[GTO]

Originally Posted by Sawyer

The last new car designed by an Indian company, for the Indian market, from a clean sheet of paper was the Indica, and now, the Nano. The reason why this happens so rarely is that it costs a lot of money to do this - more money than can be recovered by profit on volumes of sales possible in just the Indian market.

And the Mahindras : The Xylo as well as the Scorpio.

[RX135]

Originally Posted by GTO

And the Mahindras : The Xylo as well as the Scorpio.

And Tata and Mahindra are the only Indian manufacturers. Maruti Suzuki is mainly driven by Suzuki and its technology.

[romeomidhun]

Originally Posted by Sawyer

The last new car designed by an Indian company, for the Indian market, from a clean sheet of paper was the Indica, and now, the Nano.

Even the Indica is not 'designed' in India. The Italian firm 'IDEA' was the one who designed its style.

[Sawyer]

Right, GTO, I ought not to have missed Mahindras. @RX 135, is it not just as correct to say that Maruti Suzuki has gained from Suzuki technology?
Again going OT here, and looking forward to this thread being moved :-)
Tata Motors was well and truly stuck in terms of what next after the Indica - to develop a new platform for just Indian volumes would have sunk the company, and the huge issue they faced and still face is how to meet the challenges of new platforms from the likes of Suzuki, Hyundai, Nissan, Fiat, VW and others who had the global scales to be able to afford the investments needed in design and tool up. Who would have new platforms every decade or less, that Tata would be hard pressed to match.
The Nano was not just the answer to the Indian two wheeler riding family needs - it also happens to hold the key to Tata's survival as an independent auto maker. By radically going down the price points, a large market opens up for Tata, in a place where it can possibly meet the quality expectations. Where the potential volumes exist, to take the burden of the huge development costs. So the Nano isn't just Tata doing the less well off Indians a favour, it is also the strategy Tata needs to execute successfully, to survive. And conceived for these reasons just as much as to look after the well publicized needs of the average Indian with his family on a two wheeler in the rains. Indeed, it was seen to be the only way out of the hole that Tata is in, as an automaker. And the brilliant successful PR part of the strategy was one of the rare Tata PR triumphs by a group that does not count PR/self promotion as a strength!
Will they succeed? I do not know, but I certainly wish them well and hope that they do.
To the comment about IDEA doing the design - what does that matter? What matters is that an Indian company gave IDEA the charter and paid the bill, and took the investment risk of doing so upon itself. IDEA were just the hired guns to do a specific job, at the behest of an Indian company. Just as we cannot claim much credit for Indian design efforts that go into Suzuki development, or into the latest animated feature that comes out of Hollywood to give the converse example. I would still call Indica a car that is 100% Indian in terms of its origin.

[Pragmites]

Originally Posted by romeomidhun

Even the Indica is not 'designed' in India. The Italian firm 'IDEA' was the one who designed its style.

The styling was done by IDEA, the engineering design was done in India. Besides, the styling was commissioned by Tatas based on their specifications. Outsourcing , this time in reverse.

[VMG]

Any update on HM/Mitsu? I am curious to know about the
new sports model/ Cedia numbers.

[an_and]

is this thread dead, what happened to the comprehensive report? when is that expected?

[inferno]

@an_and
Continued here
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...-analysis.html