[SourabhSuresh]

Mahindra has withdrawn from the mass market segment and will be concentrating on niche products. The good news is that Mahindra has started work on The Jawa brand. The decision has been made due to its falling volumes and cut-throat competition.

Source -
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/bus...t-2376505.html

[vinukm]

Curious to know what are the Niche Products? hope they plan for Peugeot Motorcycles in India.

[OrangeCar]

Yes, consumers of mass market dumped M&M for the more reliable, capable, fuss free Activa's, Jupiter's, Access's, Shine's, Splendor's, Victor's.

Wonder what makes M&M think consumers of niche market will pick up their product however good they are (assuming they will be good!)?

People would head to KTM's, Honda's, Yamaha's in the entry segment of the niche market. And once you move higher up, you have many more brands.

People pick up these brands in the niche market for their product quality and performance and also the legacy with which they come from.

Established players like TVS and Bajaj are struggling and are relying on BMW and KTM/Kawasaki's for their fight in this segment. Why doesn't M&M understand that they do not have the product nor the brand to be playing in the niche market!

Must be attracted to the higher margins in that segment! You ain't getting it M&M - fight hard in the mass market. Else exit 2 wheeler's all together.

[SmartCat]

Wearing my armchair automotive analyst hat, I would say Mahindra made these mistakes with their two wheeler division:

1) Replacing KINETIC brand name with MAHINDRA
2) Oddball model names like Duro, Gusto, Pantero etc
3) No 'wow' looking models to differentiate it from the rest.

[abhishek46]

Originally Posted by smartcat

1) Replacing KINETIC brand name with MAHINDRA
2) Oddball model names like Duro, Gusto, Pantero etc
3) No 'wow' looking models to differentiate it from the rest.

+1.
You missed out on Rodeo, Stallio and Centuro.
Instead of 'Wow', the designer appear to have focused on 'Weird'.

[TorqueyTechie]

Originally Posted by SourabhSuresh

Mahindra has withdrawn from the mass market segment and will be concentrating on niche products. The good news is that Mahindra has started work on The Jawa brand. The decision has been made due to its falling volumes and cut-throat competition.

Source -
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/bus...t-2376505.html

I got confused reading the below quote from the original source.

But its retail presence has not suffered. Sales of Mahindra scooters (Gusto, Rodeo and Duro) and motorcycles (Centuro and Mojo) continue unhindered as per dealers.

Is it that there wont be any new vehicles coming out and the dealers would be asked to clear off the remaining vehicles?

[SourabhSuresh]

Originally Posted by smartcat

Wearing my armchair automotive analyst hat, I would say Mahindra made these mistakes with their two wheeler division:

1) Replacing KINETIC brand name with MAHINDRA
2) Oddball model names like Duro, Gusto, Pantero etc
3) No 'wow' looking models to differentiate it from the rest.

Every automobile company has one product which defines its manufacturer. That product becomes synonymous with the manufacturer and people associate the manufacturer with the product rather than vice-versa. This attention is distributed with other product's of the company and it is then that the manufacturer comes into his own.

Mahindra didn't have any such luck with any of its products which captured the imagination and faith of our mass market. That is where it failed.
Disclaimer — Opinion

[Rotorhead]

The Mojo (supposedly the make or break model for Mahindra ) was a good effort . But people never really could associate with the "Mahindra" name and two wheelers.

To make a mark amongst the big guns like Bajaj, KTM, RE, Suzuki etc. Mahindra needed a much more stronger game plan , right from the product selection, design, branding , marketing to service . Despite many products being launched, it never did manage to catch the imagination of the buyer(.. and yeah the names such as flyte, duro , mojo , pantero...did not help the cause either).

Tried hard with so many products but didn't manage come up with even one product that could create the "wow" factor. They failed to create a flagship product to make the mark for the brand. Look at what Scorpio or XUV has done for them in the four-wheeler market.

[Asish_VK]

I doubt they have a chance to become a niche bike manufacturer! May be using Jawa brand can.

Who knows , they have pulled a master stroke with XUV when everyone thought mahindra can't sell a 20Lakh XUV

Originally Posted by abhishek46

+1.
You missed out on Rodeo, Stallio and Centuro.
Instead of 'Wow', the designer appear to have focused on 'Weird'.

Instead of focusing on 'wow' they focused on "O" (on all their product names)

[anjan_c2007]

Its a good riddance. Why did they at all meddle with this segment, when they were not able to deliver proper products to cater to the mass market ?

Their scooters had very few takers and I believe most buyers of scooters like Duro DZ,Gusto 110/125, Rodeo UZO chose to buy one seeing the Mahindra brand name or when they found deliveries of other best selling ones a bit delayed, due to waiting lists. The Activa till a few years ago had waiting lists of a few months in many cities/towns.

And the bikes like Centuro XT/ NXT/ Centuro Rockstar and the Mojo have sold in the hundreds, when the corresponding sales of other mass market popular bikes from reputed manufacturers are catapulting them into the top league of international two wheeler sales.

Perhaps after Mojo, a new model Mojo Jojo (after the genius chimpanzee, mad scientist of Powerpuff Girls fame) could have completed Mahindra's futile pursuit into the two wheeler segment with such crazy products.

Hence, it was anybody's guess that Mahindra should make an exit as such paltry sales cannot sustain any manufacturer on a long term basis.

Their decision to acquire the Pithampur two wheeler plant from Kinetic was though not a bad decision given the fact that they now have a controlling stakes in Peugeot scooters and Jawa motorcycles.

Hopefully, we will see better two wheelers genre wise, and better sales from Mahindra in the coming years.

[aghate]

It is looks like another GM story to me. 'As there is no one to buy our vehicles we will just bail out.'
I honestly believe that if the Mojo was launched at least 2 years prior to the time when it was actually launched it would have been a success or at least fared better. But half a decade spent in testing was not justified and then no one was interested in it.

Coming back to their mediocre sales in the scooter segment. I myself did not go for their products and purchased Suzuki Access in 2010, the reason was Activa had a huge waiting period. And Suzuki was comparatively a better option. Had it been called Kinetic it would still have sold. As mentioned earlier on this thread, re-branding from Kinetic to Mahindra Two-wheelers did not help. Imagine if Tata had called re-branded JLR as Tata? We would have had Tata Evoque, Tata Range Rover Sport, Tata XFR. It just does not work that way.

[Roy.S]

Originally Posted by Rotorhead

.
.
.
(.. and yeah the names such as flyte, duro , mojo , pantero...did not help the cause either).
.
.
.

Also goes to show that no amount of numerology can help you. At the end of the day your product speaks for itself.
That being said, I do hope they manage to revive the Jawa and make a success of it. I had one for a month a long time ago and really enjoyed it. Hopefully they will also resist the urge to call it Jawo.

[PrasunBannerjee]

The brand Kinetic had far more aspirational value than Mahindra. First or last, but replacing the name Kinetic with it was definitely a nail in the coffin. The legendary Kinetic ZX or more popularly known Kinetic Honda was an epitome of being abuse friendly. I have two folks from different circles, who are still using a Kinetic Honda bought in 80's, both the vehicles are bolted together by brown tapes, yet get the job done! This being followed by style and the awesome Nova and 150cc Blaze (remember, anyone? ) did put the brand strong.

I still remember when the only Kinetic showroom in my town changed to Mahindra two wheelers, a few prospects reported that they didn't go inside since Kinetic has shut down and there's some other showroom in its place.

[abhishek46]

Originally Posted by PrasunBannerjee

The brand Kinetic had far more aspirational value than Mahindra.

Kinetic had some brand pull in the 80s and 90s.
But once Honda went on it's own, Kinetic struggled to remain competitive to the market.
They went speed dating around the world (especially around Italy), however, it was too late by then.
The scooter market itself was on the decline, and whatever was left of the market, was captured by TVS & Honda with their excellent products. (Scooty & Activa respectively).

In today's age, Mahindra as a brand has much better value, as they are an established and popular 4-wheeler manufacturer, whereas Kinetic is virtually defunct, since ages.

[ambujlal]

I hope they don't call Jawa motorcyles as Mahindra Jawa or rename it to Mahindra Jawo and then it will just go!

All the best to them!