[Iyencar]

Looks like they have taken a step further. Ford is now going to sell their vehicles in Mahindra dealerships.
Link

It will be interesting to see how they avoid the pitfalls which Fiat faced while getting Tata to sell their cars. I remember reading on the forum that the SAs at Tata had no interest in selling the competitor's brand. Would be interesting to see how this situation is avoided by Ford.

[fiat_tarun]

^^ Well, it's not exactly from Mahindra dealerships, but existing Mahindra dealers are opening 'separate' dealerships to sell Ford products in small cities where Ford does not currently have presence.

Quoting from the article.

...For the first time, Mahindra dealers are opening showrooms for Ford cars, especially in regions where the Detroit, US-based automaker does not operate one or the existing dealer has not been able to garner sufficient sales, said two people aware of the development, requesting anonymity. Mahindra dealers are also opening separate service centres for Ford cars at their dealerships, they said...

This will give Ford more reach and help increase volumes to an extent. The only thing that confuses me is if a dealer is anyway willing to put in additional investments for a Ford showroom & service centre, Ford could have done this themselves !

[Zappo]

I read this situation a little differently here. I get what most of you guys are saying and by those logic it may even look perplexing to some extent. It makes you wonder whether Ford is really trying to reduce its exposure to the minimum extent possible without reducing its complete valuation so that they can exit India with some honor when they do.

My reading of it is a little different... I am looking at the long term perspectives. What is Ford's current woes here all about? A super strong competitor (Suzuki) who has disproportionate share of the market and is just not getting shaken off, no matter how hard Ford or anyone else tries. Products based on their existing global portfolios, no dedicated line for India and no plans either, an inconsequential market share as a result.

What will you do in such a circumstance? The easiest is to do what GM did, and what many of you suspect Ford is also planning. May be they are. May be they are not? An alternate strategy is a possibility. Look at the horizon. What do we see? World of automotives has started looking at a paradigm shift. Autonomous vehicles, renewable and/or alternate energy sources, governments which are waking up to the realities of pollution, global warming etc, a general populace that suddenly talks about carbon footprint, pollution in big cities...

Signs are clear. We are shifting away on mass support... which also augurs well for adoption of these future technologies. Now the best part about it is that if you decide to throw your hat in the ring now you will suddenly be standing shoulder to shoulder with others rather than playing the catch up as you have been doing all this while. Simply because this is a nascent area that has no clear leader by a massive verdict. You can shape the future the way you want if you have the right vision. In other words stakes are equally spread out. Sounds lucrative, yeah?

Hitch is that it needs a lot of investment. And focus. What should I do? What will you do if you are Ford? I will like to reduce my exposure to minimum on the dying technologies which have a limited future. Concentrate my energies and resources to bet on the future. The easiest way to do that is to get a good, and an arguably strong, local business house like Mahindras to own part of the stake in the present business so that they do the hard work for you in the current market. You share the booty without having too much otherwise at stake. Of course tomorrow when the time comes to shift in to the new technology areas how do you do that? Of course you float a totally new company. It does not need to be under the aegis of the present jointly owned company.

As GTO said, Mahindra wants to remain in this market (so that their brand name is not lost on the people) with minimal baggage and overheads.

[sandeepmdas]

So, based on this strategic whatever, would Mahindra sell the Alturas along with the Endeavor and KUV/Tivoli along with EcoSport?

I own both a Mahindra XUV and an EcoSport. Previously I have owned both Indica and Punto too. . IMHO, Tata learnt nothing from their alliance, but just take a look at any Mahindra vehicle that came from the pre "Mahindra-Ford" days if you can find one. Compare it with a post-alliance Mahindra and you'll immediately notice the differences. Right from paint quality.

[volkman10]

Ford EcoSport, Figo, Aspire being sold by Mahindra dealers in 15 towns.

This is part of Mahindra and Ford alliance, which was formed in 2017.


Source: Livemint

[R-Six]

From my perspective, this is a very smart move by Ford. Given that their focus is Tier 4 cities where Ford doesn’t have a dealership yet or the ones that are there are not making enough sales to justify the cost, having a collaborative approach with Mahindra might just work in their favor.

On one hand, Mahindra dealers will have additional perks and profit, but for Ford, this is a good opportunity to penetrate into these rural areas where people still prefer to pick up a Bolero irrespective of what they need. Majority of this might have to do with the fact that they have seen and known Mahindra as a brand since boleros and the likes from Mahindra are a staple in such rural areas. A customer like this might think twice before even stepping into a Ford showroom to check out a vehicle, but if they are displayed in the Mahindra showroom, a brand name they are more familiar with, the chances are that they might even check these cars out. So if not anything else, they might get more market awareness from this collaboration.

[Aditya]

Mahindra dealers selling & servicing Ford cars in 15 towns - Posts moved to a new thread.

[blackwasp]

A win win situation for Ford to reach more cities as well as the dealers to get more sales. I always wondered why we don't have the culture of multi car brand showrooms. Imagine the low overheads for running a shared space. I agree it would tend to create favouritism with dealers, but after a while the dealer principals will realise that whatever car they sell, its bringing them money.

The Tata-Fiat alliance comes to mind that was doomed from the beginning. The main reason was Tata dealers were forced to sell Fiats and not the other way round ~ i.e the Fiat guys getting the Tata business.

In case of Mahindra and Ford, there are very few models that overlap each other's offerings. The only ones I can think of are the Verito/Aspire, KUV/Freestyle and the Alturas G4/Endeavour. With M&M portfolio of primary UVs are SUVs, they don't have much to worry about sales cannibalisation.

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by Zappo

Hitch is that it needs a lot of investment. And focus. What should I do? What will you do if you are Ford? I will like to reduce my exposure to minimum on the dying technologies which have a limited future. Concentrate my energies and resources to bet on the future.

You have a point in an ideal world. But, we're quite some distance away from seeing a drastically different landscape in India regarding the auto industry. Never say never but are you optimistic about India having a majority of EV cars vs. gasoline/hybrid? I'm not. We're probably a decade away from seeing a major paradigm shift.

Coming to this specific development. This makes me skeptical about Ford's India plan than see it as an encouraging sign. More so, given their changing business model worldwide (favoring SUVs). If you're serious about a market, that too, such a dynamic one such as India, dig in!

Look how well Hyundai punched above its weight in the last decade and look where it got them. If they could, why not Ford. I do agree that having one brand dominate 50% of the market makes things difficult.

[Zappo]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

You have a point in an ideal world. But, we're quite some distance away from seeing a drastically different landscape in India regarding the auto industry. Never say never but are you optimistic about India having a majority of EV cars vs. gasoline/hybrid? I'm not. We're probably a decade away from seeing a major paradigm shift.

Ok. First thing first. I never said India is going to see a drastic shift anytime soon. You assumed that, probably because I did not make it sufficiently clear. Second thing is that even a decade may be a little bit optimistic for a paradigm shift to happen but yes perceptible changes will definitely be visible in another 8-10 years.

However, what I said is none of what you read them as...

Ford is highly resource constrained at this point in time. And I am talking from a global perspective. They also need to plan for the round 2 which will be the age of vehicles running on alternative sources of energy and less polluting. Many others have started with their shift strategies (VW anyone?). This is again a global reality. US' current environment policies and thought processes aside the world has steadfastly held on to the belief that the time to act has come. Countries like China, India etc. that are the major growth economies and big markets have very clearly laid out their vision of the future automobiles. Otherwise also technologies like autonomous vehicles etc. are the future and they need humongous amount of money to do research on. They are money pits that will gobble up a fortune in the next 5 years at least if Ford seriously wants to be ready for the future.

This is where Ford will need to plan how they can mobilize the resources. Cut on avoidable projects or the ones which may not have a huge prospects. Look at synergies that can distribute the costs etc. And this they will need to do globally. In that context, when you look at India they now have a history of more than a decade and half here. They know that getting ready for BSVI is a mildly cost intensive process. And it's not like post this effort they will have any major change in their fortunes. Thus it immediately makes sense to look at synergies in such cases. I think this is a small move in their bigger game of preserving themselves globally to fight another day.

[PrideRed]

So Mahindra will sell Alturas and Endeavour(Ecosport and Tivoli) side by side? Theoretically this looks like a positive move but I don't think this will work out. The dealer will push Mahindra(fatter profits).Remember Tata-Fiat Fiasco?
Better deal would have been tying up with Mahindra service center. People are okay to travel for delivery but would want a service center nearby.

[Sheel]

May I know as to where is this in practice, which state/town etc? Anyone has any information on this, if yes, please share.

[iTNerd]

Originally Posted by Sheel

May I know as to where is this in practice, which state/town etc? Anyone has any information on this, if yes, please share.

The lone Ford dealer in Imphal (Manipur) had shut shop a few months back. Now I know why our 4 yrs old Ford Ecosport was serviced in Mahindra center