportunities are less for a relatively new entrant.
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Skoda’s new city car would be based on the parent company VW’s Up! platform. The new car might be named “Popular.”
The Popular is aimed at developing parts of the world where there is an ever lasting demand for small and economical cars. The city-runabout would make its first appearance in 2012, and we’ve dug up evidence proposing its Indian connection a while ago.
Skoda is looking to establish itself as a compact car maker. It does have SUVs and grand sedans in the line-up, but its plans going into the future insists there will be more budget than frills and flair. There’s the bigger hatchback that will slot inbetween the Fabia and the Octavia and plans to make a low-cost Octavia for India and other Asian countries.
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Japanese Auto Major Honda has not had the best of time in the past few months. Thanks to a sharp drop in global sales and the frustrating economic slump, Honda had to call it a day on it’s supercar project and painfully had to pull the Formula 1 plug.
So what does one do to get out of this mess? Naturally build cars that will sell in larger numbers and will have a wider reach. Honda earlier announced that it will make an entry level car for India, but that was just about what it said.
Tata Motors is in the process of analyzing a port at Simar to export its global car –Nano – to overseas markets. Gujarat is all set to become an important auto export hub in the country, with Mundra Port already setting up a dedicated car terminal for Maruti Suzuki.
