By this time next year distributors of Korean cars - and indeed some others - will have another source of competition to contend with. Donal Byrne reports.
For it now seems clear that an Indian manufacturer with the quirky name of Tata will begin targeting the budget end of the market with vigour. Not that Tata has a great deal to offer to begin with - a SUV called the Safari and two versions of a commercial pick-up - but with Tata now providing the car that will become the new small Rover, the company has suddenly become a force in Europe.
The distribution of Tata cars in Ireland has come about as a result of the deal between it and MG Rover in the UK. At the same time as Rover was moving to buy Tata's Indica model to replace its ageing 25, Tata's UK distribution network was already under strain.
It made sense, therefore, that MG Rover reached another agreement to take over distribution for Tata and it did. Now Ireland will see the arrival of Tata in the first quarter of next year.
"We will launch to press and dealers over the summer in the UK and then launch to the public in September. It is going to take a while longer to establish in Ireland. Our plan is to sell through selected existing MG Rover dealers and we have already contacted them to tell them what we have on offer," says Stuart Adam of Phoenix Distribution Ltd, a subsidiary company set up by the owners of the MG Rover Group, Phoenix Venture Holdings.
What Phoenix will be selling here is the Safari, a full-time four-wheel-drive SUV that does not even have a passenger airbag as standard but costs about two-thirds of the price of a Land Rover Discovery in the UK - £14,995 sterling as opposed to £22,000. We can expect this kind of pricing structure here.
So is the Safari simply a cheap and cheerful alternative to established brands? "You have to see it for what it is. It is not a Discovery but it has seven seats and is a good-sized vehicle. It is in the process of being face-lifted and will go on sale in Ireland with extras like ABS but a passenger airbag will be an optional extra," Adam concedes. Mr Adam also says that given the limited appeal of the first arrivals they will probably target rural markets first. "We have sold the Safari in commercial form to local authorities, agricultural and forestry interests but we also anticipate some of the school run business with the passenger version.
The pick-up comes in single and double cab versions and is called the Loadbeta. No prices have been decided for the vehicle on the Irish market,because of the keen level of competition in this segment at the moment.
Both vehicles then will be basic but good value for money. Stuart Adam argues that at this end of the market brand is not really an issue. "If you are running a small engineering company and you are getting a good value, sturdy, vehicle at the right price the badge is not important." He is also mindful of the impact that companies like Daewoo and Hyundai have made in a relatively short time in Ireland.
But Tata sounds merely alien and not exotic. How long will it take to convince people that Indian engineering is of the same quality as that of the established Korean manufacturers? "Hyundai is moving all its manufacturing to India," is the response.