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ones despite a slowdown in sales, as they strive to meet changing customer demands in a market where products become outdated fast, according to industry executives.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.

Mumbai: Car makers including Honda Cars India Ltd and Hyundai Motor India Ltd are tweaking the looks and features of existing vehicles in their line-up more frequently to attract young customers put off by ageing models.

In the past six months, Honda has launched the All New City, and Hyundai the new Elantra.

Car buyers are flocking again to showrooms, marking a steady increase in enquiry and booking levels in the past three weeks.

This reverses the weak consumer sentiment in the sector over the past 24 months. Dealers of cars and utility vehicles say buyers appear more confident in committing for a purchase than before the new government was formed at the Centre.

The new government seems to have spurred recovery in the automobile industry, with eight of the country's leading passenger vehicle makers on Monday reporting sales growth of 7.4 per cent in May.

These automobile manufacturers sold 190,193 vehicles in May, compared with 177,168 in the same month a year ago. According to data available with the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), domestic passenger vehicle sales had in April declined 9.50 per cent to 188,541 on a year-on-year basis.

NEW DELHI: Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) today reported nine per cent decline in total sales to 51,718 units in May 2014.

The company had sold 56,856 units in the same month last year, it said in a statement.

Sluggish demand and uncertain economic conditions have failed to stop Korean automobile maker Hyundai Motor India's Xcent compact sedan and Grand i10 hatchback from making inroads in the passenger vehicle market.

This is against the backdrop of a fall in sales of Maruti Suzuki's Swift hatchback and DZire compact sedan and Honda's Amaze compact sedan last month.

Hyundai Motor India today rolled out a new variant of its entry level car Eon, priced at Rs 3.83 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

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