India 7th largest carmaker in the world!

It is official now – the Indian car industry is not only the fastest growing but now the 7th largest car producing in the world. A statement by the government says that India is now the seventh largest vehicle producing nation in the world. But the best part is the fact that the country has reached this target six years earlier than expected.

According to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the country vehicle production increased to 1,40,49,830 units in 2009-10, a jump of over 25 per cent from 11,172,275 units in the previous fiscal. In 2005-06, the total vehicle production was 97,43,503 units.

India has some of the world’s finest carmakers like Maruti Suzuki that produces models like Maruti Alto, Maruti Wagon R, Maruti Ritz, Maruti Swift etc, Hyundai Motors that produces Hyundai i10, Hyundai i20, Hyundai Santro etc, Tata Motors that produces Tata Nano, Tata Indica Vista, Tata Indigo, Tata Manza, Tata Safari etc and some new players like Volkswage Polo, Ford Figo, Nissan Micra, Fiat Punto et al.

The luxury segment of the country’s car market has players like Mercedes producing Mercedes E Class, Mercedes S class, Mercedes SLS AMG etc, BMW producing BMW 5 series, BMW 3 series etc and Audi producing A4, A3 et al.

The April-August 2009-10 figures are very impressive. The figures show a cumulative production of vehicles growing at 32.4 per cent over the year ago period. If the growth is sustained and carmakers are able to keep the long term vision in mind while making policies then India will be in the top five vehicle producing countries in the world by 2020 with the domestic consumption growing by 4-folds to USD 120 billion.

At present China is the largest vehicle producer of the world followed by the US.