Any profile on investing in smart cars?
with traffic congestion in major cities and gas price going up, these little cars make a lot of sense. i think it will get popular in the states as i saw tons of them in europe.
Best Answer
1130 points
sundarkambam answered one year ago …
I forgot another Popular vehicle - Indica Manufactured by Tata Motors.
They are also coming with a new Model Nano which will cost somewhere around $3,000 !!!!!
Now as per the latest report by the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy , the following are the statistics for the Passenger Cars:
1 year return = -2.43 %
90 days return = -19.58 %
30 days return = 5.27 %
P/E = 14.84
RONW = 26.56 %
Sales growth = 18.23 %
Nt profit growth = 30.21 % !!!!
Answers
312 points
mjrenn answered one year ago …
I agree with you.
I'm no expert but I spend a lot of time in Asia & it looks like the Japanese small cars are everywhere. I actually go & rent a small Japanese car every couple of months and give it a spin. The small Toyotas are really quite good. I like the Nissan models next.
Both companies could be a good long term investment. Especially if they get cheaper. But as I said, I'm no expert.
3963 points
MNSL answered one year ago …
There is no doubt small cars will become very popular time to come due to traffic, higher fuel charges and low maintenance cost. If you just do some research about cars you can see some small cars are more costly than others due to higher demand. Small Toyota cars are popular all over the world. But now there are some competitors are coming up from countries like India and China. They are going to manufacture small cars for affordable price. There will be demand for these cars especially from poor developing countries.
On the other hand Toyota is popular and reliable through out the world. Still they can maintain their number one position in the car market. They are innovative as well.
Finally I want to say I am also not expert in cars. In some countries this is a very good investment due to ever appreciation of value every year especially in some frontier markets.
1130 points
sundarkambam answered one year ago …
Small cars which are famous in India :
Maruti Alto , Swift, Zen and Wagon R - Manufactured by Maruti Udyog Limited
Santro and its variants - Manufactured by Hyundai Motors India Limited
904 points
jillybeansisme answered one year ago …
I believe that small cars have their place; however, when I replaced my last vehicle (1992 Ford Escort bought in 1991) last year I bought a Toyota Rav4. The gas mileage isn't as good as I hoped for, but my main concern was safety. It came standard with front air bags, front side airbags, side curtain airbags, vehicle stability control, anti-lock brakes, downhill assist, and more. I live in a major city with over 2 million people. It is a 24 hour town with many idiots who think left turn on red, right turn from the center turn lane, backing up or doing a U-turn on the shoulder because you missed your exit ramp, etc. are all reasonable driving practices. It also gets to be 120+ in the summer here. I needed power and so I needed a 6cyl. So many people said that the "new 4 cyl do a great job", but unfortunately, they don't for extremes. I couldn't have the air on and get the speed up to 75 mph.
How could one expect the new 3 cyl engines to work well in these circumstances if the 4 cyls don't! If I lived in a place where small cars were the norm, that might be different. I really liked the Scion, but didn't get it because of the 4cyl engine. Same for the Honda CRV. Most of the people I know that have Hyundai's like them . . . as long as you plan to get rid of them every 3 years.
What about people with families who need 6 seater cars. They don't come small. Or people who need to haul stuff. The tiny trucks won't do it.
Small cars are a great idea, but not always practical for a family; however, I think as a stock investment, it would be a long term position. I would rather invest in solar, clean energy, etc.
