German Luxury Brands Gamble on Hatchbacks for India

German carmakers, whose efforts to sell small luxury hatchbacks in China flopped, are now turning their efforts to India, Bloomberg News reports.

Daimler's Mercedes-Benz unit plans to debut its A-Class car this summer. BMW will introduce its 1 Series later this year. Volkswagen's Audi brand may follow with its A3 next year, the news service notes.

Bloomberg says the companies are hoping those models will be a hit with the growing middle class in India, where tight urban spaces and high fuel prices make small, fuel-efficient models popular.

Chinese consumers have snapped up large and midsize German premium models. But hatchbacks accounted for only 4% of the 1.2 million luxury cars sold in the country last year, according to Bloomberg.