"The market has become very volatile, so it's hard to make a prediction even two months down the line. In view of this we have decided to revise our capital expenditure for 2009-2010," Ravi Santhanam, Hindustan managing director told Business Standard newspaper.
Set to debut sometimes in 2011 or 2012, the car would have been a product of a joint effort from Mitsubishi and Hindustan Motors and involved either a makeover of an existing compact vehicle like the Colt or the creation of an entirely new one.
The car would have entered a crowded segment of the market, swamped with Skoda Fabias, Hyundai i20s and as we said, the future Nano (even if they are in different classes, it is sure that at least on the local market, the Nano will kick some behinds). Still, Mitsubishi hoped to gain a bit more of that elusive Indian market share.
If it car were to take shape, the Indian company would have raised its production output at its Chennai plant from 12,000 to 100,000 units. The financial turmoil threw those plans out the window, as both Mitsubishi and Hindustan had to revise their plans.
So much so, that now Hindustan shows signs of giving up on the automotive industry and heads for the higher ground, as it began investing in production facilities for forging casting parts for the rail or power equipment manufacturers.
Until now, Mitsubishi has been present in India with a range of three SUVs (Outlander, Montero and Pajero) and two sedans, the Lancer and Lancer Cedia. None of them have managed to cope well with the Indian consumer's demands.
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