how many seats and how much its gonna cost ?
what is Indian response to this car? how many Indians are gonna buy it?
Seat 4-5. Will cost between 1.2-1.4 lakh Pakistani rupees (obviously the assumption is that there will be fair amount of local component sourcing.. especially non-machine parts).. If it is imported as CKD unit and then assembled only, it will get expensive... around 2lakh pakistani rupees
It has been a huge success with lower middle class of India as a family of 4 can now easily afford a car at 1.2lakhs and with easy financing options and increasing incomes it looks even more lucarative... Now, Ranault is also planning a 2000-4000$ car for India marked, due to its sheer size...
It had problems initially with some technical snags... consequently its sales literraly came to a thumping stop... However, Tata is the most well respected group in the country and they have given a 4 year warranty on the newer versions... Post that people are again warming up to it.. however, the increased interest rates and a trend that indicated that rates will go up further could hurt its sales... as it's key customer segment is very very consious to interest rates...
I don't have the exact size of the market... but hypothesiing based on popilation and affluence numbers from Mckinsey's Bird of Gold report (purely from memory) and a couple of automobile reports i read sometime back... It could start to cater around 15-20% of the market directly and that number could touch as high as 35% in the next decade... I will try and check for absolute numbers and add further...
I think it will work in Pakistan because you also have a big lower middle class and they would relish the opportunity to own a 4 wheeler just like an average indian household does... and you can't say that it not cute small car....
... Economically also, everyone will love new jobs and an opportunity to take this further the Indian/Chinese way to develop a domestic car making capabilities and it will add only... and will also be another good example of increasing trade between neighbours...