Chinese automakers recce Indian mkt

The Chinese are coming. No content with just flooding the Indian auto component market with cheaper parts, Chinese vehicle makers are also trying to get a foothold here.

If the buzz doing the round at the Auto Expo is any indication, carmaker Chery Automobile as also commercial and passenger vehicle maker Foton Motor Group appear keen to enter India. Though both these companies have been circling the Indian market for many years, they have renewed enquiries at this year’s Expo.

Indian suppliers tell us that Foton wants to offer the full range of light, medium and heavy commercial vehicles and has already begun a benchmarking study. It is looking to set up a manufacturing facility here eventually.

A state-owned listed company in China, Foton claims to be the number one commercial vehicle manufacturer in Asia and is headquartered in Changping district, Beijing. It sells trucks and passenger vehicles in 90 countries across the world.

Chery has been talking to some potential Indian partners since 2006 but is yet to take a final call, much like its Malaysian counterpart Proton which also remains undecided about the model with which to enter the Indian passenger car market.
Not just the Chinese, even French car maker PSA Peugeot Citroen is firming up India plans.

Suppliers said that PSA has already completed cost analysis for ‘Peugeot 106’, one of the smallest cars in its portfolio for the Indian market.

Though the first Peugeot car is unlikely to reach Indian shores before 2012, ‘Peugeot 106’ may eventually be manufactured only in India. It is currently made in the Czech Republic by a joint venture between PSA Peugeot and Toyota Motor Corp.

PSA has been in talks with governments of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu to establish a greenfield manufacturing site for its cars, after discussions for contract manufacturing with some Indian companies remained inconclusive.