Hyundai drags Mahindra Renault to court (over the "Sandero" name)

[subbarao]

To day's TOI news.....

New Delhi: Hyundai Motor India has taken Mahindra Renault to the Delhi High Court objecting to the latter’s plan to launch a compact car in the country with the name ‘Sandero’ alleging that the rival was trying to cash in on its popular brand Santro with a similar sounding product. “They (Mahindra Renault) are planning to launch Sandero, which is very similar sounding to our Santro. Both are hatchbacks and Santro is an established trademark and they are trying to get mileage out of it,” a senior Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) official said.
HMIL’s plea requests the court not to allow Mahindra Renault to launch the car under the name Sandero, he added. Neither a call made to Mahindra Renault chief executive officer Nalin Mehta nor an e-mail sent to Mahindra & Mahindra group spokesperson seeking comments on the development got a reply. ‘Santro’ is HMIL’s flagship brand and a total of over 15 lakh units have been sold both in the domestic and the overseas markets since its launch in September 1998.
On the other hand, Mahindra Renault has been struggling to mark its presence in the Indian car market with its sole product Logan failing miserably sparking speculations of a break-up of the joint venture between Mahindra & Mahindra and French auto major Renault. Market analysts pointed out that the firm desperately needs another product to keep the JV alive. The Logan sold only 510 units in September compared to 1,752 units in the same month last year. In the first six months of this fiscal, the JV sold 2,901 units compared to 9,217 units in the same period last year. Last week Renault president and CEO Carlos Ghosn had said that falling sales of the Logan was a matter of concern and hinted that all was not well in its relationship with M&M and the ties could even be broken.
“I am not saying we will, I am saying we can. I don’t want anybody to be surprised. We have today three partners (in India). Our intention is to continue with the three partners, but if it is not possible, I can tell you that we need at least one,” Ghosn had said at the Tokyo Motor Show. AGENCIES

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[BenjiRoss]

Hyundai is just jealous that other companies are thinking of good names while it can only come up with i10, i20, i30 etc.

[muralisk]

Look who is complaining. They are the ones who copy from all over the world and they are now trying to cry foul where there isn't anything common in the name except the first three letters.

[karpusv]

I dont think they (Hyundai) will be able to hold valid ground in this matter.
It seems to petty an issue (unless ofcourse made into a huge drama)

[aaggoswami]

1) First Hyundai cant design cars of their own, they just copy other cars. Now they are just complaining to be in picture and shows what hyundai is at the core. Internationally Logan hatch version is called Sandero, so court is not going to listen to Hyundai. Sandero is not the name they are using specially for India. Hyundai is really jealous that Sandero will hit its overpriced i20. Did Hyundai run out of names ? Looks like considering their i series.

A meaningless way to give a fight that shows too much jealousy and low moral standards.

2) IIRC, Hyundai had some of the worst possible ads in Santro days. They compared their car with Ikon and claimed that Ikon was better. Their words were " Santro ends Ikon's josh ". Now try to insult Ford in US like this.

3) Going by Hyundai's standards, I think Honda should drag them to court too, as Hyundai name itself is derived from Honda ( Hyundai motor company was established in 1967 and Honda is in automotive business since 1963 ).

[carlosTHEjackal]

Even before the car is actually sold and with just the name Hyundai is sensing slump in sales. IMHO I think Hyundai may loose this case.
Why doesn't people in Hyundai legal dept understand that they are not selling over the counter readily available consumer durables, but an automobile which is worth more than Rs. 4 Lakhs. Also they have to understand that people think about prospective car for atleast 15 to 20 days before booking any car.

Hyundai just freely marketing Sandero for Mahindra Renault here !!!

[sandeepmdas]

MahRenault should have named it anything other than Sandero, IMO. It sounds very much the same with an ancient-by-international-standards model that is available since 1998.

Seems that MahRenault is determined to scuttle the ship. They can ask MUL for clues, as MUL manages to rebrand most of their cars successfully. Ritz is a better name than Splash when pronounced in vernacular languages...

@aaggoswami, Hyundai means "modern" in Korean. Honda was not that well known in automotive sector in 1967.

[arunmur]

It just looks like a stupid idea from some Hyundai official or they are just plain out of work and want to drag the partnership to court. It could possibily lead to a breakage of the parnership going by Renault's claim that they will hold only one of the three partnerships.


The name sounding similar to their entry level car Santro is only bad for the Renault's much more bigger car. I dont see it affecting Hyundai in any other fashion.

I beileve its a political way to reduce the competition. Swift,GP, Polo and now a Renault and I dont believe Renault has any reason to rename it as it is sold with this name internationally. Though renaming will mean faster entry.

Personally if there is a case. Hyundai should loose it.

[SkyWalker]

this's a silly case. looks who's talking on copying - and the name isn't very similar either.

[sgiitk]

If bajaj can prosecute for the Twin Plug design, esp. when the City Mk.II also already had it in India then anything is possible.

[bullinb]

Let me present the other side of the case. We all agree that Santro is a stronger brand name than even Hyundai. Ask the common Joe on the street and most of them have heard of Santro as a brand and have an opinion about it. Heck, in some of the small towns people call the i10 the new Santro and getz - big Santro . For many, small car means either Maruti or Santro.

For most of the folk, Sandero sounds very much like Santro. In some parts of the country the pronunciation may be virtually the same.

Since Santro is already well established brand, Hyundai has a right to protect it. In India where most of the purchasing decisions are taken based on somebody's advice or word of mouth, a strong, established brand name is of tremendous value to a company.

[blackasta]

Don't agree with some points shared by aaggoswami.

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

1) First Hyundai cant design cars of their own, they just copy other cars. Now they are just complaining to be in picture and shows what hyundai is at the core. Internationally Logan hatch version is called Sandero,

Internationally Ritz is called Splash - and MSIL could not use the name as the same was already reserved by Some other car company, Ford I guess.

so court is not going to listen to Hyundai. Sandero is not the name they are using specially for India. Hyundai is really jealous that Sandero will hit its overpriced i20. Did Hyundai run out of names ? Looks like considering their i series.

people are buying i20 despite the overpricing, so I guess Hyundai got something right. You ain't comparing the fit & finish of i20 with any Renault-M&M vehicles - or are you?

A meaningless way to give a fight that shows too much jealousy and low moral standards.

Brand names must be protected, its not meaningless and has got nothing to do with moral standards. Have a look at the car wax market - 'formula 1' original stuff is getting banged by fake 'formula usa' stuff

2) IIRC, Hyundai had some of the worst possible ads in Santro days. They compared their car with Ikon and claimed that Ikon was better. Their words were " Santro ends Ikon's josh ". Now try to insult Ford in US like this.

Please have a look at the 'its hyundai - like sunday' ad.

3) Going by Hyundai's standards, I think Honda should drag them to court too, as Hyundai name itself is derived from Honda ( Hyundai motor company was established in 1967 and Honda is in automotive business since 1963 ).

Please check your sources - Hyundai as a construction company was founded in 1947. Honda came up a year later in 1948.

Originally Posted by bullinb

Let me present the other side of the case. We all agree that Santro is a stronger brand name than even Hyundai. Ask the common Joe on the street and most of them have heard of Santro as a brand and have an opinion about it. Heck, in some of the small towns people call the i10 the new Santro and getz - big Santro . For many, small car means either Maruti or Santro.

Yes, luckily or unluckily, santro as a brand has superseded Huyndai as a brand in some places.

For most of the folk, Sandero sounds very much like Santro. In some parts of the country the pronunciation may be virtually the same.

Where one calls 'shock absorbers' as 'shocker jober' and 99% of the people associated with selling automobiles do not know the correct pronunciation of 'chassis', I think 'santro' and 'sandero' shall sound like the same word!

Since Santro is already well established brand, Hyundai has a right to protect it. In India where most of the purchasing decisions are taken based on somebody's advice or word of mouth, a strong, established brand name is of tremendous value to a company.

[Spitfire]

So it's confirmed Sandero is coming to India. Nice.

[l_tejash]

So why don't they also case against Maruti as they are using a numbers in SX4 like they are using in i10 and i20?

[blackasta]

Originally Posted by l_tejash

So why don't they also case against Maruti as they are using a numbers in SX4 like they are using in i10 and i20?

Because SX4 does not sound like i10/i20 in anyone's wildest dreams.