When Tata first took over Jaguar Land Rover, we could have sworn that Tata Motors would be smart enough to begin local assembly of their luxury cars, however it has been 3 years now and still we have only now just received word that the plan is in starting phase. And now Mahindra, after taking over Korean manufacturer Ssanyong, are also thinking of bringing in local assembly of their cars. Finally Indian manufacturers are getting the picture. Ssangyong will become an integral part of Mahindra when they launch their assembly plant in the country and begin local production of their cars. This will also significantly help Mahindra with their R&D as we have already seen glimpses of this with the XUV500. Apparently $1.2 billion will be spent in the next three years to develop their plans into full swing. The low cost manufacturing of their vehicle might change the entire game in India as Ssanyong is known to make quality SUVs and other vehicles. Rumours are also abound that the two companies are working on a compact SUV which would have a price range of around Rs 4 lakh. Now that’s what we like and that’s what we should expect when Indian manufacturers take over foreign talent. We hope other manufacturers are taking notes.
A compact and affordable SUV suitable to the Indian road conditions and Indian families is long overdue . The vehicle should have the capability of going anywhere in INDIA without having its bottom scraped by bad roads and should have decent space without being too huge so that it can be driven with ease in the cities as well.
I have yet to see such a car on the Indian roads and hope that some of the Indian car manufacturing giants take note of this missing segment before the foreign manufacturers who also have the ability to spring up surprises.
Mr. Ratan N. Tata is slow in decision making, compared to Mr. Anand Mahindra. I see clearly Mr. Tata would sweat after India made Ssangyong vehicles are launched in India. I worked with Tata Motors for about 25 years. God bless Mr. Ratan N. Tata.
It’s only a matter of time M&M overtakes Tata Motors as no 1 home grown OEM. Tata’s volumes are high as they make small hatch backs like Indica , vista & Indigo & Manza sedan. But in UV segments in which it competes with M&M it is lagging considerably. For ex. Bolero vs Sumo, Xylo vs Grande & XUV vs ARIA. Mahindra is a clear winner in terms of styling, build quality. I was a part of XUV program. It’s high time Tata realizes & pull up its socks