GM/Ford Falling Getting Their Butt Kicked in India

Robert Farago
by Robert Farago

Brook from team-bhp.com sent us this heads-up re: the “other” burgeoning automobile market: India. “ Here’s a list of the Top 20 selling cars in India. Ford doesn’t have one car in the top twenty. Chevy has one, thanks to a rebadged Daewoo called the Spark. Suzuki (Maruti) and Hyundai are the clear leaders. Tata could have done better if only the unfortunately named Indica Vista wasn’t so conservative. Most people confuse it with the older first generation Indica. Tata Nano volumes will pick up, but Jag and Landie’s owners barely make any money selling the car itself. Honda’s hawking overpriced (and poorly equipped) cars with terrible after sales service as ‘bonus,’ and Hyundai are stealing their lunch.” So now you know.

Robert Farago
Robert Farago

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  • Telegraph Road Telegraph Road on Oct 07, 2009

    Ford India September sales jumped 49.8% from a year earlier. Hopefully they'll get their "butt kicked" again in October. http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/ford-india-september-sales-jumps-4980-per-cent/74825/on

  • Ronnie Schreiber Ronnie Schreiber on Oct 07, 2009

    Though the current sales figures don't show it, GM isn't badly positioned in India. They opened up their second Indian assembly plant in '08 and currently have a capacity of about 250,000 cars annually. They're restricted a bit by a small dealer network, only about 100 stores. As someone already pointed out, Ford's a bit late to the party.

  • KGrGunMan KGrGunMan on Oct 07, 2009

    The biggest problem with the tata indica is that it makes you feel slowed down, the drivers get a 'couchlock' from driving it and never really get where they're going, to correct this i think they should change the name of it's replacement to the sativa then the car will have more pep and energy resaulting in a faster feeling car.

  • Faygo Faygo on Oct 08, 2009

    @rnc : Ford just released a new car (the figo, based on the Euro C platform)...Ford’s new factory is one of the most advanced in the world and will be used to build export “C” derivitives. the Figo is a B, not a C. exporting outside of India would only make sense if it were to other emerging markets, the Figo is (like Nano, Indica, Marutis, etc) designed down to the Indian market & would not translate very well except as a very bottom of the market option, something which there isn't a huge market for in the more developed markets. Spending resources expanding in BRIC countries is better use of money for long term growth than spending in mature markets. mature markets don't grow much (or they collapse as they have in the past year). expanding market go from explosive growth to merely healthy growth.

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