New Delhi, Jan. 6 -- To win market share from rivals in the domestic market, homegrown carmakers Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra have borrowed from the Chinese playbook: churn out new models at an accelerated pace. Indian carmakers have reached parity with European, Japanese and Korean automakers and are increasingly catching up to the speed of Chinese carmakers in rolling out new products, according to top executives at German component major BorgWarner and homegrown auto part maker Lumax Auto Technologies. Mahindra became India's second-largest passenger vehicle maker by annual sales in 2025 for the first time in at least a decade, since retail registration data became available, toppling the Indian unit of Korean giant Hyundai Motor. The shift in product development is inevitable, Nalinikanth Gollagunta, chief executive officer of Mahindra's automotive division, said. "It used to be 5 years, with Inglo (Mahindra's vehicle platform), we are now at 33 months or so, but the notion is, we have to keep collapsing that, there is no question," Gollagunta said in an interview on the sidelines of XEV 9S launch in November. While high-end vehicles require more sophistication, in segments like sub-4-meter cars, "you need to have the agility to move fast." Tata Motors did not respond to emailed queries. Rahul Bharti, senior executive officer at Maruti Suzuki India, said that exports is the fire test of product development excellence, citing that it has to "live up to our brand promise in over 100 countries." "Our approach prioritizes first-time-right launches, long-term durability, electronics and software robustness, proactive regulatory preparedness along with supplier partner eco system. Owing to such advanced processes, our product development is able to meet the requirements of 18 models with more than 650 variants that clocked a volume of 18.44 lakh in domestic and about 4 lakh vehicles in exports in 2025," he said. An industry executive at an original equipment maker (OEM) privy to product cycles explained that the Indian industry generally sees product cycles of 36-40 months. According to an update from Boston Consulting Group in November 2024, Chinese OEMs roll out new products in around 24 months. Tata Motors and Mahindra get a minuscule share of sales from the international markets. In comparison, Maruti, owned by Japan's Suzuki, and Hyundai get about a fifth of their total sales from exports. Chandrasekhar Krishnamurthy, global director and head of product management at BorgWarner, said Indian automakers are leaning towards the China playbook but with their own specific requirements. "...at the end of the day, what would really determine the speed of execution is the level of complexity that customers want, as well as the level that OEMs want. If they take what we have, it's a faster time to market. If they want to customize it, then it takes longer." The faster development of products for these carmakers hinges on working closely with auto parts makers. "Indian OEMs are way more agile and way more responsive and definitely faster than the Europeans or maybe some of the Japanese makers as well," said Anmol Jain, managing director at Lumax Auto Technologies....