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Originally Posted by GTO • The Honda Accord was poised for an India entry in the 80's via Tata Motors. Permission wasn't granted by the Government though. |
This was in spite of Tata's commitment to export 50% of the intended annual production of 40,000 cars!
Permission was earlier refused to Tata for foreign collaboration for the proposed LCV foray. So, TM launched its ambitious "Project Jupiter" whereunder the company was to create an indigenous LCV within 18 months flat! The end result was Tata 407. The 18 month deadline was also met although the product was developed from scratch! That's how the famous Sumant Moolgaonkar ran Tata Motors! In contrast, the Tata Motors of 21st century takes 4 years to launch Safari 18!
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Originally Posted by GTO • The Tata 407 was well-priced, overload-friendly, reliable, quick and had unmatched after-sales support. It singlehandedly demolished the LCV dreams of Toyota (DCM), Nissan (Allwyn), Mazda (Swaraj) and Mitsubishi (Eicher). |
The intial 407s weren't as overload friendly as the larger Indo-Jap LCVs (Allwyn Nissan Cabstar excluded) which, because of their larger, more powerful engines made economic sense only when overloaded - their rated payload was only 3 tonnes. Tata is said to have used its influence at RTOs to get the MV Rules against overloading strictly enforced! A lot of hue and cry was raised by the Indo-Jap LCV makers over this. This was reported in Business India. By mid 1988, TM had launched an improved 407 whose GVW was increased to 5.3 tonnes.
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Originally Posted by GTO • The 1st price-cut in Maruti's history was carried out hours before the Indica's launch. That's how nervous the Indica (and the hype around it) made the folk in Delhi. On 30th December 1998, it brought the 800's price down to 1.85 lakhs and pushed Maruti to introduce a sub-3 lakh base variant of the Zen. |
Maruti also indulged in dirty tricks at that time. It used its influence over its AC supplier Subros (also Tata's vendor for Indica) to deliberately delay deliveries of AC units to Tata Motors. As a result, TM could only deliver the non-AC Indicas intially!
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Originally Posted by GTO • 50:50 partnerships are never a good idea; one partner should have the majority, even if it's only by a percentage. |
Not necessarily. Tata has successful ongoing 50:50 JVs with Cummins, Marcopolo and Fiat!
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Originally Posted by GTO • JLR contributes to over 75% of Tata Motors group profits. Buying JLR was one of the rare good decisions Tata Motors has made in the last decade. |
Yet, some analysts had criticised TM at the time of buyout on the ground that in a recession hit, environment-conscious world, it wasn't wise to invest in a luxury car company!
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Originally Posted by GTO • The gap between the 1st & 2nd Auto Expos was a massive 7 years (1986 - 1993). Lack of industry action? Now, it's held every 2 years. |
Before the Auto Expo, auto companies used to participate in what was known as the India Engineering Trade Fair ("IETF"). CII was then CEI - the Confederation of Engineering Industry! Auto Expo is IETF by another name!
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Originally Posted by GTO • Some Indian car dealerships regularly run up losses. Their owners couldn't be any less bothered though. They view the dealership as merely a channel to convert black money into white. |
The invented losses keep your tax liability low!
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Originally Posted by GTO • The Astra was launched with an extremely lazy 1.6L LZ2 engine. |
It also came with 165/80/14 tyres!
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Originally Posted by GTO • Volvo has realised that its passenger cars will never see success in India. We're too brand conscious, especially when paying top rupee. Despite massive dealer discounts, their cars refuse to move. Volvo has Audi, Mercedes & BMW to fight on one (higher) side and VW / Skoda on the (cheaper) other. Volvo is neither here nor there. |
Volvo is now partly owned by the Chinese! With the Chinese market in mind, the management plans to replace the "understated Swedish luxury" with flashy "Chinese ostentation". That might help increase sales in India too!
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Originally Posted by GTO • Hyundai, Nissan & Maruti are the top vehicle exporters from India (in that order), regularly clocking in 6-digit numbers, year after year. |
Curious to know why you haven't mentioned Ford India that has always exported a big chunk of its production. Maruti's exports are a joke, if looked at from the viewpoint of % of production. In fact, the outflow of foreign exchange from Maruti to Suzuki (by way of royalty for technology, dividend and trademark user rights) exceeds the inflow from exports!
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Originally Posted by GTO • In the early 2000s, Tata was going to launch a full-size RWD sedan called the Magna ( pic). The company quickly figured out that it'll be a tough sell, more so since the Honda Accord, Hyundai Sonata, Ford Mondeo & Toyota Camry were all headed here. |
It was a sensible decision. Magna shared its engine, gearbox and some other parts with the Safari. It was meant to be made on Safari's production line too! Magna's design was copied from Lexus!
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Originally Posted by GTO • Maruti's R&D became so complacent that it couldn't even design a gearbox on its own. It was literally begging for "gearbox technology" from Suzuki at the same time that the Indica & Scorpio were developed in India. |
Maruti never had any R&D deptt. in India so the question of complacency does not arise! Everything in R&D was done in Japan. All of Maruti's decisions were and are still dictated by the Japanese. Not transferring gearbox technology was Suzuki's tactic to make more money out of Maruti! Faced with depleting foreign exchange reserves, it's no wonder that the Govt. of India protested!