Team-BHP Manufacturer of the Year

[Revvmaster]

Fellow BHPians

With the Indian car mart crossing the 1 mn figure, new benchmarks have been set by the Indian Auto Industry. With the market averaging a new car launch nearly every 45 days (not including variant launches), the Indian market is poised to take on the world.

Several manufacturers have seen good days in the past one year. A few have also seen not so good times. Considering the ups and downs, whom do you think has stood out in the last one year i.e. June 2004-May 2005.

Vote in for your manufacturer of the year from the list above. Give in your reasons and pool in your knowledge.

Revv

[typeOnegative]

Maruti Udgyog Limited. Simply because of the Swift. I think the buzz Maruti has created will be tough to match for some time.

[greatDrive]

With Car market getting more competitive .. Its a win -win situation for Customers. Wait and see the discounts coming on Getz and other cars in this segment.

[DCEite]

Well, IMO it has to be Maruti Suzuki.

Reasons:

Looking at my avatar, can it be anything else? LOL...

no, seriously here are the points that go in favour of MUL:

1. Launch of an international car Swift.
2. Pricing of Swift.
3. Clever pricing of Models like Baleno and Esteem.
4. Facial improvements on Esteem and Zen gave them a fresh look and also boosted sales.
5. They continue to sell the most fuel efficient cars in India.

Why i did not chose Hyundai:
1. Santro and Accent ageing models.
2. Sonata and Elantra priced too high.
3. Could not launch any car with "Driving fun", except maybe Elantra, but poor positioning of Petrol Elantra meant negligible sales.
4. Ridiculous Ad campaigns like "most intelligent people drive santro","5 seatbelt" etc.

TATA comes a close second, for their continuous improvements on Indica platform and some great concept cars like Xover.

[Stratos]

I vote for Tata Motors. They have performed or rather are performing very well in the industry and nearly every vehicle they have on their table is a bomb. Latest expolsion being the Marina which has opened the grave to the almost dead Station Wagon market in India.

[hrag]

Tata Motors for me!

Each of their vehicles has been the segment leader according to http://www.hindu.com/2005/04/08/stor...0805031600.htm

Plus, for launching the Ace, boldly venturing into new markets AND for reviving the estate car market.

hrag

[turbo_lover]

Skoda for me man ..for the success of the 1.9 tdi
and i am in love with the 1.8 RS ...

[GTO]

To the enthusiast in me, its undoubtedly Skoda!

I remember Rehaan pointing this out : After years of boring cars, here is finally one manufacturer who gave us a truly sportier version of a car : Turbocharged, xenons, alloys et all!

My vote to Skoda...only for giving some real meat to us enthusiasts.

GTO

[adya33]

Maruti first
closely followed by Tata Motors (mainly cause of Indica/Indigo)

[typeOnegative]

The question I have to ask is which year are you all talking about? And many of you seem to be putting your personal feelings ahead of everything else.

I am referring to 2005.

[Surprise]

Originally Posted by Revvmaster

whom do you think has stood out in the last one year i.e. June 2004-May 2005.

Revv

It was between June 2005 - May 2005.

I voted for Maruti. I read a article quoting

"Perhaps the last time such a thing happened was when the company launched their Maruti 800 model in the market when cars like Fiat’s Premier Padmini and Ambassador ruled the roads of India"

Hope this model will set some trends. Hence the vote goes for Maruti

[Gordon]

Always loved it. The Octavia. And it seems that its eaten up its whole segment. You'd see soooo many Octavia's on the road. Skoda has done well and I think there is more to come. RS is also becoming popular. Love the quality of these cars. At one point of time, Skoda cars were an embarassment to its owner. But now, its his/her pride. The Superb failed very badly. But no problems, I don't think they expected much from it. Their bread and butter, the Octavia, is doing just fine.

Another company thats doing great is Toyota. Qualis did very very well. Innova is one of the favorites of many.

[lamborghini]

Maruti for me too.
Simply for launching the swift, which in my opinion is a very mordern vehicle for a good price.
I did not choose Hyundai because of pathetic ads and even more pathetic pricing of the Tuscon.

[Gordon]

Maruti has always been good. They have rarely deteriorated at a high level. They've always been there and their cars will always be VFM. They offer a wide range of cars, sometimes in the same segment. Won't say anything about the Swift, we'll have to wait for it and see what happens.

One of the best selling cars is IMO, the Hyunday Santro/Xing. Its been selling like hot cakes for the past many years. Of course, we'll have to give them credit for their work.

P.S. I don't get it. Revvmaster mentioned "Considering the ups and downs, whom do you think has stood out in the last one year i.e. June 2004-May 2005.". So why is everyone talking about the Swift?!

[turbo_lover]

- SKODA 1.8T RS - was launched in 2005 am i correct ?
if not which car is worth any recognition that was launched in 2005 ?

... it is by far the best launch by any manufacturer ..excluding exotic car segment -porcshes and audis...