Small will be big at an Indian auto show when the world’s leading manufacturers unveil a slew of compact cars designed for one of the world’s fastest growing markets.
AutoExpo 2010, which begins tomorrow and runs until next Monday, is expected to be the biggest ever, featuring global releases of new models from the most famous names in the industry.
Recent months have seen foreign giants Ford, General Motors, Hyundai and Renault join a stampede to India, where each has promised a small, cheap model designed for what Ford boss Alan Mulally termed the “sweet spot” of the market.
PHOTO: AFP
Many of these will be on display during the week, including the Figo from Ford, concept small cars from Japan’s Honda and Toyota as well as the India-made Polo by Germany’s Volkswagen.
“India is developing as a small-car hub,” said Sugato Sen, senior director at the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).
He pointed to government policies that have promoted the production of small cars domestically, while rising incomes have driven demand for basic, no-frills vehicles.
“India ultimately is a developing country where the average annual income is below [US]1,000 dollars a year, so this is reflected in the vehicles we use,” he said. “They’re not sophisticated, but the market is growing double-digit.”
India is Asia’s third-biggest car market after China and Japan, but what has manufacturers excited is the potential explosive growth in a country with a 1 billion-plus population.
“Growth in developed counties is almost saturated so they are looking for where they can sell, especially in the low-end, entry-level segment,” said analyst Vaishali Jajoo from Angel Broking.
She said sales of passenger vehicles have been growing at above 10 percent a year for the last five years and will carry on at “12-13 percent for the next four to five years.”
Incomes are rising steadily, meaning Indians are following the familiar pattern of upgrading their personal transport from push bikes, to motorbikes, then to cars.
The market is forecast to triple to 6 million car sales annually in a decade — a mouth-watering proposition for car groups, but a concern for those who drive on the already traffic-clogged streets of India’s cities.
“The train is leaving the station and you want to make sure you have the products on line,” Carlos Ghosn, who runs Renault and Nissan, said in November as he announced plans to produce an ultra-low-cost vehicle.
Such is the buzz around the India show this year that some insiders are beginning to speak of it in the same breath as the Detroit auto event that kicks off on the day the Delhi exhibition finishes.
Ten global launches of vehicles from heavy trucks to two-wheelers are planned at the Delhi event, which will see an expected 1.8 million visitors pass through the doors. This year’s Delhi is the 10th, but it first caught the world’s attention in 2008 when Indian manufacturer Tata Motors unveiled its Nano, the world’s cheapest car that has since hit the roads, though production remains restricted.
Ranojoy Mukerji, an auto sector analyst and adviser on a government car certification project, underlines that the range of new vehicles set to hit the market is good news for consumers.
It means manufacturers will face a highly competitive market that is currently dominated by Indo-Japanese group Maruti Suzuki, which has about 55 percent market share and a strong track record in the small-car segment.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
FACTORY SHIFT: While Taiwan produces most of the world’s AI servers, firms are under pressure to move manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) started building artificial intelligence (AI) servers in India’s south, the latest boon for the rapidly growing country’s push to become a high-tech powerhouse. The company yesterday said it has started making the large, powerful computers in Pondicherry, southeastern India, moving beyond products such as laptops and smartphones. The Chinese company would also build out its facilities in the Bangalore region, including a research lab with a focus on AI. Lenovo’s plans mark another win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tries to attract more technology investment into the country. While India’s tense relationship with China has suffered setbacks