A big thank to Tata Nano as after launch of it, world community came into touch of the small cars in India which is eco-friendly also. In view of the Nano and other electric cars, many countries are encourging customers who intended to buy small car which is eco-friendly and fuel-efficent as well.

Germany, France, the UK, Italy and South Korea to give tax breaks and fiscal incentives to people buying small fuel-efficient cars. Maruti Suzuki India managing director S Nakanishi said that due to the global climate concern, demand for small eco-friendly cars is increasing globally. He added that the company had received bulk orders from Germany, France, Italy and the UK, where customers are getting incentives to buy compact cars. Maruti’s export order has increased two times to 1.5-lakh cars in the current fiscal, largely on the back of demand from Europe for its hatchback Alto, which is called A-Star in the domestic market.

India manufacture around 15-lakh small cars per year. Germany, France and Italy have devised methods for car owners to scrap older vehicles and buy new fuel-efficient models. For example, Germany is encouraging people, who exchang their old cars for new ones, by giving them E2,500 to exchanging their old cars for new ones.

According to rough industry estimates 2-lakh cars swapped under the scheme, over 80% new purchases were small cars. In the same way, the UK government is providing a discount of £2,000 on new vehicles in place of decade-old cars. Apart from this it is also learnt that, the country plans to offer a £5,000 rebate on small electric vehicles in the next few years, with the aim to have 1-lakh electric cars in the capital alone. It may be metioned that Bangalore-based electric car maker Reva is the largest supplier of small electric cars to the UK. Reva has exported around 1,200 cars so far. The South Korean government, too, offers 70% rebate on automobile taxes to customers swapping their 10-year old cars for smaller or hybrid cars. According to research firm CNI Research CMD Kishor Ostwal, approximately 55-lakh cars in South Korea alone have crossed 10 years of age and is to be exchanged with fuel-efficient cars. Hyundai Motor India is also hoping to get good car export on account of increasing demand of compact car. It is expeceted that it will get double digit export this fiscal. It sold 2.53-lakh cars in overseas markets in the last fiscal. A senior HMI executive said that till June the company had enough orders as its compact car i10 meets the strict emission norms of Italy, Germany and France.