10 car trends that will take over India in 2017

The Indian car market is evolving quickly. Innovations and customer choices are changing, and manufacturers are launching newer products to keep up with the demand. In 2016, the biggest trend that caught up with the market was the adoption of Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) in the regular cars. Now that 2017 is here, we bring you 10 biggest car trends that will become popular during the year.

Mild hybrids

The pollution spell in India has forced the Indian government to take some steps towards curbing the polluting cars in the country. To promote the cleaner and more efficient cars, Government rolled out the FAME scheme or the Fast Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric (and Hybrid) Vehicles in India.

Under the scheme, hybrid and electric vehicle receives tax incentives and hence, such vehicles receive a discount on its price. Under the scheme, Maruti launched the Ciaz diesel in India, which rose to the top spot in terms of sale very quickly. There are now quite a few cars available under the scheme. In 2017, we will see the trend catching up more strongly. Budget segment cars like Hyundai Verna, Toyota Innova among many other cars will receive the mild-hybrid tech in the coming year.

Safer cars

Till now Indian car laws were pretty relaxed. The Indian government has now given strict instructions to the car manufacturers to make the Indian cars safer. Under a new program called Bharat New Vehicle Safety Assessment Program (BNVSAP), the new cars sold in India will get star ratings based on the crash test conducted by the government body.

The program also mandates critical safety features for every car model sold in India. All the variants of a model should be equipped with a driver-side airbag, ABS and reverse parking sensor after October 2017. This will make cars much safer than the current lot.

More hot hatches

Manufacturers are now slowly inclining towards launching hot version of the hatchbacks in India. The Indian market already has the Fiat Abarth Punto in the budget segment. In 2017, we will see the arrival of the likes of Maruti Baleno RS, Tata Tiago Sport will see a rise in India. Maruti reportedly will also bring the hot version of the new Swift later in the year to join the party.

New crossovers

Indian market loves big cars. The same love affair made the cars like Duster and Creta super popular in the market. In 2017, the trend will be stronger with the manufacturers preparing more such crossovers for the market. Currently, there are several crossovers in the pipeline that will launch next years like the Tata Nexon, Renault Kaptur, Honda WRV and the Tata Hexa. Also, facelift of models like Duster and EcoSport will make sure that the crossovers stay popular in the market.

New brands

India is slowly developing into a more mature market. Customers are open to the new brands arriving in the country. In 2017, we will see some prominent brands arriving in the country officially. To start with, the luxury brand of Toyota, Lexus will enter the Indian market officially next year. Also, Hyundai’s subsidiary Kia will start operations in India. The Kia brand is even exploring the opportunity to open a plant in the country. Similarly, Toyota may also bring its budget friendly brand Daihatsu in India next year.

Continued Below: 10 car trends that will take over India in 2017