China's SAIC, Peugeot, global cos line up Rs 10k-cr for India

SAIC Motor, Peugeot, Daihatsu and Kia Motors are some of the global car companies who have firm up plans for an India foray over the next 1-3 years with collective investments of at least Rs 10,000 crore.The 92-year-old British automotive brand MG Motor, which is now owned by SAIC (formerly Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation) will make its debut in India.SAIC has set a target of rolling out products in India by end of 2018 or early 2019. The company, which is China’s largest automotive company, is believed to have readied investments of USD 1 billion for Indian operations.MG Motor India was incorporated early last month with its registered office in South Delhi having an authorized capital of Rs 33.5 crore. Besides the idea of buying the struggling GM India plant in Gujarat which makes the Chevrolet Tavera SAIC is also exploring options of setting up a green field plant.SAIC is not completely new to the Indian market. The company had picked up 50 stake in General Motors India as part of an effort to bail out the US company whose parent had filed for bankruptcy. The two companies had agreed on sharing platforms and products.Interestingly, three of the eight board members of the MG Motor India are former employees of GM India and at least one director was also on the board of GM India, as per disclosure made to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.Rajeev Chaba, former president of GM India, P Balendran chief of corporate affairs at GM India and Zuoping Yao director GM India are on the board of MG India.SIAC believes that India needs its own products rather than those developed outside the country and localized here later. Vehicles of MG will have a high degree of localization in India thus allowing it to compete effectively in the budget segment against heavyweights like Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Tata Motors.French car-maker Peugeot is investing Rs 700 crore in a grossly underutilised factory owned by Hindustan Motors in Chennai to build its own products. These products which are expected to be positioned slightly above the budget segment of Maruti Suzuki’s will roll out before 2020.Similarly, Hyundai Motors-owned Korean car maker Kia has also finalized plans to enter India for which it had discussions for a production facility with a few states. Several of the Kia products share platforms with Hyundai overseas and the two companies will likely follow the same strategy in India.World’s largest car-maker Toyota probably has taken the most aggressive stance for the Indian market. While it has been contemplating on bringing its budget brand Daihatsu to India it has also finalised plans to launch the luxury brand Lexus here too.As per sources Lexus, which competes with established luxury car brands like Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi and Jaguar Land Rover, will debut in India later this month. The US is the biggest market for Lexus which has sedans and sports utility vehicles under its fold.Honda is not far behind either. The Japanese company is exploring the possibility of bringing the luxury brand Acura to India too. However, since Acura caters only to left hand drive markets Honda is contemplating about reengineering the car to a right-hand drive for the Indian market.