How Tech Is Transforming the Indian Car Market

Indian customers are using tech parameters to decide which car to buy, even as features from luxury cars start showing up in affordable models

- Shouvik Das

Six months ago, Honda launched a new iteration of its least expensive car in India: the Amaze. While it was a seemingly regular refresh of a mainstream car, the Amaze brought features not seen before in its segment: lane-keep assistance, adaptive cruise control, collision avoidance and road departure warning for as low as ₹12 lakh on-road. Honda isn't the only one. In 2021, homegrown carmaker Mahindra Auto launched its premium sports utility vehicle, the XUV700. It saw massive demand, contributing to Mahindra becoming India's second biggest carmaker by sales last month. Its key hook: technology. The car, priced ₹19 lakh onward, brought features that were so far largely reserved for luxury cars priced at around ₹50 lakh and above: remote car start control, remote air conditioning, live tracking and geofencing through a mobile app, autonomous braking and related advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) features, a 'Smart Pilot' semi-autonomous driving mode, a 360-degree parking camera, and more.

These features, along with the likes of tyre pressure monitoring, cameras on side mirrors, auto-dimming electronic mirrors, are becoming standard across cars priced at around ₹15 lakh. A decade ago, most cars in this segment showcased Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as their prime tech offerings, alongside branded speaker set-ups. The technology itself is on a steady evolution trajectory—basic ADAS features are found in an increasing number of cars, while luxury carmakers are finding ways to use tech in indulgent ways.

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