[dZired]

The Escorts Group has officially announced its departure from the auto products business. The company has sold its Auto Product division to Badve Engineering Ltd., Pune, in an all-cash deal. This step has been taken to focus on Escorts' core business verticals, including agri-machinery, railway equipment and construction.

Escorts was into the component supply business in the automotive domain. It manufactured products like shock absorbers, telescopic front forks, McPherson struts, special dampers, and steering components. These were then supplied to OEMs as well as to the replacement market in the country.

The company had presence in all segments of the Indian automotive industry, including motorcycles, scooters, passenger cars, commercial vehicles, and multi-utility vehicles.

[paragsachania]

Always feel sad to see such classic brands fade away either due to market pressure or acquisition by a bigger fish.

Most of us have grown up with their logos etched onto our brains, primarily due to the Legendary Yamaha RX 100.

Anyway, if reports are to be believed, the primary reason for this decision to sell was due to losses that the company incurred while they concentrate on Farm & construction equipment.

The loss-making division will involve transfer of assets including plant and equipment to Badve, says Bharat Madan, Group Financial Controller of Escorts.

The auto product division was in loss, which is the main reason for divestment, and the sale will help Escorts concentrate on its core business of agri machinery and construction equipments,

Read more at: moneycontrol

[rakesh_r]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Always feel sad to see such classic brands fade away either due to market pressure or acquisition by a bigger fish.

Most of us have grown up with their logos etched onto our brains, primarily due to the Legendary Yamaha RX 100.

Anyway, if reports are to be believed, the primary reason for this decision to sell was due to losses that the company incurred while they concentrate on Farm & construction equipment.



Read more at: moneycontrol

Apart from the collaboration with Yamaha, they were also into forging. One of my uncle used to work for Escorts Pistons which I guess was in Faridabad. Sad to see such core companies going into losses.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by rakesh_r

Apart from the collaboration with Yamaha, they were also into forging. One of my uncle used to work for Escorts Pistons which I guess was in Faridabad. Sad to see such core companies going into losses.

Yes indeed. They have a plant in Bangalore as well which is now Federal-Mogul Goetze (India) Limited that also manufactured pistons after the merger of Escorts pistons activities with Goetze (India) Ltd.

[dragstar]

They had a Goetze plant in Patiala where they made piston rings sold to Fedural Mogul.

Then they had Escorts Hospitals.

This was the first company that forayed into one stop retail by the name of Nanz (Low Bill) like easyday and More stores we have today.

Besides the tie up with Yamaha, they had a very successful motorcycle Rajdoot.

Also, they brought CLASS to India with a tieup for Harvester Combines.

They had quite a few other things going on for them, but not they seem to have consolidated everything and gone back to their core that is Farm and Agricultural machinery.

[anjan_c2007]

Till the company's founder and Chairman Shri H.P. Nanda (later Chairman Emeritus) was around at the helm, (Escorts Ltd estd 1944 and fully estd 1960) the company did well both in the auto products sector and its other areas of activity viz. agricultural machinery and farm implements, railway products and construction equipment, which they call core business now. The Rajdoot motorcycle (launched early 1960's) was extremely popular both in urban and more in the rural areas.



(Times of India photo)

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/h.../1/391919.html

http://www.businessandeconomy.org/14...=641&pageno=11

Those days, motorcycle manufacturing would have been their unwritten core business. Tractors were also their forte since the 1960's and there were too less competitors. Massey Ferguson was its main rival. The Yamaha collaboration come 1983 worked wonders with the RD 350 and the RX 100. They lost touch with the fading of the RX 135 or the RXG 135 during the turn of the century.

The sons of the late Shri Hari Parshad Nanda viz. Mr Rajan (Chairman) and Mr Nikhil (MD) are running the show now and they may be deciding something that suits the company. For the Escorts Group, its best days are past. They lost heavily investing in Escotel, a TELCO operating in North India. They hived off this business to Idea Cellular at a loss of Rs 1.76 billion.

For the public, the Escorts' glitter is fading and it is moving into oblivion, as the auto products like Gabriel shock ups and Mahle Goetze pistons/ rings at the retail level, at least reminded us of the once giant Escorts Limited. There is hardly anything at the retail level that a large chunk of the masses will buy henceforth from Escorts Ltd.