GM and Ford set to carry the war into India

Mohini Bhatnagar
09 February 2004

After battling it out on home turf for decades, traditional foes, General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. carried their quest for supremacy into the auto markets of the UK, Europe and other developed and rapidly developing countries. Now India looms large on their horizon. GM's global portfolio comprises models like Saab, Chevrolet, Pontiac and Hummer while Ford has its own formidable array of Mustang, Taurus, Escape and Explorer and others in the US and overseas.

In India, an emerging car market compared to the west, Ford has an impressive line up of another kind; three models and nearly ten variants of one models the — Ikon — with probably many more to come in the future. General Motors on the other hand is following its global strategy of introducing a number of models to cover most of the segments.

General Motors India (GMI) now has six models in the Indian market; the Opel Astra, Opel Corsa, Opel Corsa Sail, Opel Vectra, Chevrolet Forester and Chevrolet Optra and is said to be planning the launch of its seventh. This will be a re-launch in India of Daewoo's Matiz, but under a new name , 'Spark', in collaboration with Korea's Daewoo Automotive Technologies. The company will also introduce the multi-utility vehicle (MUV), Tavera based on the Isuzu Panther.
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The latest offering from GMI's stables is the 1.6 litre variant of the Chevrolet Optra, priced at Rs 7.29 lakh and the 1.6LS for Rs 7.89 lakh, (ex-showroom, Delhi). The smaller engine variant of the Optra is positioned in the upper 'C' segment against Maruti Baleno, Honda City and Mitsubishi Lancer.

On the other hand, Ford unlike in the US, has had better success in India with its 'Josh machine' , the Ikon, than GMI has had with its Opel line up of Astra and Corsa. The reason has a lot to do with the drive of the Ikon, which develops a torque of 130 nm at 2500 rpm while the Corsa develops a torque of 126 nm at 3000 rpm, brake horse power at 91 - 92 of both being comparable.

Ford Ikon thus develops a higher torque at the start, which gives it a great pick up while the Corsa and Astra — even though equipped with comparable horse power and engine size — have a comparatively sluggish pick up are somewhat sluggish in comparison

The Indian buyer is known for his fondness for cars with a good pick up. This is evident from the blockbuster success of the Santro Zip Drive (positioned as a car with a fast pick up platform) and the new Honda City . Called the Fit in Japan, Honda City combines the lowest horse power in its category with 77 bhp with a torque of 12.8 kgm at 2700 rpm, again a quick build up of power aided by an excellent fuel economy of over 17 kms to a litre. Obviously, Honda has understood the Indian car buyer's mind.