What we have heard so far is how the world’s cheapest car is selling by the seconds. If you though I meant time by the word “Seconds” you are wrong ,what I am in fact talking about here is the second-hand sales of the Nano. Even before the car is reached the lucky owner, rich people have swooped in and pay the destined owners up to 30% more than the actual car’s price and buy them second hand.

The main reason for this being the supply-demand equation being a catastrophe. Though 200,000 bookings have been registered so far only 2,500 cars have been delivered. Tata’s current Nano plant doesn’t have the capacity to meet the need.

But that’s not the only reason according to a Mumbai sales man Fazulbhoy. He claims that the car has stirred a fetish among the Indian riches who already own multiple luxury cars to snatch the Nano.

With the second hand sales booming Nano has reached a collector’s car status in India. the reason for fetish is the tag the Nano carries. It is the cheapest car in the world and that means something.

Fazulbhoy believes that the boom won’t last long as the Tata’s new Nano plant sprung into action and produce off 350,000 cars a year.

Ratan Tata’s dream of a car for the Indian Middle-class is rapidly turning into the Middle-class’s greed for more money! .. what a classic.

The German auto maker is doing well in India lately. Its sales has increased by 60% compared to last year with the sales of 1130 units. To match the growing market, Audi has decided to build up 5 new showrooms. The new showroom will be set up in Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Ludhiana, Kolkata and Mumbai.

Delhi and Mumbai already have Audi showrooms, this ones will be the second. Audi also has plans to open outlets in Jaipur, Nagpur, Lucknow and Coimbatore. Presently Audi has showrooms in Bangalore, Gurgaon, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmadabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kochi.

Audi currently sells A4, A6 and A8 sedans in India, which are assembled at its parent company VW’s plant in Pune. It imports the SUVs Q5 and Q7 and the sports cars TT and R8.

If you place an order for a Nano and a Swift Dzire, which one you think will take more time for delivery? Yap it’s the Swift Dzire and since its launch the Dzire with a price range of 4.49 to 6.7lakhs has been selling out like pop corn and has been in great demand. Recently Dzire has erected a milestone of sales of 1Lakh units.

The demand for the Dzire is still raising and has led to problems in booking. To counter the growing demand Maruti-Suzuki has increased the production from 4000 units to 7000 units a month.

Take for example a typical Indian family, in which the father wants a utilitarian car with a big boot for luggage and the son wants a car with a sportier pedigree, Well Maruti says look nowhere else.

According to the statistics released by SIAM (Society of Indian Automobile Manufactures), India’s car exports between January-July 2009 stands at 229,800 units, a considerable increase of 18% from last year for the corresponding period. China has recorded an export of 164,800 units during Jan-July 2009 which is a decline of over 60% from last year.

The reason for this mammoth take over might be the fact that India is fast becoming the small car hub for leading automakers like Hyundai, Suzuki and Nissan (which is soon to open up its shop). The other factor is, it is easier to set up export bases in India than china which requires the carmakers to collaborate with local companies as a part of the export deal.

The numbers from SIAM also reveal that India is the only exporter to have registered a positive note in the entire pacific ring. Thailand has registered a decline of 43% and South Korea which is the car exporting giant in Asia registered a decline of 31% at 1.12 million units.

August has been a rosy month for the Indian auto market. Not a traditionally strong month as say, April or November, August ‘09 has put up sales figures that all suggestions of an Indian “Cash for Clunkers” (a scheme where one can exchanges battered old cars for a hefty rebate in new ones!) will probably be laid to rest.

The most remarkable growth story comes from the 2-wheeler segment, which was in a state of coma the past few months. The market leader, Hero Honda which was the most affected by the downturn has come roaring back. It has posted a growth of a whopping 36% over August’08 on its way to marking the first time any 2-wheeler player has broken the 4 lakh units a month barrier. Total sales stood at a healthy 415,137.

Its main competitor, Bajaj however has been left in the wake to play catch-up. It has had a modest growth of 4%, with the new 100 cc Discover hogging most of the limelight (setting a first month record of 48,000 sold in the process); while the Pulsar continues it’s by now legendary run. With total sales of 183,051, it still lags way behind Hero Honda, which just goes to show that good advertising and sales rarely go together (one look at the recent Hero Honda advertisements are proof enough!).

There has been growth across the board in the 2-wheeler segment with TVS, Yamaha, Suzuki and Honda all posting positive numbers. “Yes! Yamaha” seems to have had a resounding “Yes!” from the consumers with a resounding 63% growth over the previous August. No doubt buoyed by the strong FZ-Series and the new Fazer. The Fazer has an advanced booking of around 12,000 orders. TVS are continuing their comeback story with their fifth continuous month of growth. With an increase of 11% over last August, TVS has sold a healthy 126,842 units including 28,582 scooters.

Talking of scooters, the undisputed scooter king of the Indian Market, Honda (HMSI) has also grown by almost 14% to sell 96,149 units including 59,041 scooters. HMSI’s poorer Japanese cousin, Suzuki Motorcycle India just can’t seem to follow up on its success in cars. Though it has grown 18%, sales stand at a dismal 13,030 units with most of it attributed to its GS150R. The picture is also quite rosy for the cars and we will be bringing you the facts for you quite soon…