SAIC Motor Corp., China’s top carmaker, and Great Wall Motor, its biggest maker of SUVs, are spearheading the country’s first major push into India, one of the world’s fastest growing auto markets, as growth at home stagnates.

    The entry is late and risky — global carmakers like Volkswagen AG, Ford Motor and General Motors have struggled to push sales in the cost-conscious Indian market despite being in the country for more than a decade.

    While they plan to woo Indian buyers with their no-frills cars and cut-price SUVs, Chinese manufacturers will compete head on with established carmakers like Suzuki Motor and Hyundai Motor that dominate many markets in Southeast Asia.

    Even so, India offers one of the last frontiers of growth — by 2020 the country is likely to become the world’s third-largest car market, from fifth place, with annual sales nearly doubling to 5 million vehicles from 2.7 million in 2015.

    SAIC and Great Wall are in separate talks with the state government of Maharashtra in western India to set up a factory in the auto hub of Pune, the state industries minister said.

    A source close to SAIC said the company is considering Pune among other locations. The automaker plans to set up a factory in India within the next three years and is in the early stages of researching such a move, the source said.

    “The market potential of India is huge,” said the source.

    For SAIC, the maker of marquee MG and Roewe cars, India is next on the agenda after entering Indonesia and would happen before they try to enter Russia, other European nations or the United States.

    SAIC is also in discussion to buy a plant currently operated by General Motors in western Gujarat state, according to people familiar with the matter. General Motors plans to stop production at the Halol plant in Gujarat by end-June as it consolidates operations at one location.

    “We are examining a number of options in relation to the Halol factory ... including the sale of the site,” General Motors said in a statement. The company declined to elaborate on how it plans to sell the factory and said there was nothing further to announce about Halol at this point.

    In February, 12 executives from Great Wall attended the India Auto Expo car show to survey the market and understand government policy on diesel engines and emissions, an industry source in India said.

    Great Wall’s board of directors March 7 voted unanimously in favor of a motion to establish a subsidiary in India, according to a stock exchange filing. A spokeswoman said there were no further details on the automaker’s plans in India, including when it would set up a subsidiary.

    Chongqing Changan Automobile, China’s fourth-biggest automaker, launched a search in January for an advisor in India to help form an entry plan.

    Company president Zhu Huarong told reporters in November that Chongqing Changan saw India as one of its three strategic foreign markets for investment and planned to start making cars there by 2020.

    Global carmakers like Toyota Motor Corp. and Volkswagen have struggled to push sales in India in part due to the lack of a portfolio of feature-rich, compact cars priced at about US$5,000-US$7,000, a segment where demand is high.

    Equally essential in the Indian market is having a wide-spread service network and keeping car maintenance costs low.

    “If the Chinese carmakers are able to overcome the quality perception, they have a huge cost advantage,” said Amit Kaushik, country head at consultant JATO Dynamics.

    SAIC is evaluating what models to launch in India and is considering vehicles less than four meters in length because of favorable policies — sub-compact cars attract lower taxes. (SD-Agencies)