What if you wake up one day and see Lamborghinis and Bentleys parked at every second doorstep in your colony? Wouldn’t that be wow? India needs to go for a long drive as far as becoming the top market for luxury cars is concerned. While personal disposable incomes are on the rise, global biggies have shifted focus to smaller, more compact cars - a lesson learnt from the recession.

While sales of luxury cars declined in western markets, India and China zoomed away in the smaller, cheaper car segment.

“The car market in India is at a nascent stage at 10 cars per 1,000 people. On this front, China is way ahead and is 5-6 times of India’s car market size,” says Kumar Kandaswami, senior director at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India. An entry-level Mercedes C class or BMW 3 series fetches the same amount of money that Maruti gets after selling 15 Altos. So, are volumes really necessary for luxury carmakers?

Profit is always higher on bigger cars. That’s what the luxury carmakers bet on. If they start making premium cars in the country, they may not be termed as luxury cars anymore, though ‘luxury cars’ are defined in the Indian market as cars priced above Rs 25 lakh.

“If the Indian car market has to act like an adolescent, the market size should grow to at least 15 – 20 cars per 1,000 people. Until that happens, manufacturers of high-end products will not set up manufacturing base here in India. What is peddled here as luxury is a medium-sedan abroad in most markets,” Kandaswami adds.

India’s luxury car mart is estimated at 10,000 units per annum. Mercedes, BMW and Audi in the same order enjoy the top three positions by volumes. Luxury carmakers are looking to extend their portfolio here during 2010. While Mercedes is launching the SLS AMG for about Rs 1.5 crore, Audi is looking to launch the A8 saloon at around Rs 1 crore and the R8 sports coupe/convertible at around Rs 1.35 crore. The Lamborgini Gallardo Spyder would come at Rs 2.6 crore and the Bentley Continental GTC will carry a price tag of Rs 2.5 crore.

Rod Wallace, the MD Precision Cars India that imports Porsche in India, said, “India market for luxury car sales has definitely grown in 2009, despite the slowdown.

(with inputs from D Govardan in Chennai)