A series of new low cost cars to hit Indian roads soon

Published On Jul 08, 2010 06:57 PM By Meenal

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The price segment of less than Rs 2 lakh in India which is currently dominated by Tata Nano, being the only available option so far, is now going to witness the entry of a series of new fuel efficient low cost cars as major car makers around the world are gearing-up to launch their respective small cars in the Indian market. The cars which are expected to be shelved in this segment in the coming months include Hyundai's new 800 cc car and an ultra low cost car from Nissan-Renault-Bajaj joint venture. Besides this, auto biggies like US based General Motors and France based Fiat are also mulling over the option of launching their respective cars in this price segment.

The Hyundai India's small car is speculated to be priced at Rs 1.6 lakh, as revealed by some media reports a few days back. The new small car is currently under development at the company's R&D center in Hyderabad where its engineers are working in tandem with their South Korean counterparts. The new Hyundai baby is expected to come powered with a 800 CC engine and will compete against India's best-selling car Maruti Alto. The company will display this model at the upcoming
International Auto Expo in India in the year 2012.

On the Other hand, the Nissan-Renault joint venture has agreed to price the ultra low cost (ULC) car that they are jointly developing with Bajaj Auto at $2,500, (around Rs 1.10 lakh). The company had announced about this ultra-low-cost fuel-efficient car in year 2008 which was scheduled to be completed by this year but due to the delay in finalizing the issues like pricing and designing, the project has been postponed to 2012.

Besides this, India's leading car maker Tata Motors is working on a project to deliver a car that will be shelved between Tata Nano and Tata Indica. With this, India's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki is working on its plans to launch its small car Maruti Cervo in India, by the end of this year. The Cervo model is expected to be priced in the range of Rs 1.5 to 2 lakh.