The year will see competition hot up in the economy and hatchback segment cars. In this segment, the old champs Maruti, Hyundai and Tata will fight to maintain their market shares as GM, Honda, Toyota, Renault, Skoda, Volkwagen, Nissan, Ford, and Mahindra also enter this segment with new offerings.
In the sedan segment, Honda which performed very badly in 2012 will look to salvage its lost pride and is planning to launch a slew of diesel models aimed for Indian market. Here it will compete with GM, Skoda, Volkswagon, Toyota, and Renault. Among upcoming cars in India, the SUV space will see the much awaited Ford EcoSport that will challenge Duster
The luxury segment which is dominated by few car makers will see many upcoming cares in India in 2013. The big three - BMW, Audi and Mercedes, will jostle for space with new arrivals like Porsche, Jaguar, Rolls Royce, and Aston Martin. BMW is planning to launch its X1 model in India. This model will be the entry level model in Indian market and will bring many more young aspirants to buy luxury car. Similar strategy is being adopted by Audi and Mercedes also and they all are bringing in entry level models with price tags of approx. Rs. 25 lacs
Within the luxury car segment, separate niches will get carved out in the form of super luxury sport sedans, convertible sport coupes, SUVs, and MPV, etc. The price range of these cars will start from Rs. 50 lakh onwards.
Maruti Suzuki, the largest car maker in India lost significant market share in 2012, on account of strikes and lockouts in its Manesar plant and also due to aggressive marketing by other competitors. Maruti's market share is already on decline and it will have to strike back in 2013 if it has to maintain its dominance on the Indian roads.
It is expected that as many as 50 new cars may see the light of the day in the year 2013. Some of them will be new launch of models, while others will be facelift versions of existing models. In the hatchback segment, Maruti is planning to facelift the A-Star which is not clocking in good numbers. Chevy Beat, Toyota's Liva, Polo from VW, Fiat with PuntoEvo, new VW Beetle, Hyundai with 2G i10, and Mini Cooper Diesel are also expected to faze out the older models and bring in fresh versions
In the compact sedan category, M&M Verito, Honda Amaze, Manza-Indigo from Tata will see newer variants getting launched in 2013. The slew of new models will surely keep the numbers ticking for many car makers. Depending on the economic situation and interest rate scenario, it has to be seen how the automobiles sector as a whole fares in the current year, but one thing is very clear that there will be a lot of churn among the existing power set up of car makers in India
