Let me start with a small clarification – no automobile company knowingly makes, and releases for sale, a bad product. Yes, occasionally, there will be a lemon – but more often than not a lemon, or bad motor vehicle, is a result of individual mistakes and stupidities, not corporate errors. Or, in some cases, a sinking company will try to make a last-ditch effort, which only serves to prolong the inevitable. By and large, a ‘new’ automobile of any sort, even if it were born out of a plain white sheet of paper, is a seamless evolution of the many models preceding it, a close scrutiny of the parts bin, and an attempt to somehow reduce costs while taking things forward with newer technologies – not to mention statutory and mandatory requirements from a host of entities.

Yet, some makes and models will fizzle out within a short time, while other similar products will go ahead and make history. Some vehicles will do amazingly well in one market, and fizzle out like used balloons in other markets – sometimes neighbouring and similar markets. This is especially true in India, where beyond obvious issues like regional preferences, we also have a highly astute buying class that is always out there to look at, and window shop, for everything that’s new – they give nodding assent to so-called experts, but only vote with their cheque-books. So, and this is not a new question, what actually impacts, and sets off, success versus failure vis-a-vis automobiles in India?

The Japanese learnt some of the answers to this question when they first landed in India in the early 80s (before Maruti) with light trucks – DCM Toyota, Mitsubishi Eicher, and Swaraj Mazda. They were taken for a right royal ride to the cleaners by the smaller and cheaper Tata 407. The big lesson they learnt, and one that was put to good use when Maruti came to India, was this – overloading, bad road conditions, and vehicle over-use shall happen.

But that’s not all. Automobiles succeed or fail in India for a variety of other reasons. And most of them are reasons that you’ll never find the automobile industry talking about, leave alone putting forward for discussion, internally or externally, because the problem largely lies in one severe human failing – the unwillingness to introspect, and accept the fact that ‘yes, mistakes were made.’

So here’s a short, but by no means comprehensive, list, based on observations over the last few decades, on why some manufacturers and their automobiles fail in India:

• Arrogance towards the customer – this is probably the single biggest reason why some automobiles fail in India. Certainly, there are many forms of arrogance within all industries, and, for that matter, all aspects of life. But the automobile industry in India has its own version – born out of a mix of colonial monopolistic attitudes and historical technological superiority. Both reasons that simply do not have a spare tyre to stand on nowadays, since monopolies based on country of origin are now extinct almost everywhere in the world – even in the darkest corners of Africa; and technological equivalence is accessed by a short keyboard stroke on the internet – in as many languages as you can think of.
  
  To give you an example – the automobile market in Africa was historically dominated by the country from Europe which ruled that particular colony. This went on even after those countries gained independence, till the Japanese and Koreans – and now to some extent the Indians – landed up. Likewise, Australia, all of it, was totally dominated by British automobiles. A lot of this changed, but the attitudes by the established manufacturers didn’t.
  
  Within India, too, there was an arrogance of monopolies. This continued till 1998 for cars, when Hyundai, with the Santro, suddenly shook the existing cartel of 3 manufacturers, effectively destroying 2/3rds of the competition and forcing the 3rd to shake up its ideas. The same happened with 2-wheelers a few years ago, when Honda, with its eminently successful 100cc motorcycle, shook off the competition, which was promising the moon from other parts of the world, and concentrated simply on fuel economy without pretending to provide anything else – basic reliability being a given of course.
  
  This arrogance, incidentally, has a down-stream effect which makes things worse. In India, you and your employees, dealers, vendors, and others, simply cannot tell customers that your product is better simply because it hails from such-and-such heritage. We Indians will not accept something like that – ever, even if it be true.
  
• Bringing in obsolete products – large segments of the perception building user groups within Indian automobile buyers are exposed to the latest in automobiles abroad. Whether in nearby Persian Gulf countries, or in the developed world, the fact remains that they’ve seen it all. In addition, they have family and friends who use the latest – in everything. So a manufacturer who tries to bring in an older vehicle, or an engine which has seen its prime, will be caught out before the first road test review hits the stands – regardless of how many motoring journalists are taken for paid holidays.
  
  In addition, very often, dealers, and therefore regular buyers, get to know more about the actual story beneath the hood and under the chassis before anybody else, certainly before the media. The fastest on the draw are the fleet operators – they are way ahead of the media, and others, when it comes to new launches. If you launch anything in India, even if it’s a cheap, disposable vehicle, it has to be the newest and the latest.
  
• Endorsements are as fake as the smiles behind them. For a nation brought up on fairy tales with morals to them, we already know that the bespoke cricketer or film star actually uses another car – usually bigger, better, and costlier. So endorsements are, from day-one, not taken seriously. As a matter of fact, the funnier the endorsement, the more it will work.
  
  Many in the motoring media will recall Sunil Shetty’s endorsement of the ‘new’ Ford Endeavour, when he started talking about his Hummer instead. Likewise, Shahrukh Khan’s Santro ads or Sachin Tendulkar’s signature Fiat Palio’s did nothing for the vehicles – one continues to be a great car, and the other did a somersault.
  
  Also, a true anecdote – one of India’s largest automobile component suppliers was sponsoring the Cricket World Cup a few years ago, with branding on cricketer bats and other gear. All went well, till one day, at a cricket ground in England, they were asked – fine, we know you’re sponsoring cricket, thank you very much, but what does your company really do in India?
  
• A true concern for the customer is sustained support – not just before, or at the time of purchase, but till much after that. Which also means, very simply, not just invites to events and parties, but whether the manufacturer is going to make provisions to provide spare parts at reasonable prices for not just the first few years, but also till the vehicle moves on to the next owners. And since older vehicles in India tend to move to non-urban parts of the country, it becomes increasingly important for a manufacturer to be able to convince a buyer that it will be around for at least 15 years, and not just in larger cities – which is something that, amazingly, none of the newer manufacturers in India even attempt to address. While Maruti and Tata will, for example, actively assist owners of their older vehicles in sourcing hard to locate spare parts (for instance: an old Grand Vitara windscreen by Maruti – not only did they find and ship one out, but they also helped locate an elderly mechanic who had worked on those cars), the others won’t do that for vehicles older than a few years. And the industry bodies, as well as government authorities, will not prescribe any definitive binding on manufacturers to ensure supply of spare parts, as is done in other countries to protect customers, usually 15-25 years after purchase. Some of the better vehicles that were launched in India flopped for this very reason.
  
  There are many other reasons, but, as you will observe, most have to do with variations on the all-important theme of the buyer-seller relationship. So, as a buyer, this needs to be the litmus test carried out by you yourself – what do you think about the reasons outlined above, and how many more can you think of, on why good vehicles often flop in India?

Veeresh Malik
malik@autox.in

• Take an appointment, usually for a time and date not suited to your convenience, since all the good slots are normally already booked
• Land up at the appointed time, and your first interaction is with a security guard – the less said about this the better, especially if you’re a woman
• Hand your vehicle over to some junior functionary, hope for the best, and watch loud television along with others in a waiting room
• Receive your vehicle with no idea of what was really done, with a huge bill, and a dissatisfied feeling since you leave with few options to alter the experience to better suit you