After doubling its market share to about 7% in just two years, on the back of diesel models of Amaze and City, Honda is now gearing up for the second leg of its mass market strategy to challenge the supremacy of Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai. The carmaker is developing a 1-litre petrol engine, the smallest in its car range globally, which, it hopes, will help it gain a foothold in the small car segment, which includes the country's top-selling models — Maruti Alto, WagonR, Celerio and Hyundai Eon.

With major car players in India introducing compact SUVs, country’s second largest carmaker Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) does not want to be left behind. Hyundai is ‘serious’ about entering the compact SUV segment and studying the market which according to the company is the fastest growing at present.

The compact SUVs already in the market include Ford EcoSport, Renault Duster, Nissan Terrano and Toyota Etios Cross.

Hyundai Motor India, the country's biggest car exporter, has decided to shift focus from exports to the domestic market, which is showing signs of recovery after nearly two years of falling sales. The local unit of Seoulbased Hyundai Motor Company has stopped shipments from its Chennai plant to Europe, which will now be catered by the parent's plants in Turkey and the Czech Republic.

Japanese carmaker Honda emerged as the third-largest carmaker in July with a 40% jump in volumes to 15,709 units, overtaking home-grown player Mahindra, which saw a drop of 5% in monthly sales to 14,708 units.

With a market share that has more than doubled from about 3% in FY13 to almost 7% (April-June FY15), Honda is behind market leader Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai that command about 44% and 17% market shares, respectively.

South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co is recalling about 420,000 vehicles covering three models for separate problems in the US after recalling 883,000 Sonata sedans this week, according to US safety regulators.

No injuries or accidents have been reported in the latest recall, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said on its website on Friday.

The month of July is yet to reveal some more surprises. After a spree of launches so far from Nissan Sunny facelift to several limited and special editions from Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Renault and Chevrolet, the automakers are leaving no stone unturned to get most out of the season. Where Maruti has brought in limited edition of Ritz and Ertiga, Chevrolet introduced special Manchester United Limited edition of Beat during the football fever. Renault introduced second anniversary edition of Duster, Hyundai launched Grand i10 LPG edition while Volkswagen too joined the movement and launched facelift Polo hatch. Are we missing something? Yes, there will be much touted Honda Mobilio MPV coming in a few days besides a couple of hot wheels from German luxury carmakers. Here is the chronological brief synopsis of each.

In a revival sign for the country’s troubled automobile industry, nine leading carmakers’ combined sales in June was 18 per cent higher than those in the same month last year.

A new and stable government at the Centre seemed to have bolstered consumer sentiment, as buyers returned to showrooms — the nine passenger vehicle manufacturers that released their numbers on Tuesday sold a combined 204,287 units in the month, compared with 173,624 in June 2013.

After registering a 15 per cent exports drop in 2013-14, the country's largest passenger car maker, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL), aims to crack new markets. And, the largest car exporter, Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL), plans to add new models to its export kitty, to maintain its first position.

MSIL exports to over 100 countries and is now focussing on developing new markets —examples are Angola, Mozambique and Benin in Africa, apart from Panama, Uruguay and Colombia.

With uncertainty looming over excise duty structure on automobiles as reduced rates expire on June 30, Hyundai Motor India may raise vehicle prices if the cess rate is reverted back to the levels before the interim Budget in February.

The company, which is India's second largest carmaker by volume, said it had passed on the entire benefit to the customers while absorbing the impact of change of value on dealer stock which was compensated to dealers when the government reduced excise duty in February.

MUMBAI: Automobile makers in India have lined up more than Rs 10,000 crore of investment to develop new passenger vehicles and soup up existing ones despite a slowdown in sales, as they strive to meet changing customer demands in a market where products become outdated fast, according to industry executives.

Companies such as Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors, Maruti SuzukiBSE 0.56 % as well as the local units of Hyundai Motor, Renault and Nissan Motor are working on all-new platforms to bring out new products.

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