[CoolFire]

What an article! Take a bow @pqr

Let me add a slightly different perspective. While all the resons mentioned are valid, there is one overpowering reason for detemining success and failures in Indian auto market. Only companies that could use their home country products with minimal tweaking stand a chance of survival and success in India. While failures could have internal reasons too, success needs this particular strength for sure. At the core of it, that is the simple logic.

100% of companies which are strong in India now adhere to this rule. Almost all the spectacular failures in India were by companies who could not do it.

American cars cannot be mass successes in India because of the higher costs & bigger sizes in general and the low FE of their higher size engines. European cost structures and high maintenance could also be not a direct fit except in case of luxury brands. Older Chinese products which were low in refinement, brand value and quality also were not suitable for our very specific tastes.

All the still thriving foreign brands - Suzuki, Hyundai, Kia, Toyota, MG and Honda use their successful home products with only minor changes, mostly focused on cost cutting. And it is no coincidence that they all come from just three Asian countries.

Most of the big exits namely GM, Ford, Peuogot, Fiat fall under this rule. Only two exceptions are Mitsubishi and Daewoo which had only their internal issues to blame.

Of those struggling and still present, VW and Skoda challenges can be squarely be attributed to the factor mentioned here. Nissan and Renault may be too lazy and fall more in the Mitsubishi mould of failures.

What is the reason for this rule? Again quite simple and straightforward. Every company has some core strengths and it is not too easy and safe to change this substantially to different markets. India is one market that is different from almost all others in the unique value perspective we have. It is true in almost all other products but most evident in automobiles because of our skewed tax structure and high cost of vehicles and fuel compared to our purchasing power.

[uditanshh]

Ford Gearing Up For ReEntry In India With The Endeavor

The plan is to assemble the Endeavour at the company’s Chennai factory. However, our sources also tell us directly importing it is also being mulled over. With the import of fully-built up cars without homologation still allowed – up to 2,500 units per year – Ford could import the current Endeavour into India much sooner, while it readies itself for local assembly in 2025. Moreover, with the price of its main rival, the Toyota Fortuner, having skyrocketed, with top-end models touching Rs 60 lakh on road, a fully imported Endeavour would still be competitive against the Fortuner. Ford had also earlier made its intention clear that it was open to the idea of selling direct imports to keep a foothold in the local market.

LINK