Mercedes-Benz had a very interesting ‘launch function’ for two more variants of their cars in Delhi. In this case, the SL-350 and GL-500, a huge sedan and an SUV (sports utility vehicle), respectively—with a price tag of around Rs1 crore. So did Audi, with the new A7 sedan, as well as a couple of new variants of existing cars like the A8. BMW is expected to do the same soon with some of their biggies. Jaguar, meanwhile, continues with ‘soft launches’ of its new, big expensive cars. In all cases, there seems to be a new approach—appeal to the aspirational but undefined word called ‘luxury’—which has been the subject of more than one discussion here previously.
But, this time, Mercedes-Benz is trying something different. Their new man in India, Peter Honegg (MD & CEO), has openly declared that it wants to be seen as something other than a car for elderly people, and hopes to attract younger people with their re-jigged and refreshed variants. How they will be all things to all people, especially when sales are still in the hundreds per month on a national basis, is unknown. One thing is certain, anybody who is anybody, and is about to go to jail for corruption, is often spotted heading there in a luxury car—like Suresh Kalmadi did in an Audi. Now, whether that is aspirational or not has not been declared as yet, but it just might make a new format for advertising campaigns, or fit into the concept of free advertising.
But here’s one aspect they may have got wrong—more and more elderly people appear to be going in for cars and bikes that make them appear younger, at least in their own minds. If sales data for those who are buying super-bikes is to be believed, then it is the 40+ category of wealthy people who seem to be going in more for these symbols of youth than younger people. This pretty much leaves the younger lot trying to figure out what to buy if they don’t want to appear to be part of the older set.
This is a bit tricky. Not so long ago, things were so simple—there was a waiting list for everything, and Mercedes-Benz had a monopoly. Those mindsets are hard to break, it seems, despite new bosses.
Auto thefts: Impounded stolen cars give them a miss: It now seems that monopolies, even in stolen cars, are also coming adrift. Internecine warfare is fine, but it seems to have gone over the top. Reportage on the subject is problematic—this whole matter about stolen imported cars being seized by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), was written about in Moneylife (13 January 2011, “Numbers Game”). As of now, the jury is out on whether there are 30-40 cars or around 300-400 vehicles, but we do know that about four dozen have already been seized and the rest are being ‘investigated’. No brand exempted, it seems. The number of motorcycles is also supposed to be high.
In addition, unconfirmed reports point to some of these stolen cars being used without registration plates or with dummy plates on television shows as well as in movies, in India and abroad. There is also talk about the direct involvement of at least one popular actress who has strong relationships in, and with, England. But, despite being debugged by the best, it appears that many of these stolen cars have reportedly been fitted with tracking and bugging devices which went undetected, because of which locating their geographical positions was not difficult. But once found, getting them back to the genuine owners or recovery agents is difficult due to the vast variety of laws which have been broken. These include simple grand auto theft, international trading in stolen goods to counterfeiting documents and evading duties, as well as operating them under fake documents.
So, if you bought a luxury car which was not really kosher, then just hiding it won’t be enough—chances are that the car (or bike) is constantly talking to an eye in the sky somewhere. And, more than that, repeating everything you may have said inside that car, too. This author has heard of a few cases where such luxury cars have simply been dismantled and there are now a whole lot of spare parts available for potential buyers.
Spare parts shortage: If it’s broke,you can’t fix it: On the subject of spare parts, it seems Ford has learnt from its past travails in India, and has really brought down the price of most of its fast-moving spare parts. On the other hand Maruti, which at one time scored high with its reasonable Maruti genuine parts (MGP) programme, seems to have botched things up due to royalty issues. Strange are the ways of automobile companies, especially when they usually refuse to comment on such subjects, leaving people like us with no option but to head to shops to ask around.
There is a theory doing the rounds on this—all three top automobile players in India make more cars in India than they do anywhere else, and that’s Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and Hyundai. The global leaders, on the other hand, and that’s Toyota, General Motors (GM) and Ford—are (to be polite)—amongst the also-rans in India. Especially Toyota which, for the past few decades, has only been making excuses on why it continues to find brilliance in bringing up the rear in India. Honda, of course, is in a league of its own with a brand and product value in India that defies logic.
Now, both Ford and GM seem to be getting ahead in numbers, while Toyota has, once again, found a reason—the unfortunate tsunami in Japan has curtailed the delivery of critical components. This has, for some reason, convinced the boffins at Maruti Suzuki that the great Indian desire for a Japanese brand will transfer to them automatically.
Will that happen? A few points—Maruti Suzuki is now considered an Indian brand in India, especially after it emerged from being a government-run joint-venture company. So there is nothing ‘automatic’ about an intra-Japanese shift of loyalties. But, more than that, Hyundai is coming in with a huge range of new models across all price points—and, if street buzz is to be believed, is launching its own spare parts price wars—as it builds up a decent number of used cars in India, it will have to do that, to keep resale values going.
So, here’s the buying tip for this summer—check out where your manufacturer is headed with spare parts prices, especially as popular perceptions are metamorphosing.
Veeresh Malik started and sold a couple of companies, is now back to his first love—writing. He is also involved actively in helping small and midsize family-run businesses re-invent themselves.