The Volkswagen Scirocco and Fiat Avventura have already been seen in showrooms across the country, and their authorised distributors in Nepal are planning to launch them soon. Mahindra’s facelifted XUV 500, the Mazda CX-5 and CX-3, Honda Jazz and Honda CR-V are some of the models scheduled to launch before this festive season.

Prabin Khatiwada, head of the passenger vehicles business unit at Sipradi Trading, the authorised distributor of Tata in Nepal, said that business had started to recover after the months-long slowdown following the disaster.

“We launched the Zest compact sedan five months ago, and we want to expand our portfolio with the launch of the Bolt hatchback which will lead our business ahead,” he said. The Bolt will be competing with the Volkswagen Polo, Maruti Suzuki Swift, Fiat Punto Evo and Hyundai Elite i20 in this segment.

Bibek Bijukchhe, chief executive officer of Pooja International, the authorised distributor of Volkswagen in Nepal, said that the company would be unveiling two other models along with the Scirocco sports car by the end of July or the first week of August.

Meanwhile, Laxmi InterCon- tinental, the authorised distributor of Hyundai cars in Nepal, has launched the Elite i20 premium hatchback and i20 Active crossover SUV in the domestic market. The Elite i20 will be available in a petrol variant in four trims Era, Magna, Sportz and Asta, which will be priced between Rs2.79 million and Rs3.39 million in the domestic market.

Similarly, the i20 Active comes in diesel and petrol engine options that will have a starting price of Rs3.25 million for the Base variant. The i20 Active’s top model SX Diesel costs Rs4.35 million.

Ganesh Bahadur Shrestha, chairman of the Laxmi Group, said, “The Elite i20 l offers a premium ownership experience for novelty seeking, modern and premium elite customers and features a youthful sporty exterior and premium interior. This hatchback will be a trendsetter model of Hyundai which will fuel its growth in Nepal.” The Elite i20 has been awarded by Indian Car of the Year 2015, and 100,000 units were sold in 11 months in India, according to the company.

Shrestha said that another model, the i20 Active, would appeal to a varied range of customers in the country. “The i20 Active is a sport-styled vehicle with many segment-unique features and has been designed with the vision of creating cutting edge driving innovations and delivering outstanding comfort features,” said Shrestha.

The i20 Active will be competing against the Toyota Etios Cross, Volkswagen Cross Polo and Fiat Avventura which is scheduled to launch this month. The company also plans to launch the Hyundai Creta SUV in September.