Mumbai: Luxury carmakers in India are moving downmarket and shifting production of smaller and cheaper cars to local plants to cut costs, broadening their target market to include young, female and middle-class drivers to boost lacklustre performance.
In an effort to raise stuttering sales that far lag emerging Asian rival China, the German big three of Mercedes-Benz, Audi AG and BMW AG want to win buyers outside the ultra-rich with locally-made hatchbacks and smaller cars.
"This is a real year of offensive," said Eberhard Kern, managing director of Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz brand, for which sales dropped nearly one-third in the financial year just ended. He expects the rollout of its hatchback A-Class and a diesel version of its B-class model to help spur double-digit sales growth in 2013.
After two decades of economic boom, the sight of a sleek Lamborghini or polished Bentley outside Mumbai or Delhi's flashiest hotels or most exclusive nightclubs is not uncommon....
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07:00 AM, Apr 23, 2013
Tokyo: Toyota Motor Corp said on Thursday that it is recalling 1.73 million vehicles worldwide due to an airbag problem. Japanese auto parts maker Takata Corp spokesman Toyohiro Hishikawa said the company supplied the airbags related to the recalls. ...
12:27 PM, Apr 11, 2013
Honda Motor Co will spend Rs 25 billion on a 120,000 cars-per-year plant in India, a senior executive said, as the Japanese carmaker looks to ramp up its activity in the country after splitting from its former partner. ...
01:50 PM, Apr 02, 2013
Hyundai Motor Co's India unit, the country's second biggest carmaker, said it raised vehicle prices by up to 20,878 rupees due to an increase in input costs and currency fluctuations. ...
05:58 PM, Feb 01, 2013
New Delhi: Car sales in India slumped 8 per cent in November, dashing hopes of a sustained revival in demand, as an expected festive season boom failed to materialise in a key growth market for global carmakers. A gloomy economic growth outlook, high interest rates and rising ownership costs have curbed demand in India, where global brands have invested billions of dollars in a car market that saw sales growth...
03:25 PM, Dec 10, 2012
Thousands of businesses, jobs dependent on American carmaker. ...
03:05 PM, May 01, 2009
RBI steps in to help growth too, slashes CRR rate. ...
06:29 PM, Jan 02, 2009
The small car Maruti-800 will be cheaper by Rs 6,500 at Rs 193,561. ...
03:57 AM, Dec 09, 2008
General Motors, Chrysler and Ford are facing imminent bankruptcy. ...
12:35 PM, Dec 03, 2008
Toyota will cut its domestic temporary workforce by 50 per cent ...
02:18 PM, Nov 22, 2008
It is in competition to Hyundai's i-10 and hopes to improve flagging sales. ...
12:44 PM, Nov 19, 2008
Roseau: Australia coach Mickey Arthur vowed his team will go for the jugular against the West Indies in the third and final Test even if their full throttle assault backfires. Australia have already ensured they will keep the Frank Worrell Trophy they have held for two decades after winning the first Test in Barbados and then seeing the rain-hit second match in Trinidad peter out into a draw. But Arthur...
09:51 PM, May 14, 2008
All those students preparing to zoom their way into the future with those big pay packets might want to take a look at this. ...
10:26 AM, Mar 13, 2007
Japanese carmaker Nissan has raced beyond passenger cars. It's preparing to enter India's fast growing light commercial vehicle market. ...
05:39 PM, Aug 24, 2006
