Indian Car Research Articles

Determinants of Brand Equity in Indian CarManufacturing Firms

Brands have become increasingly important components of culture and the economy, now being described as cultural accessories and personal philosophies. Brand Building process is a value addition technique which projects the image of the product, the company and the country at large. To study the problem effectively, car industry is chosen taking into the account the emergence of many new brands of the car product in the recent past. The objective of the study is to describe the measuring Models of Brand Equity applicable to Car Industry. The results of the study show that brand preference and brand loyalty plays an important role in creating brand equity. These components of brand equity must be coherent in their actions so that consistent image of the firm is realized and value by customers. This paper gives an empirical outcome of the determinants of brand Equity with special reference to Indian Car Industry.

Media mix elements affecting brand equity: A study of the Indian passenger car market

Media mix elements affecting brand equity: A study of the Indian passenger car market

Environmentally Conscious Younger Consumers: A Study of Changing Shift in Green Attitude and Behaviour of Indian Car Consumers

World today is facing a number of environmental challenges, rapidly increasing vehicular pollution is one of those. In last few years, total number of passenger cars has touched the sky which is the major source of vehicular pollution in metro cities worldwide. A ray of hope is the movement of environmental concerns from being a fringe issue to becoming a major social and political issue. There is a big role to be played by two segments i.e. the car consumers and the passenger car manufacturers. A growing awareness about the environmental challenges has lead Governments and societies, in many parts of the world, to coerce business organizations into being environmentally more responsive. Extant research suggests that an increasing number of businesses are responding to these challenges by investing in environmentally responsive processes and products. While the role of factors such as regulatory and societal pressure in driving organizations to be environmentally responsive is now well understood, the role of consumers however, is equally noticeable. It is important to understand consumer attitude because consumer attitude can potentially act as the critical missing link that can take organization from their current (largely) reactive stances (in response to regulatory compliance or societal pressures), to the next stage of proactive responsiveness. Regulatory pressures largely act as the push factors, but if environmentally responsive consumerism is a fact, it would be a crucial pull factor for organizations. The present empirical study recorded and measured consumer attitude towards green cars and green driving practices and also examined the consistency between green consumer attitude and green consumer behaviour. This study defines three aspects of consumer’s attitude, those are, Effective, Cognitive and Behavioural response of target consumers. After conducting a pilot study, a research instrument of eleven items was prepared to measure the strength of green attitude and behaviour relationship. The study concludes that young consumers of passenger cars carry a strong positive attitude for green practices and green cars for all three components those are perceptual, emotional and behavioural. Thus the study confirms a consistency in green consumer attitude and consumer behaviour of younger consumers while elder consumers were found to be aware of environmental problems caused by passenger cars thus scoring reasonably good on perceptual scale but less promising scores on emotional and behavioural scales.

The Competition Heats Up - Super Luxury Cars in India

The Four-Wheeler Industry in India has not quite matched up to the performance of its counterparts in other parts of the world. The primary reason for this has been the all-pervasive regulatory atmosphere prevailing till the opening up of the industry in the mid-1990s.The various layers of legislative Acts sheltered the industry from external competition for a long time. Moreover, the industry was considered low-priority as cars were thought of as unaffordable luxury. But now the trend has changed it is expected that by 2030, the Indian car market will be the 3rd largest car market across the globe. The main encouraging factors for the success story of the car market in India are the increase in the opportunity for new investments, the rise in the GDP rate, the growing per capita income, massive population, and high ownership capacity.Luxury is all set for an unprecedented flourish here as the Indian consumer has overcome the guilt pangs associated for ages with indulgence. The size of the luxury market in India is estimated at around $ 3.5 billion, and what’s best, given the right momentum, it could easily leapfrog to $30 billion by 2015. The Top 10 Super Luxury Cars in India are Mercedes Maybach, Bentley Azure, Rolls Royce Phantom, Lamborghini Murcielago, Bentley Arnage, Bentley Continental Flying Spur, Porsche 911 GT2, Mercedes-Benz S Class, BMW 7 Series, Audi R8.

Country of Origin Effect on U.S. Consumers’ Brand Personality Perception of Automobiles from China and India

Chinese and Indian car manufacturers are entering developed markets. The question arises how they will be perceived by consumers from those countries. Using the multi‐dimensional brand personality scale, this paper provides an explorative study of the country of origin effect on U.S. consumers’ brand perception of automobiles from China and India. Our multivariate analysis of variance shows differences in terms of brand excitement, brand competence, brand sophistication, and brand ruggedness. Our results indicate that the Chinese car is perceived to be more daring, up‐to‐date, and outdoorsy than the Indian and U.S. car; more intelligent, successful, and upper‐class than the Indian car; and more charming than the U.S. car. The U.S. car is perceived as more successful than the Indian car.

Low Cost Car: An Overview

This article tries to put focus on aspects of low cost car around the world. The car manufacturers are in the race to develop the low cost or ultra cheap cars and TATA with its proposed NANO is at the face of the row. But the trend of low cost car is not new, as it stared with Ford Model-T which put America on wheel. German and French manufacturers ventured Bubble Cars in early 1950's and then BMC comes with MINI. The concept of low cost car differs from country to country on the basis of its price. In a country like India a car of $5400 is considered as low cost car; while in US a car of $15000 is considered as the same. The front runners in this race are India and China. The Indian and Chinese car makers are coming up with various low cost even ultra cheap cars. But every coin has two different sides and so does low cost car. Traffic, pollution, mishap are some dark sides resulted by these cars.

USER'S PERCEPTION ON SMALL CAR SEGMENT: A STUDY WITH REFERENCE TO CHENNAI

The first motorcar on the streets of India was seen in 1898. Mumbai had its first taxicabs in the early 1900. After fifty years, cars were imported to satisfy the domestic demands. From 1910 to 1920, the automobile industry made a humble beginning by setting-up assembly plants in Mumbai, Kolkatta and Chennai. The imported/assembly of vehicles grew consistently after 1920's, crossing 30,000 marks in 1930. In 1954, the decision of the Government marked a turning point in the history of the Indian Car Industry. The Govt. of India instructed what type of vehicle each manufacturer should make. Therefore, each product was safety cocooned in its own segment with no fears of any impending competition. In 1985, after the entry of Maruti Udyog, the Car makers were given a free hand to fix the prices of Cars, thus, effectively abolishing all controls relating to the pricing of the end product. The importance of the small car segment emerges from the fact that it serves the common man, middle class of India. The small car has become the most common and become popular. The main objective of the survey is to evaluate users opinion, and also to identify the overall capability of small cars. A note of caution when interpreting these findings, which are based on perception of and opinion of small car owners.

Decision-Making: A Study of Intending Indian Car Buyer'S Consideration Set in the Small Car Market (Segment B)

The economic liberalization of 1991 turned the Indian economy into a competitive market-place. Every sector of the economy—whether industrial or consumer – was opened up to competition from global players. The Indian passenger car industry also attracted considerable attention both nationally and internationally, particularly in the last decade (post 1993). The industry attracted investment from domestic as well as overseas players. New players, who entered the country after auto sector de-licensing in 1993, created additional capacities and domestic players followed by augmenting their own capacities.

New product performance in emerging markets: two cases from the Indian passenger car industry

In June 1993, the Government of India opened the automobile sector for entry to foreign auto-manufacturers. One of the first foreign entrants was Automobile Peugeot of France, which set up a joint venture in 1994 with Premier Automobiles Limited, a domestic auto assembler, to manufacture and market the Peugeot 309 in India. In the same year, an Indian truck manufacturer, TELCO, embarked on a project to manufacture and market its passenger Indica, without foreign collaboration. Though resource-constrained in several ways, the Indica was a success, while the Peugeot 309 failed. Here we research these two cases to identify the antecedents to new product success in emerging markets. The emergent model from our study suggests that new product success in emergent markets is strongly linked to market selection and product positioning, (which in turn emanate from 'sense and response capabilities') and integrative capabilities (internal and external) that are driven by strategic intent. Resource/capability gaps appear to have only a weak influence.