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-   -   MLR Motors to roll out cars in 2009 (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/21427-mlr-motors-roll-out-cars-2009-a.html)

MLR Motors, the joint venture between Hyderabad-based Lokesh Machines Ltd and former Hyundai Motors India president, BVR Subbu, is planning to introduce entry-level cars and three-wheelers in India in 2009.

Source : MLR Motors to roll out cars in '09-The Economic Times

TATA will definately reply for the 900 cc diesel ar from MLR by bringing in a new smaller engine of INDICA patform.

This company Lokesh Machines Ltd is in to manufacturing of CNC machines. Their products are basically re-engineered based on products from other companies. They buy products of other companies, rip them apart and then evolve their designs from these parts. Be prepared to see parts in their car from bins of other mfrs..

My close friend works for this company and he has been telling me about their plans to manufacture cars for a very long time but i never believed him.

OK, so they have no product but are going to have a plant in Hyd as well as the ex-Daewoo plant in Delhi they bought.

Just talked to my friend and he says the car would be mostly Uno. They are actually working closely with Fiat.

Wow, Fiat can mentor other companies including Suzuki & Tata but they can't sell their own cars.

Btw, they are going to use the Daewoo for manufacturing the parts and the final assembly is in Hyderabad.

The UNO failed to excite customers in 1998...how is it going to sell in 2010...in the hands of a company with no previous history of making of selling cars. Boy oh boy...Subbu's got a challenge ahead of him.

I have this strange feeling that the canny guy that Subbu is he knows what he is doing. If I were to hazard a guess I would say he is not at all targeting the regular car buyers. Could he be planning to add mass to the 1-lakh rupees cars project? What better way than to buy a scrapped plant with a now defunct car's body and similarly scounting for parts from used bins? No design costs (not huge that is), no royalty to pay (probably) etc. Tatas may see a challenge coming there way.

My guess is that if you can give the masses a sub lakh rupee car or somewhere in the region, in today's day and age, you will find a huge untapped market. Basically the same thought as tatas but with a twist in the tale (or is it tail?).

It'll most likely be targetted primarily for rural and townscapes. Being a wise man, BVR would have realized the futility of selling such a thing in cities.

Well FIAT is not interested in charity...so they are not going to give away the UNO dies for free. It may come cheap however.

What about the 1250 crore that they just spent for 2 plants. That will have to be recovered. And then it costs money for building a dealership and more importantly a brand. But of course, Subbu knows this better than us..I'm just wonder what trick he has up his sleeve.

The plant[surajpur] would be largely used for 1,000-3,000cc engines for export.

With his experience in the small car business with Hyundai’s Santro, analysts do not rule out the possibility of him tying up with a major global carmaker like Nissan, which is mulling an entry into the Indian small car market. France’s Citroen and Malaysia’s Proton are also considering an India entry.However, others say Subbu’s primary focus would be to cater to the huge demand for engines and transmissions in India and abroad

Giving details of his plans, however, Subbu said, “We plan to manufacture all types of auto components and engines with a primary focus on the export market. We will then look at the domestic market.”

Source:
Surajpur acquisition a spur to Subbu’s small car plans

BVR Subbu is an incredibly sharp man:

1. He either believes that a base diesel hatch will have a good market in the rural / neighbouring countries.

OR

2. He is going to make a helluva lot of $$$ from just enabling this transaction.

Same here - there's something cooking here and nobody knows whats on the menu yet!

My guess -

build a plant and infrastrucutre to build a car that may / may not sell

then

sell the plant to/ make a car for someone who can make a car that sell

While BVR is a sharp man, no amount of sharpness will yield returns once a market passes you by. Especially in autos where car dies cannot change dynamically with the market.

Give the discerning public a choice of TataOne, MarutiOne or BVROne; BVR would have realized there's no rocket-science involved in that decision. All the more reason this points toward a rural landscape

Somebody please correct me if I am wrong, but UNO bookings on launch were phenomenal. Am I missing something here ??