Indian consumers’ taste for Western cars growing

Western automakers are expanding their share of the growing Indian passenger car market. North American and European carmakers’ share rose 13% in fiscal 2010 (April 2010-March 2011), nearly double that of five years ago. Both Volkswagen AG, the first European carmaker to enter the Indian market, and Ford Motor Co. have launched low-price compact cars that are in demand from middle-income Indian consumers. Overall passenger car sales in fiscal 2010 grew 29% year-on-year to a record high of 2.52 million units, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, while sales by European carmakers doubled, while U.S. carmakers saw sales rise by 60%. Their combined share grew by 3.5 percentage points. (April 22, 2011)