While it is all too clear that the Tacuma will not dot the Indian landscape, what struck this correspondent at the Geneva Show was the presence of the Matiz which has caught the fancy of the consumer here. The small car concept gained popularity with the introduction of the Maruti 800 over 15 years ago. Today, the Matiz is surging ahead of the rest thanks to state-of-the-art technology.

Dealers in India believe they have a winner in their hands. The car will now be available in two new colours - havana brown and coral green - to supplement the existing range of white, blue, excel grey, twinkle beige, cyprus green, poly silver and mineral red.

According to figures provided by the Korean Automobile Manufacturer Association, through the whole of calendar 1999, small car exports from Korea totalled nearly 3.5 lakh units of which Daewoo's share alone through the Matiz was a staggering 78 per cent. In volume terms, this translated into 2.71 lakh units which were dispatched to the UK, Poland, Japan and other countries.

Significantly, this figure of Matiz exports was five times more than Hyundai's Atoz, which is sold as the Santro in India, and nearly 15 times that of Kia's small car, the Visto. Statistics show that even in Japan, where the Matiz is a recent entrant, Daewoo has targeted sales of 30,000 cars annually by the turn of 2002.

In Poland, Matiz sales accounted for 33 per cent of Daewoo's overall figure of 1.87 lakh units. The Korean carmaker is, incidentally, the leader here with a market share of 28 per cent barely ahead of Fiat whose products in Poland include the Alfa Romeo and Lancia.

Daewoo is in the process of changing ownership with a host of global giants like General Motors, Ford, DaimlerChrysler and Hyundai in the race. At one point, Volkswagen was tipped to be part of this list but recent reports say the German automaker has dropped out of the bidding process.

As far as the big three - GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler - are concerned, their world rankings will change should one of them acquire Daewoo. Today, GM has a capacity of 8.14 million which will leap to 10.09 million once it takes over Daewoo's capacity of 1.95 million units. Similarly, in the case of Ford, the figure alters to 8.77 million from the present 6.82 million. And if DaimlerChrysler is successful, it will literally be breathing down Ford's back with an enhanced capacity of 6.75 million units.

The new owner of Daewoo also gets immediate access to its manufacturing operations in India, China, Poland, Romania and Czechoslovakia.

A unique auto show
The fact that Switzerland does not manufacture cars makes the Geneva Auto Show a one-of-its-kind world event. This is in sharp contrast to other such events held in Paris, Frankfurt and New York where the host country makes cars. The Swiss, in their turn, believe that they are entitled to a choice of vehicles and "may the best man win". This year's show was characterised by a display of concept cars from the stables of Peugeot, Ford, Hyundai, BMW, Mitsubishi, Morgan and a host of others. Predictably enough, none of the manufacturers seemed too clued on to India and it was easy to see why. There is no way our roads can shoulder the likes of a Ferrari, Alfa Romeo or the BMW roadster.