After Suzuki's venture in India, it was Mitsubishi to make a big investment from Japan. This story is more than a decade old now. After a tie-up with the legendry Hindustan Motors, they set up a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility near chennai and rolled out the Lancer. Lancer was a decent performer when there was competition only from Honda City in the executive sedan segment. Pajero was also available as a premium range UV. The company capitalised on the sales and distribution network of HM along with the service backup.
Then the market started attracting many other car makers and the brand lost its plot. Mitsubishi failed to do what Maruti Suzuki did. Lancer was not attractive anymore after Vernas, Corrolas, Octavias and Citys. Cedia, which the company thought will be a revival, also failed to deliver. Even in the UV segment Mitsubishi launched the Outlander recently. Its the same segment in which Toyota Fortuner is operating with similar offerings and price. When Fortuner was able to attract the expected sales of six months in the first month, Outlander is still considered to be a back runner in the race.
Where did Mitsubishi miss the game? After setting a strong foot in terms of infrastructure and the right product, the company failed to understand the changing consumer needs. The company failed to create the share of mind resulting in the loss of wallet share. Strategically the company could have come out of the tie-up after the initial success where the brand would have been perceived better altogether. As the saying goes "Its better late than never", Mitsubishi should revive the brand and re-position itself to get into the consideration set.
Then the market started attracting many other car makers and the brand lost its plot. Mitsubishi failed to do what Maruti Suzuki did. Lancer was not attractive anymore after Vernas, Corrolas, Octavias and Citys. Cedia, which the company thought will be a revival, also failed to deliver. Even in the UV segment Mitsubishi launched the Outlander recently. Its the same segment in which Toyota Fortuner is operating with similar offerings and price. When Fortuner was able to attract the expected sales of six months in the first month, Outlander is still considered to be a back runner in the race.
Where did Mitsubishi miss the game? After setting a strong foot in terms of infrastructure and the right product, the company failed to understand the changing consumer needs. The company failed to create the share of mind resulting in the loss of wallet share. Strategically the company could have come out of the tie-up after the initial success where the brand would have been perceived better altogether. As the saying goes "Its better late than never", Mitsubishi should revive the brand and re-position itself to get into the consideration set.
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