[carboy]

Originally Posted by torquecurve

If the same question was asked to someone about Toyota a few (1980's?) years ago in the US the answer would have been the same. Toyota had to bring in the Lexus brand to make a name for themselves.

The Corolla has excellent sales in the US even in the 70s. That's almost 15 years before the Lexus came. Even the Camry which came before the Lexus was a big seller. And the Lexus brand wasn't 'brought' in - the Lexus brand was created for the US - i.e Lexus sold in the US from the time the brand came into being anywhere in the world.

[teamveevee]

Originally Posted by tj123

Yesterday, I was listening to a Chevy commercial on radio, the offer was take a “Chevy you will love it , if you don’t like it return it”, simple no obligations. Can any car manufacturer in India can offer such a promise ?

You need to read the fine print before accepting such offers. For example, it is mandatory in California to offer the customer the option return a used car to the dealership with in 15 days of purchase, if they are not satisfied. But you need to accept this option at the time of buying by paying a non-refundable $500, so practically no one choose this option. Some time back a company advertised "if you loose your job with in 3 months of purchasing the vehicle, you could return the vehicle to the dealership, no questions asked". But they did not mention, how much money they return back to the buyer. These are more of marketing gimmicks, one should not fall for.

[tj123]

Originally Posted by teamveevee

You need to read the fine print before accepting such offers. ....These are more of marketing gimmicks, one should not fall for.

Well I know these are marketing techniques, generally the dealer offers will have such $ fees but this one was directly from GM. There was no extra free involved as I know one of my friend bought that time and he is happy with it.

GM has coined the deal “Love It Or Return It.” Anyone who purchases a 2012 or 2013 model year Chevrolet will have the option of returning it, within 30-60 days, completely free of charge. The vehicle must have fewer than 4,000 miles driven and no damage.

[Skyline GT-R]

JLR itself sources engines (gearboxes also?) from Ford. So what apart from expensive leather, aluminium grilles & electronic gadgetry can TATA possibly take from JLR.

All Indian manufacturers lag behind multinational manufacturers mainly because of poor workmanship & passion at plant level & regional/caste based politics at managerial level.

For TATA to setup a base & manufacturing plant with new product line in US will be enormous effort. Current products even if they are assembled in US will not cut it in the highly evolved & consumer centric market.

[rameshnanda]

Originally Posted by tj123

Yesterday, I was listening to a Chevy commercial on radio, the offer was take a “Chevy you will love it , if you don’t like it return it”, simple no obligations. Can any car manufacturer in India can offer such a promise ?

Forget about such promise. I would at least expect them to fix the issues in the car to the satisfaction of consumers after selling. Even this is not done by many manufacturers here.

[blackasta]

Apparently TATA is planning to launch the next gen nano in US - not anytime soon though.

'Ratan Tata, chairman of the parent Tata Group, told the Automotive News that the Nano for the United States would have a bigger engine and more features, and sell for under $10,000.'

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/ta...e-otherstories

[Harbir]

JLR contributes 90% of tata motors profits. You think tata is going to take any R&D capacity away from Tata to develop indicas and indigos and safaris and arias? not a damn chance.

[A M]

Found an article on AOL.
The Nano will be redesigned for US market and will have a price tag below $10000. Here is the link.

Despite that, the head of Tata Group, Ratan Tata, says his company remains intent on bringing an updated sub-$10,000 Nano to the States, and he intends to do so in three years.

While the Indian market gets a bare-bones Nano powered by a two-cylinder, 37-horsepower engine, Tata unsurprisingly says the US version will have a larger engine, power steering and traction control.

"The Smart and the Fiat 500 have high sticker prices, and people buy them because they are small cars," Tata tells Automotive News. "But everyone knows you put a lot of money into it. We hope that the sub-$10,000 car has appeal."

[Harbir]

Originally Posted by Harbir

Indeed. Suzuki cars are doing very badly in the US market. 60% of Suzuki dealers sell less than 5 cars a month. Suzuki sales have been sliding for 7 straight years. It has lost many dealers. Rumors are flying that Suzuki is preparing to pull out of the US market completely (suzuki denies it).

In a market that tough, what hope has Tata?

Well, the news has come that Suzuki America is filing for bankruptcy protection and will cease selling cars in the US.

This should be noted. Tata can't match suzuki in its home market, but expects to compete in the United States, a market that has mauled Suzuki?

[teamveevee]

Originally Posted by Harbir

Well, the news has come that Suzuki America is filing for bankruptcy protection and will cease selling cars in the US.

http://www.latimes.com/business/auto...0,488732.story

Suzuki said that its “automotive division was facing a number of serious challenges,” including the low sales volume, a dearth of models, the unfavorable exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the Japanese yen, the cost of the maintaining a dealership network and the regulatory environment for the automotive industry in the U.S.

Analysts said the company had trouble competing in the U.S.

“I don't think it's a big surprise given their lackluster sales performance of recent years. They have have low margin, low-priced cars with small volume. That's far from the ideal combination,” said Jessica Caldwell, an analyst with auto information company Edmunds.com.
“Over the long term it's hard to sustain a brand on such little volume when you don't have a healthy margin like exotic or specialty brands,” Caldwell said.

What Suzuki cannot do with many models, Tata wish to do with one model (Nano). May be Nano comes under exotic or Speciality brands category.

[Harbir]

The nano is generally regarded by mainstream car buyers in india as little better than a. 4 wheel auto ricksha. You think it's going to win hearts and minds in the US where the the Honda jazz and ford fiesta are bottom rung economy cars?