₹10-15 LAKH SWEET SPOT

The most brutal turf war in the Indian car industry right now is not luxury EVs or hulking SUVs. It is the middle-class heartland sector, where most of India shops

- RAJEEV NARAYAN

It is the middle-class battleground that no carmaker can afford to ignore. For those who like to watch blood-sport in the Indian marketplace, they needn't bother with stock exchanges or smartphone launches.

All they need to do is walk into a car showroom and look at the options in the ₹10-15 lakh segment. That's where the real punches are thrown, quiet but savage... For automakers are fighting to pry open the most stubborn vault in the Indian household; the middle-class' purse-strings.

Once upon a time, this was the price band where the humble Maruti 800 or Esteem and a few well-behaved Korean hatchbacks lived out their humdrum existence. Thing have changed. Today, this is the gladiator pit where compact SUVs roar with wild beasts for dominance, feature-rich crossovers flirt with lustful desire and fuel-types fight for existential legitimacy.

A predictable, budget-friendly auto-fest has turned into a flamboyant and chaotic carnival, with cars like Creta, Seltos, Grand Vitara, Nexon, Fronx and XUV3XO jostling for pole position in a nation that's anxious about and obsessed with family budget spreadsheets. As CRISIL said: "This is the segment that defines India's auto destiny. Crack this, you crack the nation."

SUVS RULE, HATCHBACKS SURVIVE

The death of aspiration is not what killed the hatchback; aspiration actually murdered it. The moment India's wannabe families decided that they deserved a taller view of the world, with a sunroof thrown in for weekend rooftop sit-ins and waves, hatchbacks became yesterday's newspapers.

The Hyundai Creta, Suzuki Brezza, Kia Seltos and Ford Ecosport didn't just rule ₹10-15 lakh bracket, they rewired an entire nation's automobile fantasies. These cars (SUVs, really?) made it acceptable, even necessary, to have butch vehicles that looked as if they were returning from Everest Base Camp, even if they never met a speed-breaker that they truly loved.