Indian Auto Industry - Branding Anyone?

4:40 AM

(1) Comments


Why does the Indian auto industry still stay largely undifferentiated? Whatever little differentiation exists, exists only at the category level.

It’s really curious why car-makers are so reluctant to take a strong positioning on one attribute – I am performance, I am safety, I am comfort, I am technology, I am esteem, instead most seem to be rather comfortable with a general positioning – I am a little bit of everything.

Most brands do carry out a few sporadic campaigns to communicate a particular benefit, Toyota did a few commercials about space for qualis and innova, so did Getz (or was it U-va?), Honda city did comfort for a short while and there are many examples like this, but a coherent long term strategy which seeks to establish one brand on one attribute has been completely missing from this industry. In every segment it is the value offering that just about packs up a little of bit everything that is the market leader.

Ford’s ‘Josh’ machine campaign is probably the only one which has really left a lasting impression that it is a performance oriented vehicle. Sadly later variants of the product hardly lived up to this promise.

So I wonder why this is so, is it because the average consumer is yet to evolve in India? Because buying a car in itself is the dream, not buying a fast car or a really safe car? So these consumers actually want their cars to be a little bit of everything? Is it because the market is yet to mature to a level where manufacturers can profitably seek to customize their products for separate niches?

Even then, this is a huge opportunity for manufacturers. I can’t think of any other industry where every possible positioning plank is…well..BLANK.

Amit Budhiraja

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1 Response to "Indian Auto Industry - Branding Anyone?"

Abhsihek Bhattacharya said :
March 22, 2009 at 9:29 PM
Amit ...The only reasoning for automobile companies not going for differentiating is the Indian consumer mindset ... Two wheelers still hodl a dominant position due to many factors liike cost ,condition of roads etc...only in the last decade we have see a proliferation of different variants of car models and companies ,because of one important premise and that of easy CAR LOANS from Banks ....I still feel there is a long way to go wherin companies can DIFFERNTIATE because everyone wants to have a chunk of the pie .... with the TATA NONO rolling out today with the great positioning of "PEOPLE'S CAR" i am damn sure that companies will again postpone there decision to difrentaite and limit themselves to a particular target segment in the DEFLATIONARY times where people are curbing their BUYING APETITE......

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