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Old 23rd May 2004, 15:31   #1
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Of all the manufacturers in the world, why did MG Rover chose the Tata Indica as the replacement for the Rover Metro??

When MG Rover were presented with a proposal to sell the Indica V2, they recognised that it could have much potential as a new small Rover in the UK and Europe – especially considering the fact that their dealers had been crying out for a replacement for the Metro/100 since it had been killed off in 1997. Although, the Rover 25 had been repositioned to fight in the supermini market, and the entry-level model had been brought down to a 1.1-litre version of the K-Series, buyers did not identify with it as a town car in quite the same way they did the Metro/100. And that was the thing – the Metro/100 may have had many, many faults towards the end of its life, but it still had the advantage of being perfectly sized for those looking for a city car for one. The result was sadly inevitable – when the Rover 100 died, buyers did not turn to the 200 – and the drop in sales for the company between 1997 and 1999 almost coincided with the loss of the company’s small car.

With the Indica, the company saw the opportunity to recreate the Metro, without dipping into vital financial resources. The fact that it was contemporary and stylish was a bonus…

A deal with TATA was quickly reached, and essentially it boiled down to this:

· * MG Rover would adjust the styling without changing any of the body pressings. This would allow bumpers and other body addenda to be re-styled by Peter Stevens' design team.

· * MG Rover would have freedom to adjust the chassis settings in order to tune the Indica to be more suitable for the UK and Europe’s roads.

· * Economics dictated that the car would need to be built in India, and then reverse-imported.

A quick programme to adjust the car better to suit the demands of European buyers was instigated, and the marketing people knuckled down to the unenviable task of deciding just what they were going to call the new car.

Naming it was always going to be difficult, because on one hand, it was always going to be difficult to justify adding the Rover nameplate to a car that was produced so far away from the UK. In the past, Austin Rover may have had similar misgivings over the branding of the Triumph Acclaim and the first generation Rover 200, but they bit the bullet anyway, and success soon followed. The difficulty, however, with the TATA produced car was that it was replacing the Metro/100, and although in latter years it was a fully paid up member of the Rover family, it was still very much known as a “Metro” rather than a “Rover” and was therefore something of a model in its own right.


Read the rest of the story here : Why MG Rover chose the Indica?
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Old 23rd May 2004, 16:23   #2
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to make more loses to ROVER. lol
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Old 23rd May 2004, 21:53   #3
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Well, I heard that CityRover is too pricey..
Definately not going to be the best seller at higher prices..
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Old 24th May 2004, 01:53   #4
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V12,

This is my kind of an article...Thanks for sharing this piece with us.

There are many reasons why the Indica failed to capture a size of the European pie. The most significant:

1. The Indica is too crude, too unrefined and un"finished" for a market as mature as Europe.

2. They got the pricing terribly wrong. Unlike India where the Indica is still a bargain, the way this Rover has been priced in its European markets...its bang in Peugeot, Honda, Hyundai territory. No one is going to pay the same price for an inferior product. If you offer it at a lesser price, the customer will be willing to compromise, but he wont buy it at an identical price as that of superior products.

3. Most Rovers sell on sentiment too...just like so many Americans buy Fords, GM's and Chryslers products out of national reasons. The City Rover isnt british, and sadly for the two companies involved...its a well known fact.

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Old 24th May 2004, 02:33   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by [b
Quote[/b] (GTO @ May 24 2004,00:23)]V12,

This is my kind of an article...Thanks for sharing this piece with us.

There are many reasons why the Indica failed to capture a size of the European pie. The most significant:

1. The Indica is too crude, too unrefined and un"finished" for a market as mature as Europe.

2. They got the pricing terribly wrong. Unlike India where the Indica is still a bargain, the way this Rover has been priced in its European markets...its bang in Peugeot, Honda, Hyundai territory. No one is going to pay the same price for an inferior product. If you offer it at a lesser price, the customer will be willing to compromise, but he wont buy it at an identical price as that of superior products.

3. Most Rovers sell on sentiment too...just like so many Americans buy Fords, GM's and Chryslers products out of national reasons. The City Rover isnt british, and sadly for the two companies involved...its a well known fact.

GTO
Hey GTO.. i totally agree with ya! wat i think is...( i may be wrong)

They replaced it in the place of the METRO... when u replace a car with another car of the same category as the previous car, the new car shud have some elements in common or similar to its old generation!... as for the Metro... and the City Rover... there is totally 2 different cars. ..actually the car would have worked.... cauz ... its a hatchback with loads of space.. but again the refinement,price,fit and finish.... etc .. were not upto the mark!!
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Old 24th May 2004, 07:46   #6
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It was the cheapest option for Rover .And anyway rover isnt doing any well in the recent years .
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Old 24th May 2004, 15:13   #7
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Well V12 and gang...

Costs apart, remember MG rover is quite a new company by any sorts. Sold in 1999 by BMW, it had a good lineup then, but was taken over by a bunch of financiers rather than another car company. So whats really changed in the last 5 years isnt much... the lineup now ageing very fast. Development costs for Rover for a new vehicle are quite high, therfore the plan to buy an existing car-platform.

MG first got into a JV vith Brilliant auto of China only to back of later in the year. In this hunt it finally approached Tata. Tata with its already developed car just needed a few refinement changes before it could be launched in Europe. But now infact the CityRover or Indica is also getting old. Basically a 9 year old design, its too dated even for europe. Let alone UK. And to top it all, the pricing has gone horribly wrong. With the rise of Fiat and the Panda, its got completely marginalized, even Peter Stevens and his design make-up being unable to save it.

With a new Indica on its way in 06-07, Rover will have to wait and continue to struggle with the City Rover....

.... unless, they dollop off a 1000 pounds off the price.

Keep revvin ™
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Old 25th May 2004, 14:21   #8
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the price of rover indica in the uk was 7000+ pounds in jan
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