8 upcoming car brands you may not have heard of

India is among the fastest-growing markets in the world when it comes to automobiles. By the end of the decade, experts believe that India will be among the third largest markets in the world. The growth will be fueled by the fact that there are a lot of new manufacturers that are eyeing the Indian market. Here are 8 new manufacturers that are planning to make their Indian debuts soon.

Kia

Kia is a sub-brand of Hyundai. They have confirmed that they will soon be entering the Indian market in the lower end of the spectrum. The company is close to finalizing a location for their manufacturing facility. Talks are on with the AP government for the location.

The company will soon setup shop in India before launching any product in the country. This will be similar to how Skoda and VW operate in the Indian market. However it isn’t clear as to whether Kia will be positioned above or below Hyundai regarding pricing.

There are a lot of products that Kia has in the global portfolio, however, the cars that will most likely make it to our market are the Rio, which is a B-segment hatchback, the Picanto, which is the entry level A-segment hatchback and the Sportage, which is a compact SUV. There are rumours that the Soul may also make it to India. However, Kia is yet to confirm the product line up yet.

Daihatsu

Toyota and Daihatsu are in the process of coming up with a new brand for emerging markets like India. Having said that, Daihatsu itself will be entering the Indian market soon. While Toyota has been successful in the mid-level segments with the Corolla, Innova and Fortuner, they haven’t been able to succeed in the lower end of the market, which is where the volumes are.

This shall be helped by the coming of the Daihatsu brand. The brand has a lot small and spacious products that are sure to interest our customers. The Daihatsu brand will compete against the low-cost cars from Datsun and from other brands like Tata, Hyundai and Maruti in India. Their first car may come in form of small hatchback known as Ayla.

Lexus

The luxury arm of Toyota has been planning to enter the Indian market space since a long time now. The company will finally enter the market officially in 2017. Lexus has already started taking bookings and the products will arrive through the Completely Built Unit (CBU) route.

Lexus will bring in their SUVs RX450h and LX 570 along with a sedan ES300h. To bring the cost down and to compete with the other luxury brands in India, Toyota may also assemble the vehicles after studying market response for the Lexus brand.

PSA Peugeot Citroen

The french carmaker Peugeot, which is now known as PSA Peugeot Citroen is all set to enter the Indian market space. This will be the second innings of the manufacturer in India. Peugeot will start its operations in 2018 and the strategy was confirmed by the company.

Peugeot was one of the few car manufacturers present in the Indian market during the early 1990s.The company pulled the plug from the Indian market in 1997 after the partnership with Premier Automobiles fell down. The coming back of the manufacturer will be in partnership with Tata motors.

The company pulled the plug from the Indian market in 1997 after the partnership with Premier Automobiles fell down. The coming back of the manufacturer will be in partnership with Tata motors. Peugoet is said to be utilizing Tata’s Sanand plant to manufacture the cars in India.

SAIC

SAIC or Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation is planning to enter India soon. SAIC is General Motor’s partner in China. GM is planning to sell their Halol plant in Gujarat and SAIC may take over the factory. GM and SAIC will co-operate on the manufacturing strategy where the Chinese manufacturer may rebadge the GM models in India. General Motors has already announced their future plan to concentrate on the Telegaon factory in Maharashtra and stop the production at the Gujarat plant.

Tesla

The Tesla Model 3 has been a huge hit in many international markets. The electric car maker has some serious plans for the Indian market. Tesla started taking bookings for the Model 3 and said that the deliveries will start by the end of 2017.

Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla said that India is an important country and he is planning to build a wide network of superchargers that charges the Tesla vehicles within minutes across India. Interestingly, the Indian government has also invited Tesla to explore an opportunity to set-up their factory in India.

Changan

Changan Automobile is another China-based manufacturer that is drawing a strategy to enter the Indian marketplace soon. The company is exploring opportunities in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh to set up a new plant. The popular automotive brand will bring in their B-Segment SUV as the first car in India. Their first product is said to be launched by 2019 and will compete against the likes of Maruti Brezza and Hyundai Creta.

Beiqi Foton

Yet another Chinese manufacturer Beiqi Foton will soon launch their products on the Indian soil. The company has already acquired a piece of land in the automobile manufacturing hotspot, Chakan, Pune. The company will launch their first products under the Borgward brand. Their first batch of cars will be a van and a series of SUVs that will take on Mahindra vehicles. Their expected date of launch is around 2019.