Lamborghini Zigzags India’s Rickshaws to Snare Surging Millionaires: Cars

 
Lamborghini SpA sees opportunity in the streets of Mumbai, where three-wheeled rickshaws zigzag through bumper-to-bumper traffic on pot-hole-infested roads.
Volkswagen AG (VOW)’s supercar maker plans to open its second dealership in India this year to meet increased demand for cars including the 36.9-million rupee ($750,600) Aventador, said Mohan Mariwala, managing director of Lamborghini Mumbai. Ferrari SpA, which opened its first dealership in the country in May, says it plans to open four more by the end of next year.
The surging number of millionaires, projected to more than double in India by 2015, is prompting supercar makers to expand in a country where the World Bank estimates more than 75 percent of people live on less than $2 a day. The demand for top-end models is a contrast to overall car deliveries, which have declined three straight months on higher borrowing costs.
“The wealth at the top of the pyramid is growing at a much faster pace,” said Deepesh Rathore, the New Delhi-based managing director in India for IHS Automotive. “Every month there is a new segment of buyers for these cars. People don’t take out loans to buy a Lamborghini.”
The number of millionaires in India will increase to 403,000 by 2015 from 173,000 in 2010, Julius Baer Group Ltd. (BAER) and CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets said in a report in August. The growing wealth is expected to drive demand for exotic cars -- including Lamborghini, Aston Martin and Bentley -- to about 500 a year by 2020, from 180 last year, IHS estimates.
A.T. Kearney estimates the Indian luxury-car market will grow 32 percent a year over the next five years from $745 million in 2009.
source :bloomberg news

Comments