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Old 16th April 2010, 23:15   #16
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Originally Posted by narayan View Post
precisely - beats me - why will M&M want to be in cars when their core expertise lies elsewhere. unless they have some BIG plans to take on the TATAs in the car market
It is plausible that M&M has got some interest in the non-UV segment. In the THAR thread, i remember seeing the picture of a sedan model.
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Old 16th April 2010, 23:16   #17
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So another JV bites the dust. This was the logical move for Renault, who are now left to concentrate on the Renault-Nissan combine. As for M&M, they will keep the Logan going for sometime yet, in one form or the other.

Marriage (and divorce) with Ford and Renault would have given M&M the insight and experience to grow into the fully diversified car maker that it aspires to be.
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Old 16th April 2010, 23:30   #18
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Bold move by Mahindra. Lets see if they can work their magic on the Logan now that they have the full freedom.

The smashing success of their Scoprio, Bolero and Xylo has proven that they understand the needs of the VFM buyer who wants a rugged diesel vehicle. What better car than the Logan for them to start working their magic. Good luck to them.
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Old 16th April 2010, 23:57   #19
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This is surely good news for the consumers, I would expect Mahindra as usual would churn out various version trying to trial and error before perfecting the art of small car making.
Like what they did for the SUV before figuring out the Scorpio, this being the habit of Mahindra what was required was a free hand in changing the design at free-will which now will make sure.

I can bet there would be a car which would challenge the likes of i10, Figo and Swift, but dont expect this to come within 4 years and atlest 4-5 facelift within this period. By the end of 4 years they would surely have a market winner, but the car would have changed so much even Renault would not recognize it is the same platform that Logan is now..
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Old 17th April 2010, 00:12   #20
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This in my opinion is the death of Logan as a viable brand. Even if Mahindra now reduces the price of the car, nobody except the taxi guys will buy it. Mahindra probably has other designs for the plant - they may end up producing some of their newer vehicles on the Logan assembly line.
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Old 17th April 2010, 00:35   #21
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Knowing Mahindra's product development history (Willys, 550, Armada, Bolero etc), they will be selling the same Logan with minor changes even 50 years from now.
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Old 17th April 2010, 00:40   #22
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Originally Posted by Neur0t0xin View Post
On a lighter note, I see mahindra changing the existing grill with its corporate grill after 18 months.
This was the first thought that came into my mind after reading the news. The photoshop job is very well done and the car does look nicer in mahindra's proprietary grills.
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Old 17th April 2010, 00:42   #23
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The Logan was a good car. I've always been amazed at the way the car stays together after several thousand kilometers (always noticed the Meru cabs in Hyderabad)

Off topic, I think they should now rename the car to Lo-Gone!!
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Old 17th April 2010, 00:44   #24
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It's actually better that M&M has full control. The French are useless anyways - from the Peugeot to the Renault - their Indian customers have been left in the lurch. Given that they were the first major country to roll over to the Nazis and that their contribution to world cuisine has been French fries and frog legs - I say good riddance.
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Old 17th April 2010, 05:14   #25
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Absolutely a great opportunity for M&M. Some face-lift and a full interior change can give it a good place in the market. And yes, they would have to re-name it else people will still know it as a TAXI.
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Old 17th April 2010, 05:17   #26
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Ah! Now our grandkids can own a mahindra logan in 2080, by then it will be the 'Logan Classic'.
I doubt the original designers at Ford of the CJ during WW2 ever thought Indians would be still building these (and aspiring to own them) 70 years later.
Just like Cj, MM540 and the Old Alwyn Nissan cabstar....they will recycle logan over and over again. I bet they got the presses and patents at a dirt cheap price.

I wonder if Renault and Nissan will team up for india...any thoughts?
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Old 17th April 2010, 05:47   #27
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This is a great opportunity for Mahindra though it is a shift from their published goal of being a global UV player. I am not sure why mahindra chose to go solo with logan.

Obviously they don't want to piss off the existing customers with a few planned launches in the (near )future.

Can one expect India's first indigenously (!!??) made 4X4 or AWD sedan or hatch?
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Old 17th April 2010, 08:31   #28
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There have been examples in the past to show that this 1-old-horse concept in India will not work. More importantly, does Mahindra have the expertise to re-design a car ?
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Old 17th April 2010, 09:52   #29
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Quote:
Originally Posted by theMAG View Post
There have been examples in the past to show that this 1-old-horse concept in India will not work. More importantly, does Mahindra have the expertise to re-design a car ?
Are you talking about JVs?
IIRC there have been more failures than success stories with Automobile JVs in India.
  1. Suzuki wouldn't transfer technology to Maruti-Suzuki until it gets full control
  2. PAL-Peugeot - Lesser said the better
  3. HM-Mitsubishi - Both of them aren't interested I guess
  4. Mahindra-Ford - Ford chose to go alone very long ago
Toyota Kirloskar is a success story that I can remember.

I dread to see a Logan with the Bunny tooth Mahindra grill like in the Bolero. I wish they do something proper in the looks dept
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Old 17th April 2010, 10:18   #30
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1) IMHO, Mahindra has made a wrong move by buying out the Renault part in JV. What product do they have right now ? Logan, which in the first place was not competitive since launch. Swift Dzire, Manza are much more modern than Logan. Logan looks old, though has the best ride when compared with Swift Dzire and Manza.

2) What will be replacement of Logan ? Already the car is dated in the market, what will they bring in as replacement ? Once the sales drop down ( IIRC, sales are low currently ), they will have to stop the production. Then what ?

3) Renault it seems is having ego, or selfish or self centered attitude. They have issues with Mahindra regarding Logan, reason is unknown to me ( atleast ). Next, they have issues with Bajaj regarding the small car.
In the first place, Renault is not having courage to step in as as independent subsidy like Hyundai or Honda. Then Renault and Nissan enter various JV. At the end of the day the news about JV in trouble spread.

This is a negative point as both, Renault and Nissan are gathering negative image IMHO.

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Originally Posted by Mpower View Post
Bold move by Mahindra. Lets see if they can work their magic on the Logan now that they have the full freedom.
IMO, even after Mahindra has full control, I doubt if the sales will pick up. The image issue coupled with suspect future of the car will keep customers away.

Quote:
Originally Posted by kiku007 View Post
  1. Suzuki wouldn't transfer technology to Maruti-Suzuki until it gets full control
  2. Mahindra-Ford - Ford chose to go alone very long ago
Toyota Kirloskar is a success story that I can remember.

I dread to see a Logan with the Bunny tooth Mahindra grill like in the Bolero. I wish they do something proper in the looks dept
I remember Suzuki commenting that why Maruti needs to manufacture gearboxes in India. The example Suzuki used was of Nissan. Suzuki said that Nissan used to built 4 million cars in an year, but still it was crushed by competition. Maruti makes 4 lakh cars in an year, so we have to take decisions carefully.

I think that Ford tried to make the break up of JV as less painuful as possible.

Toyota seems to focus on business rather than Ego. 4000+ of Innova and highest sales in Civic segment show that finally Toyota knows how to tackle Indian market.
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