India''s Largest Car Maker Tries Upscale Pitch for SUVs - Nasdaq
India's largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. , is releasing a new crossover vehicle this month with a sales flourish uncommon for a mass-market car brand: white-glove treatment. Maruti is new to small crossovers that are growing in popularity thanks to new products by global players including Ford Motor Co. and Renault SA. Hyundai Motor Co. , No. 2 in India's car market, put a similarly priced small crossover on sale in... The move to small crossovers, which carry prices of between 675,000 rupees($10,359) and 1. 37 million rupees, is a bold move upmarket by Maruti and to a lesser extent by Hyundai. Hyundai has successfully sold its larger Sonata sedan and Santa Fe SUV. India, the world's sixth-largest passenger vehicle market, is forecast to grow to No. 3 by 2020, behind China and the U. S. Crossovers were growing at a compound annual rate of 25% since 2011 in India, but that has temporarily cooled amid a... Crossovers, car-based vehicles designed to look like SUVs, are quickly growing in many global markets as customers opt for more interior room and higher ground clearance. In India, only about 4% of sales come from small crossovers, said Rakesh Srivastava, Hyundai's sales chief in India. Source: www.nasdaq.com
