CBR 250 from Honda

Is this The Blue Oval's Blue Ocean Strategy ?

2010, has been a remarkable year in the history of Indian Automobile Industry. This is the year that witnessed many global giants setting up plants in India and launch India specific products and making India the export hub for these products. A couple of years back, if a customer wants to buy a hatchback, there were hardly a handful of brands dominated by Maruti, TATA and Hyundai. Today, we have Chevrolet, Volkswagen, Ford, Nissan, Toyota and many more to come all lined up with their offers. 

But how many of these manufacturers actually manage to capture a share of their pie. Clearly Ford with Figo is the only manufacturer to have done that in style. 

50,000 units between March 10 to October 10, 2nd fastest model to achieve 50,000 units in India, overtook Tata Indica to the 5th spot in vehicle sales during the month of October 10, 3 digit growth rates for Ford India.... These data should be sufficient to judge the success of Figo amongst the models that came in 2010. 

The major problem Ford earlier had was, the brand always had a perception of high ownership cost. Other than Ikon, to a considerable extent and Fiesta, to a small extent, Ford never tasted success in India. How did Figo manage to achieve this whilst competition? 

While many others did brand building exercises before their launch, Ford kept quiet and let their product speak. The product exactly was in line with the customer expectations from a hatch, thanks to the decade old presence in India. The car was fully loaded at a price which was at par with the base variants of other models.  In a market where Value for Money is top priority, this is the key factor that was addressed. Along with the already existing dealer network, Ford also added new dealers to strengthen the sales and service network. 

Rather than fighting with existing players and fellow new comers, Ford devised its own plan and created an own market for itself. This is evident as the market share or the sales figures of Maruti, Tata or Hyundai did not get affected. Eliminating its earlier problems with the brand, Figo gained confidence of the customers.

Going in-line with the Blue Ocean Strategy, though not complete, Ford had also made the competition irrelevant and had created value innovation with the Figo. 

The success of Figo has once again proved that, in India a failure once never means the brand can't bounce back to winning ways. Also Indians have a welcoming heart that actually means value for them.

Old Habits, Die Hard...

2 years back, when i asked my father 'should we buy a car?', he said yes

When I was listing down the models that fitted my preference, his choice was an Ambassador. According to him, this is one car, which is rugged for Indian roads, offers huge space for 5 or even 6, good mileage and more importantly rooftop loading in addition to the huge boot.

Though I laughed at his choice at that moment, none of these were nonsense till mid 90s. Till the Sumos and Scorpios came, Amby was the vehicle from politicians to celebrities & heros to villains.

Though there were technical updates, the brand failed to update itself according to the changing needs and demands of a car buyer. But how did the customer get these needs all of a sudden? The industry opened up and better cars from Japan, America and Europe gave Amby a tough battle. So did it loose the battle?

I would say NO.

But how?

The company had an approx market share of 0.77% in FY 2009 selling around 11,000 units. With Indian Auto sector at its highest growth rate, is this a great number? It is not.

For a car, whose production started a huge 52 years back, no major changes done other than engine updates and few cosmetic changes, still selling 11,000 units is not a bad deal. But the major buyers are some people like my father, who still relish the brand and some institutions through special orders and prices.

All of a sudden, there is a buzz in market and social networks, that HM is planning to revive the brand. Though no great design or technical updates are expected, I would still like to see the brand along with the likes of Germans, Americans and Japanese.