[blackwasp]

Came across this review on Jalopnik. Paints an interesting picture on the entry level car scene in USA + the reviewer as well. I would think the used car marked would be the first place to go for a new car owner in USA, but it appears there is a market for cheap cars. Frankly, at this price point, it appears that as long as there are 4 wheels, roof, an AC and 4 seats, the target audience would be happy. Could this be a business opportunity for perhaps Maruti / Hyundai to launch cars like the Santro, i10, Ignis etc. in the US market?

At this moment, I think the cheapest new car you can buy in America is the Chevrolet Spark, which in its manual shift, LS trim level starts at $14,395. By U.S. market standards, it’s a hell of a deal. But I just drove a car that sells for about $10,000 less than that new, and in comparison to what you get with the Spark at more than three times the cost, this incredibly cheap little machine seems pretty damn amazing. The car is a Renault Kwid, and like it or not, I’m going to tell you about it.

Normally, you can’t find these in America. But recently I happened to be in a place where most of the normal automotive rules of America don’t always apply: Detroit, specifically at Munro & Associates, the company that all the major carmakers go to when they want to know just how their competitors are building cars.

Munro happened to have one of these Indian-market little hatchbacks sitting around, and because I’m an absolute sucker for small cars from developing markets, I had to check it out. They let me take it for a little 20-minute or so drive around, so consider this a sort of mini-review, just enough to get a little taste and feel.

The Kwid I drove was a 2018 model; there’s a new facelifted one available, but the prices still range from around $4,000 for the base model (manual transmission, 0.8-liter engine) to over $6,000.

Source

So? What’s your takeaway from your little drive, bigshot?

Honestly? This car is amazing. Maybe not amazing in a vacuum of information, but absolutely amazing in the context that this is a $6,000 car. With that number in mind, it’s so good.

You could drive one of these around as your daily commuter and grocery-apprehender, and you’d be just fine.

Of course, I’m sure all of you are thinking that, yeah, it’s cheap because it’s a deathtrap, and compared with most American market cars, that’s likely true. It has only a driver airbag, and the versions sold in Southeast Asian countries and India didn’t do great on crash tests.

[V.Narayan]

Very good question. Can Made in India cars have a market in USA?

To answer that let's check if Made in India software, steel, airframe structures, machinery, fertilizers can find a market in USA. And the answer is a firm yes. Same for cars. If and when we put our minds to it we don't lack in quality. If and when! Our exports to USA stood at $58.7 bn in 2018. After diamonds & precious stones, electrical and mechanical machinery is the next largest item.

In 1982 when I bought my first scooter it was worse than impossible to think that India would one day design its own cars, design its own electric scooters and be exporting cars in the hundreds of thousands. In those days we were grateful to get an out of turn allocation for a Premier costing Rs 85,000 {like Rs 8.50 lakhs today}!!! That we would be the 4th or 5th largest auto market did not even feature in pipe dreams. And yet here we are a mere 38 years later. Onwards and upwards, I say.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Can Made in India cars have a market in USA?

Same for cars. If and when we put our minds to it we don't lack in quality.

Will have to differ a bit Sir. If we mean, can Make in India cars be sold in USA, Yes but if we mean, can an Indian company like Tata or Mahindra can design and sell the cars in USA, it will be tough and we are still away. Most Korean companies do export from India and so does few Japanese and American companies like FORD & Jeep export.

Mahindra tried but failed and are now into non-road use vehicles, Tata probably had exported in past to Europe using FIAT dealerships and am not aware about current models. But, we need to improve a lot before we can export our local designed cars.

That we would be the 4th or 5th largest auto market did not even feature in pipe dreams.

We are at number Four currently but isn't this based on number of cars sold if I am not mistaken. Am curious to know/ get corrected where do we stand on value? The average price of a new car purchased in the U.S. should be over 35000 US$ whereas for us it will be around 12,000 USD that too with at least 30% taxes.

[Sutripta]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

To answer that let's check if Made in India software, steel, airframe structures, machinery, fertilizers can find a market in USA. And the answer is a firm yes. Same for cars.

Beg to differ. A firm No, but with qualifiers.

If you mean a car produced by a MNC which already sells cars in the US, decides to sell a model in the US which happens to be made in India, yes. In which case it is not so much 'made in India' as 'made by xyz'.

A car made for India primarily, by a company whose focus is the Indian market - no. Even if they go the commodity pricing way, might pick up some initial sales in a ignored by the big boys niche, but will not last once initial demand is met.

Making (ie all that goes into manufacturing) a car properly for sustained sales success in a mature market requires a level of competence and expertise in multiple fields which is still missing here.

Sutripta

[SmartCat]

Looks like niche vehicles like Roxor have lot of takers - most customers are aware of its origins (India). And Royal Enfield is growing at 50% pa in North America. Their dealer network is not too shabby either:



Website:
https://www.royalenfield.com/us/en/home/

Covid-19 can't stop Royal Enfield's US momentum
https://www.motorcyclepowersportsnew...-u-s-momentum/

We’re seeing about 500 to 1,000 new leads come through every week.

The Himalayan. Since we introduced the Himalayan in 2018, it’s been consistently our top seller

The Twins are doing great! The INT650 seems to be the Twin that more people are gravitating towards, up until we started this lead generation campaign.

We get more requests for dealers to reach people that are interested in the GT, so hopefully they’ll turn into some sales and the GT will start battling the INT in terms of sales numbers.

[Hispaniola]

Mahindra Roxor, RE Interceptor and Himalayan, Suzuki Jimny(soon?) are some of Indian products that are made here and sell in huge numbers in Australia Europe UK etc...Roxor is such a hit in States. We are fully capable of taking this market but then our models and margins and whole manufacturing goes for a toss if we start manufacturing there, given the high fixed cost(labour+infra). As long as manufacturing here and exporting there works for a company, for sure sustainable business is possible.

[GTO]

Voted for yes, but with caveats.

- A niche vehicle for selective use - Yes. E.g. the Mahindra Roxor and of course, Royal Enfield which is planning to go after USA in a bigger way (link to Bloomberg article).

- An MNC building cars here to USA standards. E.g. Ford did export the EcoSport to USA - news link.

- And so on. Very specific cases.

In all others, I have to say no. E.g. its a pipedream to even imagine Tata, Mahindra, Maruti etc. ever selling volume cars in the USA which is a brutally competitive, unforgiving market with extremely high standards + customer expectations. There is a long list of manufacturers who retreated from USA after trying hard and either exited or are on the verge of (Suzuki, Mitsubishi, Peugeot...). Fiat & even giant VW have struggled in America. VW has been trying with all its might & billions of dollars, but USA remains a small market for them.

[Turbohead]

It depends!

A made for India car?
Our cars are built to a cost and first impressions are extremely important. A cheap car will ruin the brand image badly. Hyundai took years to fix their image in the USA. Fortunately, we've improved a lot ( especially Tata and Mahindra) but it's still a bad strategy. Getting the car ready to meet US regulations itself will be very expensive. Thus the next option is more feasible.

A made for USA car manufactured by Indian manufacturers in India
With the way Tata and Mahindra are going, they could very well penetrate the American market by 2030, especially Mahindra, since they got some electric car experience with Reva along with technological inputs from Formula E (which could be another selling point, if everything works out).

It's a really long term project.

[SandyX]

Roxor and RE are turning heads in the US is in major part due to their legacy. They see Roxor as a continuation of the Willys they lost, and rightfully so. RE sticking to its classic roots is another check for them. In that sense, they are accepted "despite" the Indian part. A simple scroll through comment sections will lay that bare. They simply do not think highly or adequate of Indian engineering, especially precision, machining and metallurgy. And they do so with proof which they did in the case of even Roxor, and chose to look past it because the vehicle spoke for itself.

A Jimny, Mitsu jeep or FJ would pull the same threads for them. It's all very niche in nature. Nothing from Tata would work because they have no claim to any fame like that. Just like Beijing jeep would find minimal takers. They're fully aware of the gap in advancements between the markets. It will take too expensive a climb to make the right impression and pitch any worthwhile products in future.

[anandhsub]

Made in India = Yes

Made for India = No

[greenhorn]

Isn't the US ecosport made in India?

https://www.autoweek.com/news/a16884...ia-be-sold-us/

[Comrade]

Yes, if we take the keyword here as "IN". If this poll asks me about Made-for-India cars, then absolutely No.

[extreme_torque]

Voted no. The often quoted Mahindra Roxor is categorised as a farm vehicle or a side by side and therefore cannot even be legally be driven on public roads. It has occupied a niche in the side by side off road market due to its NA diesel engine, solid axles front and back and towing ability but as a product it is much inferior to the Honda Pioneer or the Polaris Ranger.

RE Himalyan occupies a niche as well, i.e. the old school motorcycling aficionados and the Interceptor twins as well but less so.

Even though India is the 4th largest market for cars, the majority volume comes from cheap small cars, cheap not just in price but cheaply made as well. The recent cars like Tata Harrier and Altroz has given me some hope but again looking at their price, there are much better options at the same price point and much better options from established manufacturers at a cheaper price too! How about a base Hyundai Tuscon which comes pretty loaded in the Indian context for an on-road equivalent price of 14 lakhs in Australia?

The legacy car market is a tough nut to crack, almost impossible, for new comers. We arent even competitive with second rung manufacturers like the Ssanyong's of the world which is why I think Indian government should have gone China way and heavily incentivised both the production and selling of electric cars. Look at where Tesla brand is in a decade. Do you think Tesla would there if it was a legacy maker making good cars? I very much doubt it.

[1.2TSI7DSG]

Voted Not sure.

I believe we have lot of gap to bridge in terms of compliance and recalls. We have horror stories of vehicles clearing homologation complicance but failing in production compliance (pollution in particular). Crash norms are significantly ahead. We don't have a clue of the climate and the very different driving styles in USA. For example the same brakepad life in USA is 1 lakh km + as compared to the indian 40k. Further, it is a high DIY service market. So ensuring "ease of service" is something Indian OEMs have never heard of. Product lifecycles in terms of years is very short 3-4 years against indian OEM 5-6 years.

All this makes us difficult to enter the mass market today. Niche we will do. Possibly when EVs kick in, simpler components higher reliabilityetc will enable us to enter the market.

M&M did do a highly ambitious project W4 platform to specially enter the US market with a budget pickup & an SUV. By the time the product was ready for launch, the norms changed to the next level. M&M did set up a extensive distribution channel etc for which they had to settle the contract termination.

[padmrajravi]

I voted for NO. Assuming the question is about indian manufacturers like Tata and Mahindra selling vehicles in US. In their current state of ability and their notorious quality control processes, I don't see this happening. But I am sure both of them have ambitions.

I sincerely wish they try this. Our manufacturers will learn a thing about quality and reliability if they are exposed to strict consumer protection laws. Atleast a attempt to break into US will lead big improvements in their quality control processes.