GM, Ford comeback in India stalls as market share falls

[ne_one]

GM, Ford comeback in India stalls as market share falls
Automotive News
November 10, 2012
by Siddharth Philip

Almost two decades after entering India, here's what General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. have to show for their efforts in Asia's third-largest automobile market: combined market share of about 6.5 percent and falling.

GM's sales in the country have tumbled 17 percent in the past 10 months and Ford's deliveries are off 8.4 percent, according to researcher Intelligence Automotive Asia.

Though the U.S. carmakers say they're optimistic, they face mounting competition from Toyota Motor Corp. and market leader Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., which makes 4 in 10 vehicles sold in India.

The wrong cars priced above rivals' offerings, coupled with poor service, are among the reasons analysts cite for the Americans' lack of progress in a country that's projected to overtake Japan as the world's No. 3 passenger-vehicle market this decade.

While they are stepping up efforts to cater to Indian motorists, the Detroit automakers have yet to show they can reverse their slide toward irrelevance.

Full article at link.

[fakeout]

Wow, Suzuki sells a lot in India. Guess they may be able to make a comeback in the U.S. after all.

[ausrutherford]

Well the Indian market has fallen a little bit as well due to gas prices, so...

They will both see increases in the next few months as Chevy releases the Enjoy (Wuling Hongguang) and Sail and Ford has the EcoSport.

[CheetahDC]

Wow, Suzuki sells a lot in India. Guess they may be able to make a comeback in the U.S. after all.

Suzuki's been one of India's largest markets for a while now. You can thank their extremely affordable cars like the Maruti 800 which was being manufactured from the early 80's until this earlier this year: 2011-indian-maruti-suzuki-800-car-picture.jpg Yes, that's a recent model.

Think of it as India's answer to the Volkswagen Beetle or America's Model T. It's their "peoples' car".

[mchicha]

it takes time

[hunchman]

People from India that emmigrated to Canada won't buy GM or Ford either.

[roy219]

it takes time

But the market share trends suggest there isn't much time for Ford and GM to make their products and services more relevant to the India domestic market.

[TommyRiordan]

Wow,
that's is good news.

[kateean2]

Outstanding thread, thanks all for joining. I'll visit often.