ET reported that the slowdown in the car market is affecting the launch plans of car companies. Italian automotive major Fiat India Automobile will launch its new mid size sedan Linea in December instead of October due to the poor sentiment prevailing in the market. Its second launch Grande Punto has also been pushed back and will now hit the market sometime 2009 instead of December.

The report cited Mr Rajeev Kapoor CEO of FIA as saying that it is reviewing its launch plans after taking stock of the poor demand sentiment in the car market. He said that “We are optimistic that the market will improve in the last quarter of 2008. We have pushed back new launches as the series of India government initiatives are likely to bear fruit and improve sentiment by then. So, we will launch our new cars at an appropriate time.”

The report added that Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai have also pushed back their launches beyond the festive season. Maruti’s A-Star hatchback was slated to debut in October and will now be introduced later this month while Hyundai’s premium hatchback i20 is expected to hit the domestic market in January 2009.