[shobhit.shri]

By the way, the Aditya Birla group sells its clothing under Louis Philippe, Allen Solly, Van Heusen, and Peter England brands. Such branding and its perceived need by the manufacturers tell more about the consumer than the company, IMHO.

[avishar]

Oh yes, the Chinese are leveraging on the great brand that was MG. The great brand which was nothing but badge engineered, crappy Rovers and Austins for half of its life. Please, give me a break.

I have a feeling that a lot of BHPians are not understanding the actual reason for all this hatred that is being shown towards MG India.

And what's with this hatred non-sense? What is this, Rushlane? Are you angry that SAIC MIGHT do well in India? Do you enjoy the obsolete stuff that Volkswagen sell in India? Or the unsafe tin-cans that Maruti shoves down our throats?

Judge the product on the basis of product itself, rest of it is marketing.

And don't forget MG/SAIC has been selling Chinese MGs in Britain for 10 years now, so I am not sure what is the brouhaha about here.

[digitalnirvana]

Originally Posted by Slick

Edit - If I recall correctly TATA sold Indica in Britain as City Rover, was that under the Land Rover brand? If so wouldn't it be the same (except I am sure TATA wouldn't talk about British heritage while doing that )

Agree with the rest of your post completely.

Just to clarify this point, Tata Motors and the then alive MG rover had a partnership, through which the Indica was manufactured in India by TML and marketed by MG rover in the UK and hence badged as the City Rover. It was badge engineering in its true sense, where both brands were alive. It is definitely not the same as this MG-SAIC scenario where MG doesn't exist anymore except as a logo.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rover_CityRover

[UK07Rider]

A classic example here is of Eicher Motors owning the Royal Enfield brand but in their defence, they are at least now trying to bring back the heritage of Royal Enfield motorcycles now that they've launched their parallel twins.

[civic-sense]

Originally Posted by sibot

I don't think caveat emptor applies when there is blatant misrepresentation by the seller.

The law does not side with someone who misrepresents facts. The consumer is expected to be ordinarily diligent but is not expected to be Sherlock Holmes when buying a product.

Laws are the last resort for people who can't or are lazy to decide what is good for them. In a globalized world there is little difference between a Chinese car and a European car and an American car. If you don't want to do your research about what is inside the bottle you are buying, but want some law to save you, then let GOD save you.

[Rajeevraj]

Should we not then complain about Maruti setting up a 'Nexa' brand and selling the same Maruti cars packaged with a 'premium' sales experience?

Every single brand/company in the world fools the customer in some way in the name of brand and marketing strategies. I fail to understand why SAIC need to be singled out.

[RajeevSharma]

My vote is "No" simply because of the investment MG or its parent company has made in India. If they provide a sub-par product, there is no way for them to recover their cost. They also own the brand name MG which they are free to use in advertising.

In the long run it is the product and its long lasting nature will do the talking. There is no need to form and discuss early opinions. The fact is that they know the business of car making and selling.

[srini1785]

Voted " Can't say ". A tinge teetering towards the Yes vote. I am not much of a car guy myself. However , i do admit that if there ever was a law which says that every product should have a country of origin certificate, then MG Hector would be a failure. Welcome people to the globalization mess .

[ValarMorghulis]

Voted "No". If a buyer can't spend 5mins searching online before plonking in 20laks INR then no one else is to blame.

It is your money, you have worked for it, you better judge where to spend.

[Karthik Chandra]

Voted NO.

I'm surprised there are more BHPians voting yes than no. SAIC own the brand and its their discretion as to how they use it.

Originally Posted by vishy76

Coming to facts:

- MG is no longer the nostalgic traditional British two door sports car manufacturer that most Indians perceive it to be. It's as British as the Chevrolet Sail was American

So MG is no longer a brand worthy of remembering according to your post above, then why so much fuss about SAIC using MG brand and its heritage?

Originally Posted by vishy76

- MG has no right to fool customers in such a way.

MG or SAIC??? and No SAIC is not fooling people

Originally Posted by vishy76

If Indians hate Chinese goods, its entirely MG's problem, not ours.

Absolutely and that is why SAIC is using MG brand, which it owns, to counter that problem.

Originally Posted by vishy76

Not everyone reads up wikipedia pages and does research like us enthusiasts on what company is acquired by whom.

If someone who spend 20 lacs to buy a car doesn't do his/her research its not SAIC's problem since they are selling the Hector legally.

Originally Posted by boniver

It's amazing how a lot of people think this thread is about bashing Chinese products!

It is. There are comments about how people wouldn't consider the Hector had it been marketed as Baojun.

Originally Posted by OSH

It is not about its chinese origin or badge engineeringbut it is about the fact that MG India is cheating us by selling us a chinese car while maliciously making us believe that it is british. Think of it, why didn't SAIC have the guts to launch the car under the other brand names like Baojun/Wuling ? Because one google search and "chinese" "chinese" "chinese" would have appeared everywhere.

The prejudice against "Chinese" is the problem which you have clearly stated when you said SAIC didn't have the guts to launch as Baojun/Wuling. So they have used their own brand. They own the brand and thereby its heritage.

Originally Posted by OSH

Now think of what MG India is doing, it is selling you a Baojun/Wuling by telling you that it a MG, so in this case, the MG is 'not' actually an MG. This is the reason why a lot of members on the forum, including me are pissed off.

But Why? You know SAIC owns MG and SAIC is Chinese

Originally Posted by OSH

our own homegrown manufacturer with more that 50% of the market share kept playing with us for many many years by providing unsafe cars which we are happily driving around in. Now its time that this Chinese manufacturer plays with us

How do you know that Hector is unsafe?

Originally Posted by OSH

So going by that logic, all companies are allowed to cheat/mislead just because the public has now got resources to find out how they are cheating us ?

SAIC isn't cheating so there is no question of whether they are allowed to cheat or not

Originally Posted by OSH

Anyways this topic is really not worth spending so much time on and hence would conclude by saying that, those who fall for the british legacy marketing and buy the car, are cheated. But the people who know about SAIC-MG and buy the car based on the merits of the product are not cheated.

Exactly. But its the Hector , its features, its pricing and its VFM quotient that has attracted the crowd and not the brand MG and its legacy.

Originally Posted by Slick

Would I buy the MG Hector if branded as Chinese ? No.

This prejudice is exactly why SAIC is selling the Hector under MG brand.

Originally Posted by avishar

And what's with this hatred non-sense? What is this, Rushlane? Are you angry that SAIC MIGHT do well in India? Do you enjoy the obsolete stuff that Volkswagen sell in India? Or the unsafe tin-cans that Maruti shoves down our throats?

This seems to be the problem.

[Abhi_Automobile]

Originally Posted by GTO

As someone who studied marketing, I have to say this was a brilliant move. If it was launched as a "Baojun", the car would have sunk without a trace. The Chinese know that they are building product capability fast, but they will always have a perception problem. That's why, with their bags full of cash, the Chinese have bought famous brands = MG, Volvo, Pirelli, IBM, Hoover, GE appliances, Gieves & Hawkes.

Fully agree that the product matters, not the brand (to bhpins, at least).

But then you also say that the car will have sunk without trace if it was launched as Baijun. Why? Same product; Chinese (perceived as inferior) brand. Makes me feel that the brand matters, no?

[OSH]

Originally Posted by Karthik Chandra

But Why? You know SAIC owns MG and SAIC is Chinese

Because there are people out there who don't.

How do you know that Hector is unsafe?

The unsafe part was for Maruti Suzuki and not the Hector. When I said that the chinese will play with us, I meant by misleading us. They were two different sentences.

[arunramaswamy]

I believe Citroen has acquired "Ambassador" brand. If at all they launch it in India, and its big IF, would that amount to "fooling" Indian cutomers? If one owns a brand legally, they can do as they wish. I would say SAIC is trying to resurrect MG brand instead of trying to fool Indians.

If at all any manufacturer is trying to fool Indians, it must be Maruti (selling pedestrian quality products as premium Nexa cars) and Renault ( selling Dacia as premium. Not to mention the sub-standard airbags and compromised Kwid structure)

[Sarath_MoJa]

I still dont understand many are connecting seemingly unrelated things to the subject. When did Aditya Birla market their premium clothing brand as British or European.
To put things in true lights, Hector is never a British product. It is designed, engineered and manufactured as a Chinese product. Its true DNA is Chinese. Volvo & JLR Still retain their true Design & Engineering DNA and that is what drives people to buy those brand and that has nothing to do with their present Chinese & Indian Parents. Just by calling Xi-Jinping as James Anderson, will he transform into a British!!! So to my eyes, it is just plain fooling people.

[aaychat]

I don't think the question is whether or not the Baojun is a good car. The question is whether they are fooling people.

Yes they are. JLR is owned by Tata but their cars are designed and developed in the UK which makes the products British. They're not rebadging a Safari and selling it as a Range Rover. What MG is doing is taking an entirely Chinese car and falsely selling it as a British product. The two are fundamentally different.

I would have respected it much more if they launched it as a Chinese car and worked hard to build that mind space in the Indian consumers' minds like Oppo or OnePlus or carmakers like Hyundai and Kia (in the 90's). There is no shortage of examples of Indian consumers choosing value regardless of where the brand came from. Lying isn't the best way to earn loyalty.