Autocar Professional Magazine - 15th January 2024

In this issue

This 72-page edition is yet another exhaustive collection of news developments, analysis, feature stories and exclusives.
The highlight of the issue is about the Indian luxury car market that is experiencing significant growth, with a surge in purchases by the wealthy elite post-Covid-19. Despite having a large number of millionaires and billionaires, the luxury car market in India had been suboptimal before the pandemic. We have interviews with the Indian heads of Mercedes Benz, BMW Group, and Audi, who join in discussing the changing landscape of the luxury car market in India.
Special report Two major automotive belts — Tamil Nadu and Gujarat — rolled out the red carpet for global automakers to use their states as a base for international markets. Tamil Nadu Global Investors Meet 2024 and the 2024 Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit together garnered investments of over USD 8-10 billion for the coming decade. While the speculations on the much awaited entry of Tesla in Gujarat did not materialise, market leader Maruti Suzuki decided to double its commitment in the state to create a capacity of a whopping 2 million units in the state. The Vietnamese EV specialist VinFast decided to make Tamil Nadu its home in India, which will play a big role in its global expansion. This edition encapsulates the biggest highlights from both the investor meets.
Newswatch VinFast, a Vietnamese EV specialist, has announced Tamil Nadu as its base for global expansion. This edition covers major product introductions from key players such as Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra, Honda, and Skoda VW. We look at the evolving preferences of the discerning and globally connected Indian car buyers and the industry's response to these changes.
Exclusives We ended 2023 with a host of industry exclusives and continue to do so. In this issue we have five -- one from Honda, one from VW, one from M&M and two from Maruti.