Automobile industry in India$ The high growth in the Indian economy has resulted in many foreign car manufacturers entering the Indian market. Rolls Royce, Bentley and Maybach are examples of the few high end automobile manufacturers to enter India in the recent years.Chennai is the automobile capital in India. It has a lot of foreign direct investment in automobile industry.Chennai is often called as the 'Detroit of Asia'.There were only a few handful of cars in the Indian market in the 1980s. Most of these were outdated models like Hindustan Motors' Ambassador (which is still produced and sold). The only car with the latest technology then was the Maruti 800. It became very popular because of the low price, high fuel efficiency and good reliability. Since then the market has grown with over 20 manufacturers and hundreds of models and variants. The Maruti 800 is at the lower end of the price range costing approx US $5, 000 and Bugatti Veyron at the other with a price tag of over 2 Million US dollars.The Indian automobile industry has matured over the years and is now highly competitive with major Japanese, Korean, European and Indian companies all holding significant market shares.In addition to foreign models like the Hyundai Santro and the Ford Escort various indigenous cars like the Tata Indica and the Mahindra & Mahindra SUV, the Scorpio are also popular. These cars exported to the markets worldwide. An electric car is also manufactured by a local company, REVA.Tata Motors plans to produce the world's first air powered in partnership with MDI of France.The passenger vehicle sales in India crossed the one million mark in 2005. This segment grows at 10-15% annually. Around 85% of the cars sold in India are financed as against the global average of 70%.In neighbouring China, only 15-20% vehicles are financed.There are only three cars in India for 1000 people as compared to the other extreme 500 cars for 1000 people in the United States.Goldman Sachs has predicted that India will have the maximum number of cars on the planet by 2050 overtaking the United States. BMW : BMW is manufacturer of prestigious sport sedans that are known for their nimble handling. BMW enjoys good brand recognition in India, thanks to Indian movies and the rich who have been importing these cars for decades. It has set up a plant in Chennai, Tamil Nadu to manufacture cars locally exclusively for the local market with no plans for export.It set up a plant locally to circumvent the high import duties.3 Series , 5 Series. Chevrolet : Chevrolet has been one of the most recognized brands in India for several decades. They were made popular as the vehicle of choice of the heroes in Bollywood movies. The model lineup consists of vehicles from cheaper sister brands like Daewoo. General Motors initially entered India with the Opel brand, but the Opel brand was dropped in March 2006 because sales were at an all time low due to high prices and General Motors wanted to focus more on their Chevrolet brand. Since the Chevrolet brand was introduced in India, there have been no new Opel products.GM's Indian operations were originally a JV between Hindustan Motors and GM, with most of GM's vehicles assembled at Hindustan's plant in Halol, Gujarat. Since then, GM India is now wholly owned by GM.Cars from Chevrolet are : Tavera - Rebadged Isuzu Panther.Forester - (Discontinued) Rebadged First Generation Subaru Forester. Aveo - Second Generation Daewoo Kalos sedan.Aveo UV-A - First Generation Daewoo Kalos hatchback.Optra - Rebadged Daewoo Lacetti.SRV - Rebadged Daewoo Lacetti.Spark - Formerly Daewoo Matiz in India.Chinkara : Roadster, Jeepster.Daewoo :Cielo, Matiz, Nexia. Fiat : Fiat India has struggled in India since its inception. The Fiat Uno was one of the first products to be introduced. The Fiat Palio was later introduced and was initially a big hit with its style and ride comfort coupled with solid build but has slowly lost its sheen due to low fuel efficiency. Other models were introduced such as the Palio Weekend and Siena. Fiat tried re-branding of the Fiat Siena to Fiat Petra without much success. It roped in Sachin Tendulkar as one of its brand ambassadors. Even Michael Schumacher appeared in an ad for the Palio. It has entered now into an alliance with Tata Motors to jointly manufacture cars at its plant in Ranjangaon, near Pune. The facility will enable the two companies to make about 200, 000 cars per annum, and also house an engine manufacturing unit with a capacity of 250, 000 units per annum. The alliance will also see Tata Motors use Fiat's diesel technology - the 1.3 litre multijet diesel engine - for its own vehicles. The two companies also have a distribution and service partnership. Force Motors $ Force Motors was formerly known as Bajaj Tempo Ltd. Founded in 1958, it is located in Akurdi, a Pimpri-Chinchwad neighbourhood of Pune, India. They manufacture three wheelers, multi utility and cross country vehicles, light commercial vehicles, tractors and now heavy commercial vehicles.Gama, Cruiser Trax, Toofan, Challenger. Ford : Ford entered India in collaboration with Mahindra & Mahindra in 1995 with a major plant in Tamil Nadu. The first model was the Escort.Escort (Discontinued) - It was offered with a 1.3 Liter petrol termed Alpha and 1.5 Liter Diesel engine termed Orion, and at a time when the car wars in India had just begun. The diesel version was fancied by many due to the fact that diesel was available at half the price of petrol(gasoline/gas) in India at that time.