It seems that the Indian car market has decided to make the best of the upcoming festive season and utilise the golden chance in a consummate way. The domestic market is inundated with unlimited new launches and still counting. The auspicious festival of Diwali has, and will witness entry of cars of shapes and sizes, placed under different kind of segments. Right from hatchbacks and sedans to SUVs, car makers have ample options in store.
Another encouraging fact about the festive season is that one can expect number of new cars all together, unlike the previous times, which majorly witnessed upgradations and facelifts of existing cars. While stalwarts like Renault Koleos, Nissan Sunny, Honda Brio and Mahindra XUV 500 are already a part of the Indian auto market, new vehicles are waiting to be revealed soon.
One such car that would be offered to the Indian auto market is the highly anticipated Hyundai EON, which would be placed in the small car segment. EON is believed to be the cheapest car ever produced by the company, making it all the more India-oriented small car. Likely to be priced at Rs. 2.5 lacs, EON would lock horns with Maruti Alto, which is India's largest selling car. Hyundai EON is expected to click with customers instantly not just because of the price quotient, but also owing to the 800 cc petrol engine that will churn out a maximum power of 48 bhp. Moreover, the small car is most likely to be offered in both manual and automatic transmissions.
Tata Merlin, is another SUV, from the Tata Motors, which will be rolled out on the Indian roads soon. To be priced around Rs. 10 lacs, Merlin is going through stringent tests at global level, in order to compete with the recently launched Mahindra XUV500. Tata plans to boost the sales rate of Merlin by providing the SUV with a powerful engine. In addition, a complete package of safety features like 6 airbags, ABS with EBD, parking sensors, fog lamps, traction control and ESP are expected to be a part of Tata Merlin.
The festive season will also witness the unveiling of the facelifted version of Honda City, priced at around the same range as that of the existing version. As a matter of fact, the new City is already running on the Thailand roads.
Even Renault is all set to launch a hatchback this festive season. Codenamed 'B58', the hatchback will be based on the V-platform that id being used currently by Nissan Micra. This B+ hatchback will target Maruti Swift.
Skoda will also join the league with the launch of Rapid, which is expected to carry a price tag of Rs. 7lacs to Rs. 10 lakh. It is expected to be launched in the last week of October or November. The design of Skoda Rapid seems to be highly influenced by Skoda concept Vision D that the Czech auto maker showcased at the Geneva Motor Show.
Mahindra is another car maker that would cash on the auspicious season by bringing the new Xylo in the auto market. The advanced variant of the popular MUV is expected to be launched by the next two months.
German luxury car maker Audi, which strives to be the topmost luxury car seller in India, will also woo the customers during the festive season with Audi A5, which has performed outstandingly in the international markets.
Thus, car makers seem to be huge fans of the upcoming festive season and hope to take a long stride towards achievement of their targets, with new launches being slated in the coming time.
