MUMBAI: Western car companies could become a threat to Japanese and Asian auto giants - at least in India. Ford, GM and VW are working  hard on innovation and bringing in their cheapest offerings to India. But is price enough to take on the giants?

Small cars are likely to trigger what could be a huge price war from the one lakh (actually Rs 1.5 lakh) Nano to cars such as the Ford Figo, Chevy Beat and the Volkswagen Polo - auto giants are betting big on getting the price right.

Here's a short list: the Tata Nano at Rs 1.4 lakh, Ford Figo at Rs 3.4 lakh, Chevy Beat at Rs 3.4 lakh and the VW Polo at about Rs 4.5 lakh, segments are splitting like hair.

The bigger question is if they can take on giants like Maruti and Hyundai who sell tens of thousands of cars a month, and have the financial and engineering headstart and distribution network. For example, Hyundai is present in 207 cities, while Volkswagen in 32, so what else is key?

At the end of day analysts say players like GM and Ford may have small cars with low prices but they will also have to technologically reliable and easy to maintain in order to  be a hit with Indian customers.