mumbai craze for cars with a view is helping break the class ceiling what was once restricted to luxury wheels the glass ceiling has caught the attention of massmarket car buyers who are willing to loosen their purse strings for visual appeal sunroofs penetration in india has jumped fivefold in five years forcing companies that supply these sleek glass panels to carmakers to invest in new plants to meet demand one in every four cars sold in india today has a sunroofwhat is driving demand given that most of the country has unfavourable weather conditions and many of you may not really stand up through a sunroof unless you are a politician or a reelmakerthe sunroofs appeal lies in the unconventional view it providesthink vistadome train coaches and glassbottom boats it lightens up a cars cabin and at the same time heightens its owners social statusthe surge in demand for sunroofs is largely due to the perceived luxury akin to other features like touchscreens and keyless ignition found in topend variants of massmarket carssunroofs may not be opened often but they still have an undeniable appeal for instance cruising down a treelined road in a car with a sunroof can be very enjoyable sunroof is often seen as a luxury rather than a practical addition in indian weather conditions but it is becoming an increasingly soughtafter feature the status associated with having a sunroof can be a reason why buyers seem to like it despite the added weight in the worst possible place a cars roof said ravi bhatia president and director jato dynamics indiathis surge is partly linked to the craze for suvs which has been driving car sales inrecent years nearly 85 of suvs including compact ones in the market feature a sunroof data from jato dynamics an automotive market research company showed at the same time carmakers have introduced sunroofs in smaller subrs 10 lakh cars like hyundai i20 and tata altrozwooing customers who can stretch their budgets by about rs 50000maruti suzuki a popularchoice for valueconscious car buyers offered a sunroof for the first time in its brezza compact suv last year maruti suzuki dealer sources said that customers with a rs 15lakh budget have been converting to higher variants due to the bells and whistles the penetration of sunroofs in hatchbacks and multipurpose vehicles has doubled to about 3 5 in just 3 yearsbe it the perception of luxury or practicality sunroof makers in india are betting that demand will continue to grow they are boosting capacity setting up new plants and partnering with global companies to localise production the sunroof market in india is dominated by germanys webasto the company which had expanded its pune operations last year opened its second india plant in chennai two months ago the company plans to invest rs 1000 crore to more than double its capacity to 9 5 lakh units by 2023 it saidthe indian market is seeing extremely rapid growth and openable panoramic roofs are