The ascendency of India as an economic world power

If you live in India then there is every possibility that you have seen a Maruti 800 car. Maruti 800 came into the market in 1984 and it is still being sold in India. So, in every corner of India, you can find many Maruti 800 cars in the street. It seems that this car may not rule the Indian car market much longer.

Hindustan Times reported:

The 800 sold just 6,214 units in June, down 20.3 per cent from sales the same month last year. It is now selling less than 80,000 a year, down from more than 1,20,000 two years back.

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Ironically, it is Maruti’s proposed Rs 1 lakh car that threatens to push the 800 off India’s roads. One way out would be for Maruti to bring the 800 into the sub-1-lakh segment, but according to sources, the company is loath to do this. "The 800 is a Rs 2 lakh car, and the potential customer is not somebody who wants to buy a car for Rs 1 lakh," sources said. Official Maruti sources declined to comment on the future plans for the car.

For many years, Maruti 800 was considered to be a cheap car in Indian market. However, now, in Indian car market, a price war has just started and all the auto makers want to take a pie of the cheap car segment. So, Maruti 800 is no longer the only attractive deal for Indian consumers in the cheap car segment.