That the car-buying folks in India love hatchbacks isn’t something that we do not know. Be it for their affordability or the sheer ease to drive around, we Indians love them so much that every second car sold in our market is a hatchback. Car manufacturers are well aware of the this fact and the impending message that “India is all theirs if they get their hatchbacks right”. Maruti-Suzuki and Hyundai are perfect examples. They are where they are right now only because of their hatchbacks. If not for the 800 and Santro, they wouldn’t be topping the monthly sales charts. On the contrary, look no further than Fiat to know the implications if a brand doesn’t get it right.
This being the scenario, we would like to put forth a question to all our readers. Do you all believe that we Indians are getting what we deserve in the hatchback segment? If you ask us at MotorBeam, the answer is a big ‘No’. Yes, we do have the latest hatchbacks of all brands being sold here, often much before they are launched internationally and we continue to buy tens of thousands of these little cars every month. But how many of them are powerful and sporty enough to kindle the enthusiast in us? How many of these cars make us crave to go out on an open road without any reason? Sadly, none.
All we get here are the same mundane cars that fail to excite the enthusiast in us one little bit. We don’t deny that the average transaction price for most hatchbacks is only around 5 Lakh Rupees and the margins on these cars are also less. More over, most Indians would happily trade power and sportiness for fuel-efficiency and value-for-money. But, does that really give manufacturers the right to not give us more powerful and sporty choices? By doing so, aren’t they completely ignoring a few passionate souls who might not think twice for plonking a few excess thousands of currency for a genuinely exciting model?
None of the manufacturers barring a couple have given a thought about it. Or, even if they had, they haven’t acted on it. Over the past decade and half, we can only think of two cars that could even come close to be called ‘sporty’. One was a Limited Edition (Fiat Palio S10) and the other an export surplus order, cleverly launched as Special Editions (Maruti-Suzuki Zen Carbon and Steel). Indians lapped up every one of those cars despite the fact that they were half-hearted attempts to try and gauge our response. Currently, the Volkswagen Polo 1.6 and the Skoda Fabia 1.6 are the only ‘hot’ sleeper hatchbacks available in the market.
On the contrary, hot and sporty hatchbacks are dime a dozen in the European market. Being small, nimble, practical, powerful and immensely fun-to-drive all at the same time, its not hard to understand why. Be it Volkswagen, Renault, Peugeot, Skoda, Fiat or Suzuki, every manufacturer with a hatchback in its portfolio has a sporty variant in the lineup that is capable of scorching the roads. Models like Polo GTI, Punto Abarth and Swift Sport are brands in their own right and special editions like the Skoda Fabia Monte Carlo are sold off as soon as they are launched.
We are sure that, just like us, most of you would be all excited and pumped up merely by seeing the pictures of these cars. Unfortunately, that is all we can do at the moment. At best, we can go to the extent of parking them as our desktop wallpapers.
Will this situation ever change? Will the car-makers realize that we Indians are being deprived of power, style and sportiness in a small package? Will they try to do justice to a market that worships hatchbacks after all? We are waiting to hear from you, our beloved readers, in the ‘comments’ section below.
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S Pani September 13, 2012 at 9:30 am
Well, I will definitely want to see a few of these hot hatches to come over to India. But there are quite a few hurdles in the way, and the manufacturers are not one of them.
Economics is the biggest hurdle. There just arent enough enthusiasts yet to make selling hot hatches a profitable venture, despite the fact that hot hatches will have higher margins per car for manufacturers.
Most hot hatches cant directly be translated to vehicles that can be lauched in India directly. These cars employ engines which operate with far less tolerances compared to their normal siblings, which means they have to be heavily adapted to the slightly worse fuel qualities in India today. Fuel quality in major cities will be comparable to Europe, but outside those cities impurities tend to creep in, both intentionally and unintentionally.
Similarly, most hot hatches employ low profile rubber and super stiff suspensions. The stiff suspension may be tolerable in European conditions but not so in Indian conditions. This means before introducing hot hatches, manufacturers will need to rethink the suspension setup all over again. There are also many other different modifications that are done to things like gearboxes, brakes, ECUs etc.
All this adds to development costs for a model that will just not generate enough numbers, making it uneconomical.
For now, all the manufacturer’s in India can do is put in the bigger engines from the sedans into the hatches and sell slightly more powerful hatches. These, like the 1.6Polo or Punto Sports are not really true hot hatches, just more powerful hatches.
But let’s not despair. Conditions and situations are changing. I imagine by around 2015, manufacturer’s will start bringing in true hot hatches to India as well. We can hope to see the next generation of Abarth Puntos, Polo GTIs and Fiesta STs to be available in India as well.
Nikhil September 13, 2012 at 7:19 pm
Awesome reply!
It all comes down to economics. Most of the ppl who even buy hatches have a wife and 2 kids. Very few enthusiasts will really go out there and shell out 10 lakhs for a hatch. So its not feasible for a manufacturer
Rohan September 13, 2012 at 12:11 pm
Hot hatches most certainly have petrol engines. With the petrol pricing we have here, and the uncertainty revolving around it about when the next price hike is going to be, do hot hatches really make sense?
In Europe, a hot hatch costs just about same as the annual income of a decently earning person. In India, a hot hatch will probably cost 4-5 times that. Moreover, when someone is ready to buy a car, her/his parents, spouse, friends, neighbours and everyone starts suggesting different options. Our previous generation definitely does not think of powerful cars as a good thing.
By the time a guy earns enough to afford a hot hatch, he already has a wife and kid(s). So, economy gets the upper hand, over fun. Not so in the west.
And finally, do we have the infrastructure?
Well, now that disposable incomes are rising (and hopefully continue to do so), there is a possibility that a hot hatch finding its way as a second car.
S Pani September 13, 2012 at 1:34 pm
You are not getting the point of the hot hatch. It is not for the run of the mill customers, even in Europe. It is for the enthusiasts, the young at heart, those who have the need for speed.
And even with petrol pricing, there is a group of people who want these cars in India. But like I said, they are not yet that big in number.
And if hot hatches can be made in India with about 75% localisation, they will cost at most about 10lakhs, which by today’s standard is not that prohibitive a cost. Many of the younger generation are already buying hatches worth 6-7lakhs within a couple of years of employment.
Remember, even in Europe hot versions barely make up more than a few percent of hatchback sales. They are not bread and butter models. Even when launched in India no manufacturer will think that they will be selling hot hatches by the thousands.
Hot hatches are niche cars that are affordable to a much larger number of people.
Kedar September 13, 2012 at 2:16 pm
S Pani you are correct. Hot hatches like Golf GTI, Punto EVO Abarth, Abarth 500 are very rare here in UK as well. I never seen them in large numbers.
If car manufacturers make these cars as per the orders then it will be win win situation for both.
vinod patrick September 13, 2012 at 5:55 pm
A correction on the article…Polo 1.6 and Fabia 1.6 are no longer available. The smarties at VW group India decided to scrap them.
Ben September 13, 2012 at 7:41 pm
In India every foreign bike manufacturer offer the import of their superbikes to India on request. Eg r1, hayabusa. The same should be done for cars.
S Pani September 13, 2012 at 8:46 pm
Well, you are forgetting, one hot hatch is available in India via the CBU route, ie the 180hp Mini S. But unfortunately at over 30Lakh, it sort of defies the point of hot hatches. Hot hatches are supposed to be a bit more accessible, at present rate they are costlier than BMW 3series sedans.