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Japanse car companies in India
plan major expansion of models and
dealerships
Japanese automakers plan India
revelry.
BY OUR AUTO CORRESPONDENT
February 21, 2006: India is all set
to be a haven for Japanese auto
majors. Automakers from that part of
the world are making a beeline for
India to expand their sales channels
here.
This, apparently, follows an
intensifying turf battle between
Japanese auto giants themselves as
well as with western and South Korean
competitors in the market. It has been
reported that the Suzuki Motor Corp
aims to increase the number of local
dealerships from 7269 by 50 per cent
to 600 per cent by 2010-end. Suzuki
which started automobile production
and sales in India in 1983, is
currently the largest player in the
market, boasting of a 50 per cent
share. It already has an extensive
network of 209 local sales firms
operating 405 dealerships. Adding to
this, the company is likely to set up
more showrooms and maintenance depots
in regional cities with high growth
potential.
Meanwhile, Toyota Motor Corp, with
7203 outlets in Japan, plans to double
the number of models on sale in India
to eight. The auto giant will also
triple the size of its local
dealership network to 200 units by
2010, from the current 63, a report
said. The company looks at boosting
its share of the Indian market to 10
per cent from the current 4 per cent
by 2010.
Another automobile major, Honda Motor
Co which boasts of a total of 7267
dealerships in Japan, has plans to
increase the number of dealers to 80
in fiscal 2008 and to more than 100 by
fiscal 2010, from 53 at present.
Honda in India has cars targeted at
auto enthusiasts to luxury vehicles
for wealthy customers in India.
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