IN 2005, THE automobile sector in India witnessed a major boom not seen in a long time. The mood in the automobile sector turned upbeat with the entry of Toyota Innova and Fiesta that came from the Ford’s bandwagon late last year. The following year, 2006, carried on with the trend of new cars, with foreign brands, too, coming to Indian market. With the entry of leading car manufacturers like Volkswagen and BMW, which have completed the groundwork for setting up their units in India and signed MoUs. The stage is set for the next automobile wave in India.

 

It is easy to understand that as soon as Tata’s much-awaited Rs 1 lakh car enters the market — early 2008 as announced by the company — it will give a tough time to two-wheeler companies for it basically targets the middle class, which is keen on having a car but can’t afford to have one. And, with Suzuki taking the challenge from Tatas, a car in the same category will come from Maruti-Suzuki.

 

Italian carmaker Fiat has also announced to roll out its models in a joint venture with the Tatas sometime in early 2007. Talking about the cars that were introduced in the year 2006, the two prime models that hit the Indian roads were Honda’s Civic and the new Zen version called Zen Estilo.

 

Honda Civic: The introduction of Civic by Honda, one of the most respected carmakers in the world, in August was worth the wait. The legendry brand brought out Civic, which is already being sold in 160 countries after getting the warm welcome to Honda City and ZX to pit it against the likes of Toyota Corolla and Skoda Octavia.