India becomes fourth largest car manufacturer in the world

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India has become the fourth largest passenger car manufacturing nation in the world. With a production of 39.53 lakh cars during 2017, it is now ranks just behind China, Japan, and Germany.

The global passenger vehicle sales share of India stands at 5%, up from 1% in 2000. It has also seen a steady growth whereas countries like USA, Japan, Spain and France saw a drop. In the year 2000, China was close to India with regards to the number of cars produced. However, it soon grew exponentially and has now become the leading country for manufacturing of passenger cars. It is also the world’s largest automobile market.

In the commercial vehicle segment, USA is at the top followed by China, Mexico and Canada. It must be noted that many American-spec pick-up trucks are made in Mexico and Canada. Thanks to many trade agreements, Thailand features at the number 6 position above India. According to the definitions used, passenger cars include cars with up to 8 seats and a driver. Pick-up trucks are classified as commercial vehicles (CVs). Hence, the USA numbers are not counted in passenger vehicle sales.

Thanks to exports, Japan (Toyota) and South Korea (Hyundai-Kia) have managed to remain competitive.

Overall, vehicle production has moved to countries with the highest demand (China), increasing wealth (ASEAN including India) and lower manufacturing costs (East Europe, China). Tariff regulations also have been a decider in the location of manufacturing plants.  Since the sub-prime crisis period of 2007 and the Sovereign Debt fund of 2010, the production has rapidly shifted to Asian countries.

Source - Autopunditz