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-   -   HM to launch Mitsubishi Grandis MPV (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/17012-hm-launch-mitsubishi-grandis-mpv.html)

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...ow/1941542.cms

Complete article...(posting in full since economic times site has not inconsiderable 'downtimes' !)

It's curtain-raiser time for auto majors
NANDINI SEN GUPTA & MEENAKSHI VERMA

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 2006 01:58:02 AM]


NEW DELHI: Just before festival demand picks up speed, the mid-market for cars is rocking. Three majors are ready to roll out products in various price and positioning points from the hatchback to mid-size sedan to the premium MPV and a high-end SUV.

First to roll out would be the Hyundai Verna, which is likely to debut end-September. The new mid-size sedan from Hyundai will be positioned higher than the Accent and will probably occupy the Rs 6.5-7.5 lakh price band.

When contacted, Hyundai India’s sales and marketing VP Arvind Saxena confirmed the Verna was due in “September or October,” but added that the price and positioning had not been worked out yet.

Sources in the auto industry say that the Verna is likely to roll out in both petrol and diesel versions. While the petrol will sport a 1.4-litre engine, the diesel version will boast of a 1.6-litre CRDi powertrain. The second probable candidate is the Mitsubishi Grandis from Hindustan Motors.

This MPV sports both petrol and diesel powertrains overseas with its latest version will have a 2.4-litre petrol and a 2-litre diesel engine. The Grandis is available in the Rs 16-lakh range in markets like the UK.

Auto industry sources say the Grandis may come after the next model in the HM pipeline, the Outlander, though debut dates have not yet been fixed. When contacted the HM spokesperson said, “We don’t have the dateline for either (Outlander and Grandis).” HM has just launched the Mitsubishi Montero SUV at a price tag Rs 29.7 lakh.

A stripped-down version of the Toyota Corolla, which may be positioned alongside the Optra or the top-end variants in the mid-size segment, is also on the cards. The new version may be positioned in the Rs 8 lakh-plus category. When contacted, Toyota’s spokesperson denied there was any plan to roll out a volume version of the Corolla.

I dont think people will opt for Grandis. It has to compete with Innova which is difficult.

Why would anyone buy Grandis for 16 when Innova is available at 10, especially when Innova is a Toyota which is more popular brand for MPVs than Mitsubishi.

If only Mitsubishi guys wake up and think about launching Evo in India (sigh!)

Another expensive large car! Why not bring cheaper and smaller Mitshubishi Colt first ???

From reports on the net, it seems Mitsubishi has introduced Grandis with a diesel engine with an eye on Innova's popularity. Figures seem comparable to Innova's.

link

if the grandis is competing with the innova,it will also cost approx. 9-10.a lot of kit will be removed from the grandis compared to the uk version.




imo the grandis looks better and more futuristic than the innova.also the front grill with the central crease follows the same design as the cedia.and if you go to singapore or malaysia you'll see more mitsu grandis compared to innova's so i guess the popularity is the other way.
a lot of guys are wishing the same thing,hang on dude :)

From the pictures, the Mitsubishi Grandis looks almost like the Innova, jsut slightly better. Wouldn't think it will be priced at 16 lakhs.

Slightly Offtopic, but don't know why TKML did not come up with the Tarago which is so much similar to the Innova but looks much better and drives better too. It is very popular as a people carrier in Australia and a few South-East asian countries like Singapore, Malaysia.

Indians are so enamoured with Hondas and Toyotas that in my opinion Mitsubishi will have a hard time selling this if they offer similar features at similar price. They need to offer a package which is significantly better than Innova (at similar price point) to attract the buyers away from Toyota.

agree: .mitsubihi has really good products btu due to lack of marketing they are not able to attract any buyers.i hope they market the grandis well.

If the Grandis proves to be successful, esp if they price it competetively w.r.t Innova, which it might very well be because there is some amount of fatigue among potential customers with the 'Innova look' esp the sloping rear end design, then we might just see a couple of clone launches in form of Honda Odyssey and VW Touran.

Part of this is due to their outstanding local partners HM. I think they would have done better to have a more active and up-to-date local partner. HM is usually very late to tag on to chaging trends in the market and reacts very slowly.

They have excellent products but to take advantage of that you need to not only get in the right products with the right engine at the right times but also market them well and make them visible to the public everywhere. Sadly to say this is one of the reasons why Cedia hasn't sold. If they had given it a big marketing/hype blitz like the Civic or the Corolla it would have done much better.

And a Grandis at 16L is going to be a failure period. Better they get the Outlander with a good, modern, powerful diesel engine & good equipment levels (read as non-stripped out) at about 15L on-road backed up with some good marketing and they would have a sure fire winner on their hands. Because that is still an untapped niche segment in the Indian market.

IMHO even for the Lancer HM did no great advertising or marketing but it sold more due to a lack of good products in the same price range and thus got more market visibility. Also doing its part was the modding scene which favoured the Lancer due to various reasons. But once proper competition came in it was game over for the Lancer.

agree: its high time mitsubishi seperates from HM.if companies like honda,hyundai,audi,merc,bmw can set up their own bases....so can mitsubishi.mitsubishi has really great products and i expected the cedia to sell in huge numbers.HM isnt being able to provide mitsubishi's products with a USP which would make them highly desirable.
the cedia might take off still considering it did really well in the recent rallies..the rallying pedigree shows and HM is too lazy to cash in on it.

Iam living (working?) in Brunei. Grandis is here for some time but I wont want to compare this with Innova. As you all know Innova is the replacement for Kijang (Qualis in India) which is a part people part luggage mover. Most of the Tamu (veg market in Malay) sellers owns this Kijang here! Grandis is in another level which can be compared to Toyota's Picnic or may be Ipsum. Surely Grandis is damn good looking car, but lately Mitsu is not having good time. They are chunking out models like Colt, Lancers, Grandis, Airtrek, Outlander, Montero/Pajero...But nothing much is going in fav of them. Most of them are a failure here.

Well currently in Hyd, even the dealer is not that reputed, and the showroom location is also crap! honda, toyota and hyundai have the best locations around! now to boost up its sales and get its glory back, mitsubishi will have to relocate its all showrooms to better places and also maybe appoint some new better dealers!

I disagree. It takes years to build brand loyalty that Hondas and Toyotas command. A hype or blitz would have only resulted in more money going down the drain for HM/Mistsubishi.

How many on Team-BHP would buy Cedia over Corolla/Civic ? All the forums are replete with questions about Corolla vs Civic vs Octavia. I would imagine that people on this forum are more aware about Cars and do not need a marketing blitz to know that Cedia exists!