When I wrote my thesis, back in 1985 ( on "Third World Multinationals"), I was in Athens and went to interview one Mr Kouniakis, who was the boss of Mahindra Hellenic, a struggling joint venture (the only officialy permissible form of Indian direct investment abroad in those days) with M&M. It's funny to see that the parameters have hardly changed since then.
Another anecdote. A few years later, just (almost) out of the plane from Calcutta (as it was called then), where I had been toured around by Dipankar 'Arsenic' Chakraborty in his little red Maruti (quite a sight in the natural biotope of the Ambie), I was picked up from the airport in Nice (France) by my aunt in a little red car which looked familiar. Before I had time to think about it, she burst out in enthusiastic banter about how glad she was "wize may byautifull littel MAARROUTEEE" ... (needless to say their other car was a Mercedes ;-) cheerio, patrizio & Diiiinoooos! Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2005 16:54:44 -0700 (PDT) > From: Marlon Menezes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: [Goanet]Fusion Energy and ITER (...) > > India actually exports far larger volumes of vehicles > than China. It exported over 100K cars last year and > should export over 140K this year. The biggest > exporters are Hyundai, followed by Maruti, Tata, Ford > and Mahindra. Amongst these companies, only Tata and > Mahindra can be considered to be genuinely home grown > manufacturers. While their products may be considered > crude relative to what the world has to offer, this is > more by design rather than ability. Tata and Mahindra > have invested in engineering capability that is world > class, but their products have been designed to meet > the needs (i.e. budget) of the Indian consumer. The > current obsession with Tata is to produce a 1 lakh > car. Ratan Tata, the head of Tata Motors envisions > this car being India's equivalent to America's Model > T. It remains to be seen if Tata can deliver such a > product. > > The success of the low cost manufacturers in India > will not necessarily translate to export success > abroad. Indian products have had some success in > Africa and those parts of the world that are price > sensitive. However, these markets are relatively > small. Conversely, they have failed to make much of an > impact in richer markets such as in Europe and do not > exist in America. Tata has been selling cars in the UK > for about a decade with limited success. These markets > demand higher spec. and higher performance products > (at a higher price point of course)which do not > completely mesh with the market needs of the Indian > market. In contrast, the foreign based manufacturers > (Hyundai and Suzuki/Maruti) which already have > established themselves in foreign markets and have > broad product lines are using India as a regional hub > for exports to parts of Asia, Europe and the Middle > east. In the short run therefore, companies like > Hyundai and Suzuki will continue to be India's primary > exporters. In the longer term, it is possible that > Tata could become a major world player. > >
