Chinese Automakers eyeing Indian market

At present, China and India are on top priority among the international automobile brands. China shadowed India and took the apex as a leading automobile market in the world. The dedication of auto world towards China can be clearly figured out from the numerous world debuts at the 2014 Auto China compared to Indian Auto Expo and we have seen many Chinese oriented models from leading manufacturers like Ford and Hyundai at the show.

In the recent times, a lot of Chinese brands are making their mark into the auto arena like the Qoros Automobiles. Qoros is a joint venture between Cherry automobiles of China and Israel Corporation. The brand was established in 2007 and their first product, the Qoros 3 sedan, made its world premiere last year at Geneva Motor Show. The best part about the Qoros 3 sedan is that it was awarded the 'Safest-car-of-2013' by Euro NCAP, contradicting perceptions about a Chinese product. Qoros also launched 3 hatch later. Several Chinese manufacturers are eying India as an imminent potential market with companies such as Great Wall Motors, Cherry Automobiles and SAIC-GM-Wuling are likely to enter.

Recently, Great Wall Motors visited an Indian Manufacturer's facility, to analyze the Indian motoring scenario, production, sales and after sales. Great Wall Motors is the leading SUV manufacturer in China. The company has an interesting lineup of SUVs, namely, Great Wall M4, H6 and the C20R hatch could possibly do good business in India. Cherry Automobiles, another prominent player in the Chinese auto sector has held talks with Tata for selling its small cars and SUVs in the country. Tata-Jaguar-Land-Rover and Cherry are jointly producing JLR products in China currently. In the future we can expect Cherry vehicles through Tata, similar to what Renault did with Mahindra earlier with the Logan. SAIC-GM-Wuling has 9% stake in GM India; the Sail siblings and the Enjoy MPV Chevrolet is selling in India are actually SAIC-GM-Wuling Chinese products. Tripartite JV is also expected to launch more products through GM India in the country.

In the past, we have seen Indian manufacturers acquiring design and body shells from Chinese manufacturers and mix-matching with decent powerplants. Was it fruitful? For example we have seen Force One's body coming from the Guangdong Foday Explorer III SUV and a diesel heart from Daimler (Mercedes Benz OM616 turbo diesel). The Force One was not able to woo many buyers and several customers are facing problems related to quality. Premier Automobiles also took a Chinese model's body and an ancient Peugeot 309 diesel to launch a compact SUV in India, which was later fixed with FIAT's Multi-Jet turbo diesel. Still the compact SUV didn't bring in the desired success.

Getting an excellent engine with a mediocre design and quality would not make any sense in here. If the Chinese manufacturers really want to enter India and be successful, they have to take a leaf out of Koreans and Japanese chapter and bring a world class product in terms of quality, refinement, reliability and performance.

Source: Business Standard
Image Source: Net Car Show