[payeng]

Originally Posted by coolkurt

A simple question. If Tata can sell Jaguar Land Rover without advertising it's Indian origins then what's wrong with MG leaning on its British origins?

The Only Thing INDIAN in JLR is "Capital" from its parent TATA

[OSH]

Originally Posted by coolkurt

A simple question. If Tata can sell Jaguar Land Rover without advertising it's Indian origins then what's wrong with MG leaning on its British origins ?

The difference is that when one buys a Jaguar or Land Rover, he is not getting a rebadged/reskinned Tata.

JLR/Tata can be blamed if they were rebadging the Harrier/Gravitas and selling it as a Discovery Sport or them picking up the Hexa and rebadging it to launch a new LR vehicle 'xyz' to be sold to Land Rover customers . This would then be a case of misrepresentation for not disclosing that the actual car underneath is not a LR but a Tata.

[KMT]

Hey, if any of you feel happy and 'British' driving an MG good for you.
Its like me eating Dominos Pizza and feeling like I have eaten 'Italian'.

As the old adage goes, 'a sucker is born every minute'.

Jaguar has a full on manufacturing plant in the UK that has been in continious production since its inception.

MG(under British Leyland) began struggling in the 1980s and after several tries and the last British MG was made around mid2000s, all that was left was the logo/trademark. That piece of paper is what the Chinese picked up.
There are no MG cars made in the UK.

Jaguar on the other hand, has a genuine unbroken British heritage. Something like Volvo, still made in Sweden but by Geely.

But from a marketing standpoint I must say that the MG branding exercise goes to show that when the audience is 'ignorant' about a brands history, they can be made to believe virtually anything (even buying a chinese car and beleiving they are driving a British car: hilarious).

MG cars today are not meeting any succcess in the West as people are aware of the difference between the old MG brand and what it stood for and the rebadged chinese cars that are carrying the MG logo today.

[wheelguy]

Originally Posted by coolkurt

The notion that if something has Chinese origins, it implies sub standard products, is such a farce. China is well capable of producing great products.

Question in the thread's title is not about whether if China is capable of producing good cars or not.

Originally Posted by coolkurt

The equipment kit that the Hector offers, none of our esteemed manufacturers even come close. Forget that. The safety kit. MG has probably the best safety kit in the segment. Even the media favourite Seltos barely offers half as much on that front.

Again, the question is not about Hector or what kit it offers at what price, the question is about what they are trying to portray themselves as and what they are offering, and is it right to do that or not. The question is not about the product but about the branding mask around the product.

[coolkurt]

Originally Posted by KMT

MG cars today are not meeting any succcess in the West as people are aware of the difference between the old MG brand and what it stood for and the rebadged chinese cars that are carrying the MG logo today.

On the contrary, MG cars are doing pretty decently, and sales are picking up in the UK for starters, owing to the sheer value for money it brings.

[Nithesh_M]

Originally Posted by Vitalstatistiks

#FactCheck- GM India was a 50-50 venture with SAIC (for four years only), and in 2012, GM had increased its stake to 93%, with SAIC holding 7% in the Indian Co.

Isn't the same MG Hector also sold as Chevy Captiva in other markets?So then by your rationale there should be no issue regarding the Hector if GM is in partnership?

[Vitalstatistiks]

Originally Posted by Nithesh_M

Isn't the same MG Hector also sold as Chevy Captiva in other markets?So then by your rationale there should be no issue regarding the Hector if GM is in partnership?

I don't see any connection.

Yes, Baijoun 530 (not MG Hector) is sold as MG Hector in India, as Chevrolet Captiva in other markets, as Wuling Almaz in other markets. That's because they are all SAIC cars, part of the SAIC-GM-Wuling joint venture. They are all sold under respective brands of SAIC-GM-Wuling, depending on market.

In India, they chose to not brand it under SAIC-GM-Wuling but bought rights to a lost-in-time intellectual property called 'Morris Garages', with which SAIC-GM-Wuling have nothing to do other than owning the brand MG. Now they are doubling down on "British Heritage" of the car when it does not have any such heritage at all. How does it compare to same car being sold as Chevy Captiva?

[ValarMorghulis]

Haven't we beaten this dead horse enough?

[Nithesh_M]

Originally Posted by Vitalstatistiks

In India, they chose to not brand it under SAIC-GM-Wuling but bought rights to a lost-in-time intellectual property called 'Morris Garages', with which SAIC-GM-Wuling have nothing to do other than owning the brand MG. Now they are doubling down on "British Heritage" of the car when it does not have any such heritage at all. How does it compare to same car being sold as Chevy Captiva?

The "British Heritage" is for the brand itself and thus by association its product. And they own the British marquee just like Tata. So if Tata can use "Land Rover DNA" to sell Harrier why can't MG use the British marquee they own the rights for to mark it as such?

Its not like MG has no personnel or engineering facility based in UK. As for Chevy, its obviously a JV on the same lines as BMW/Toyota or Toyota/Subaru/Scion.

[rajushank84]

Isn't this true of UM Motors as well? It is marketed as American.

And maybe, to some extent Benelli as well?

[RK79]

Every company advertise their product to be unique, and they wont project their weakness. Here SAIC might thought that Indians have a bad perspective for Chinese product and branding their product differently will hide their weakness. But their car is selling not only because people thought its a non Chinese car but also due to the value for money factor and the new features it offered. Also has to be noted that brand MG doesn't have any brand value as such like Germans for people to que up for their cars.When investing 20L on a car from a new company, owners are expected to do some home work, rather than complaining about company fooling them. If the product does not have any quality issues and if its a value for money product, country of origin should not be a problem.

[Latheesh]

How hard they are trying? This picture is self-explanatory

[Driving80kph]

1. SAIC knew how hard it would be for a Chinese brand in India so they specifically bought a British marquee. They actually went above and beyond in trying to convince people. Everything from getting Benedict Cumberbatch as an ambassador to shooting Hector's ads in what looks like London.

2. There's nothing wrong in re-badging a car for a market. The only exception here would be if the car is a massive failure in previous markets due to safety/reliability/performance issues and the company is re-badging it to unload on unsuspecting customers.

3. TATA has never tried to sell a Safari as a Land Rover. Their relation with JLR is similar to Audi's relation with Lamborghini.

4. Hector is, by all accounts, a fine car. BUT it is still a Chinese car not a European/British one. No amount of heritage or British actors will change that.

CAN WE STOP BEATING THIS DEAD HORSE NOW?

[pgsagar]

MG's success may give other Chinese auto makers an idea to pick up long-extinct British brands. UK is full of them. Austin, Morris, Subeam, AC, TVR, Wolseley, Triumph, Alvis, Morgan. I know a car and its quality is more important than the logo sitting on the bonnet but have to admit some of these Chinese names sound weird. Like Haima, Baujun, Changan, Dongfeng, Jianghua , Tianma etc. No, I am not making fun or anything. Just that these names sound less fancy. May be that's why Baujun became an MG here. And, since they own the brand, they broke no law.

[OSH]

Originally Posted by Latheesh

How hard they are trying ?

Some habits don't die. Sadly, the uninformed fall prey to all this.

Originally Posted by Nithesh_M

So if Tata can use "Land Rover DNA" to sell Harrier why can't MG use the British marquee they own the rights for to mark it as such ?

The answer to your question can be found on multiple threads related to the Harrier/Gravitas including the official review of our forum. Quoting an excerpt from the review.

In 2014, Tata finally decided that it will build a couple of new SUVs with the help of its subsidiary, Jaguar Land Rover. Tata Motors used Land Rover's D8 platform - which underpins the Discovery Sport - to create the Optimal Modular Efficient Global Advanced (OMEGA) Architecture, a monocoque for its new SUV, the Harrier. The D8 platform is a good start as one million SUVs based on this architecture have been sold worldwide. Trivia: early test mules of the Harrier were tested with a Land Rover body.

This is why Tata can proudly, without doing anything wrong, use and shout 'Land Rover DNA' to advertise the Harrier/Gravitas as much as they want.