Inventory of domestic cars in India: Proud to drive Alto, Chinese magic car once sold well here

As the global epidemic continues to spread recently, India's poor health conditions and ultra-high population density have become many unstable factors in epidemic control, and have become the focus of everyone's attention. Although it is not far away from China, many Chinese are not very familiar with India due to the weak tourism industry.

Today we will not talk about the epidemic or national affairs. In the automobile segment, Hexun Auto will take you into the automobile market of this magical country to see what cars the "three brothers" drive?

What kind of cars do Indians drive?

Like most countries in the world, Japanese cars occupy the majority of the Indian automobile market. According to official statistics in India, Japanese cars accounted for more than 60% of its passenger car market in 2019. Among all Japanese brands, Suzuki occupies more than 70% of the market share in India, while Toyota and Honda, which are hot-selling globally, can only quietly divide the remaining less than 30%.

Although Suzuki has withdrawn from the Chinese market before, Suzuki's sales in India can be called "monopoly level". Among the top 10 passenger car sales in India officially announced in 2019, Suzuki occupies 7 seats. The largest local automobile company in India, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., has an annual output of more than 120 Thousands of units. You know, the annual output of Geely, China's "biggest car company", is just over 1.5 million units.

Suzuki Alto is one of the most popular small cars in India. Altos of various new and old models are galloping on the streets of India. As of March 2018, Alto has sold more than 2.5 million units in India. In 2019, the 8th generation Alto was introduced to India with a displacement of 0.66L and 0.8L. Compared with the old model, it further optimized the interior space and improved fuel economy.

However, Alto is not the cheapest car on sale in India. The starting price of this new Indian Tata Motors NANO car is only US$2,000 (approximately RMB 14,100), with a displacement of only 0.6L, using a twin-cylinder engine that only appears on motorcycles. The configuration is also very simple. It can be regarded as a scooter that can truly protect against wind and rain. The lowest-end NANO does not have air conditioning, power steering, radio, or even a reflector on the passenger side.

Speaking of the Tata Group, everyone must be familiar with it. The Tata Group is India's largest conglomerate. In 2008, Tata Motors purchased the Jaguar Land Rover brands from the American automaker Ford for US$2.65 billion. In the 2019 ranking of the world's top 500 companies, India's Tata Motors ranked 265th.

Except Suzuki, the best-selling new cars of the Japanese "Ryota" in India are Toyota Innova and Honda Amaze. These two models have not been introduced to China. The former is a low-end MPV model with good space practicality, and the latter is a small sedan smaller than the domestic Honda Fengfan. Of course, both cars are representative players with high quality and low price. The starting price in India is less than 600,000 rupees (approximately RMB 56,000).

After talking about domestically produced Indian cars and Japanese cars, let’s look at Korean cars. Hyundai cars are also very popular in the Indian market. Hyundai Creta (ix25 in China), i10, i20 and other models occupy 3 places in addition to 7 Suzuki models in the top 10 sales in India in 2019. Among them, Hyundai Creta sold 100% of the sales volume throughout the year. Nearly 100,000 units were sold, which was twice the sales volume of ix25 in China in the same year.

Although Kia, another Korean car giant, only entered the Indian market in 2019, it sold more than 70,000 units in just over half a year. In February this year, it won the third place in India's car sales with a sales volume of 15,600 units. However, Volkswagen, which is popular in China, only sold 350 units in India that month. Based on Volkswagen's 4.23 million sales in China in 2019, the sales volume in a single day was as high as 11,500 units. This result of 350 units is not even as high as Volkswagen's sales volume in China per hour.

Since there are no strict emission and vehicle inspection standards, old cars are also common on the streets of India. These taxis, named "Ambassador", are still active in the streets of India. Its prototype comes from the Morris Oxford sedan designed in Britain in the early 1950s. Since the first batch of sedans appeared in 1957, its rounded outline has hardly changed for decades. However, due to poor management and on the verge of bankruptcy, French car manufacturer Peugeot acquired the Indian national car brand in 2017 for only US$12 million (approximately RMB 84.74 million).

Excessively low emission standards and too many old motor vehicles have also had a serious impact on the environment. New Delhi, the capital, is the most polluted city in the world. The average PM2.5 index in winter is above 500. . Relevant Indian environmental analysis agencies believe that vehicle exhaust emissions are the main reason for the lingering smog in the capital New Delhi.

Chinese car companies in India

As a superpower with a population similar to China's and with a population that will surpass China's in the future, many Chinese car companies are also interested in this fertile market. .

As early as 2011, Beiqi Foton spent huge sums of money to buy land in India and establish a joint venture in an attempt to enter the Indian commercial vehicle market.

In 2013, Wuling Hongguang, which was popular in China and sold more than 600,000 units annually, officially landed in the Indian market. It was named "Enjoy" under the Chevrolet logo, and won India's "MPV Model of the Year" in one fell swoop that year. Awards for subdivided vehicle categories.

Subsequently in 2017, SAIC Group officially announced an investment of 3.275 billion yuan to establish the first SAIC vehicle manufacturing base by acquiring and transforming the General Motors factory in India. SAIC also became the first Chinese car company to invest in India. . In April 2019, SAIC's India base officially started production.

The first model to be welcomed into the new factory, the MG Hector, was officially released in June last year. The new car is based on the domestic Baojun 530 model, with a starting price of 1.218 million rupees (approximately RMB 113,500) in India. , which is much higher than the domestic guide price of 77,800 yuan.

Although the price is not low in India, SAIC has received more than 20,000 orders for the MG Hector less than one month after its launch, doubling the pressure on the factory with a planned annual production capacity of less than 60,000 units. , SAIC even temporarily closed the reservation channel to alleviate the lack of production capacity.

In addition to SAIC, another domestic giant, Great Wall, has also stepped up its efforts to enter the Indian market. In January this year, Great Wall Motors just completed an agreement with General Motors on the acquisition of GM's Talegaon plant in India. Great Wall Motors' second overseas factory officially landed in India.

At the Delhi International Auto Show in India in February, Great Wall released the F5, F7, F7X and some concept models. According to the plan, Great Wall's future product lines in India will cover the entire range of SUV products.

In addition, car companies such as Great Wall and BYD also plan to invest in battery research and development and manufacturing in India to obtain priority resources in the new energy vehicle field in India. However, given that India's infrastructure is weak and there is no particularly favorable new energy policy and market recognition, it will be difficult for new energy vehicles to make big moves in India in the short term.

The Indian automobile market has huge potential

The low-cost labor force and superior geographical location have allowed many automobile manufacturers to set up camp here, including luxury automobile brand manufacturers such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi. Building factories in India will make India the world's factory for global output.

Mercedes-Benz also exports the Mercedes-Benz GLC from its Indian factory to the United States. You must know that Mercedes-Benz has many SUV factories in the United States, but this kind of "reverse import" operation can still reduce vehicle manufacturing costs.

Although it has many luxury brand factories, India’s consumption capacity for mid- to high-end cars is very weak. According to data released by official brands, in 2018, the first-tier luxury brand camp, led by Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, etc., only sold 33,000 units in India in the first month of the year, while the German Troika sold only 33,000 units in China in the same year. **More than 1.97 million sold, 60 times more than in India.

Affected by the global economic slowdown in 2019, Indian passenger car sales also declined, with 1.81 million units sold throughout the year, ranking fourth in the world. Although production and sales have ranked among the top in the world, there is still a lot of room for development in the Indian luxury car market. According to statistics from relevant agencies, the average purchase price of new passenger cars in India is less than US$7,000 (approximately RMB 49,200).

Higher taxes and fees on various types of automobiles have led to the high prices of luxury cars in India. After India's tax reform in 2017, the automobile consumption tax was raised to 30%. In addition, imported models also have tariffs and luxury car taxes. Take the new BMW 530i, which is relatively common in China, as an example. The starting price of the new car in India exceeds 5.5 million rupees (approximately RMB 512,200), which is nearly 10% higher than the price in China.

In addition to the high price of the car itself, the poor paying ability of the people is also the reason why these luxury brands are not selling well in India. Relevant data shows that before 2018, India's annual per capita income was only less than 1,400 US dollars (approximately RMB 9,859). Although economic development has improved in the past two years and the annual per capita income has increased, it is still not enough to make it easy for most people. can afford a car.

Although both are developing countries, there are still big differences in the economic levels of China and India. Data show that India's per capita GDP in 2019 was only US$2,110 (approximately RMB 14,900), while China's per capita GDP reached 70,800 yuan in the same year, reaching a new level of US$10,000 for the first time, which is five times that of India. In China's second-tier and above cities, the average annual income of many people is close to or has exceeded 100,000 yuan.

These factors have resulted in India, with a population of nearly 1.4 billion, having less than 50 million four-wheel passenger vehicles. As of 2019, India’s domestic car ownership per capita is less than 30 units per 1,000 people, less than one-fifth of China’s.

Despite this, India is still considered to be one of the countries with the greatest potential for automobile consumption in the next few years. A huge population base means huge consumption potential, and the consumption power of the Indian market tends to be younger, with a higher proportion of young people than in China. According to market research statistics, the number of people under the age of 20 in India is as high as 500 million, and the national average age is only 27 years old.

Some analysts predict that in 2021, India will become the world's third largest automobile market after China and the United States.

This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.