Does India Rely Too Much on Brand Image?


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Does Branding Affect Our Perception Towards an Automobile?

Q. 1. What are the words that come to mind when someone says "Italian car" ?


A. Red. Ferrari. Sporty. Passion. Design. Flair. Elan. Noise. Red. Fast. Expensive. Giorgetto Giuguiaro. Red. Unreliable. Heritage. Power. Cool. Red......


Q. 2 And what are the words that come to mind when someone says "Japanese car"?


A. Reliable. Light. Affordable. Honda. Technology. Toyota. Small. Best. Grandpa.Toyota......


Swap the badges on the Ritz and the Punto with one another.


So now we have the Maruti Punto and The Fiat Ritz:biggrin:.


And so, the Punto loses it's Italian heritage and becomes a Japanese car.


And the Ritz loses it's Japanese trouble free nature and becomes a hot Italiano Bellissima !


Or does it?


Would we still say that the Maruti Punto looks gorgeous as easily as we now say that the Fiat Punto looks gorgeous? Would we still say that the Maruti Punto has been designed with a lot of passion and flair and that it is the ultimate tool for standing out in a crowded parking lot that is full of Fiat Swifts?


Would we still say that the Fiat Ritz is boring and dull on the inside? Would we say that the read end design in another great triumph by Giugiaro or would we pan it like we pan the Maruti Ritz's rear end?


When one is testing, say, a Ferrari, do some things in the car automatically become good because it is a Ferrari? When one is testing, say, a Vauxhall, do some things in the car automatically become dull because it's a Vauxhall? Would we stop calling an i20 too 'Korean' if it were made by Mercedes Benz?


I agree that a Ferrari has become a Ferrari not as a result of some overnight advertisement campaign but because it has built it's reputation after years and years of building beautiful, fast, cars that can go around a corner faster than 99% of the cars made anywhere in this world. But that's not the point of this discussion.


The point of this discussion is, if Maruti were to make a car that is as good in every respect as the 458 Italia, would we still say "it's a Maruti, so it has no flair."


The Nissan Micra is a reliable Japanese car. The Renault Pulse is a reliable, Japane....., er[confused]??



Do brand attributes affect how we judge a car?
 

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Re: Does Branding Affect Our Perception Towards an Automobile?

Very interesting topic.

Yes, the brand image does affect our perception. No matter how hard Indian companies try, they are never considered equal with their jap counterparts.

Coming to styling as you discussed, that is totally subjective & not dependent on the brand. For example, a maruti swift is stylish, a Ritz is not. A Fiat Punto is stylish, a Fiat Panda is not.

Coming to performance, a Ferrari is always considered to be fast & good in handling. because it is a ferrari. that's the magic of the brand.
 
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Re: Does Branding Affect Our Perception Towards an Automobile?

Hi, very good topic. yes branding also effect buyer decision. fiat cars can do better with maruti badge !
 
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Re: Does Branding Affect Our Perception Towards an Automobile?

yes definitely Brand name is one of the major factor when people go out in the market to get a vehicle. And sometimes Brand names make a good car bad and vice versa.
 
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Re: Does Branding Affect Our Perception Towards an Automobile?

well guys i feel brand name matters very much but dont agree people dont appreciate if car is from less branded manufacturer.. well now see verna fluidic its selling tons more than sx4 from maruti despite its korean!
 
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in india brand image is everything.when a so called great brand makes a fundamental flaw many in the mass media calls it a character of the product.when the so called ordinary brand makes the slightest errors they dismiss it as a failed product.

perfect example is mitsubishi(no offence to it's owners)the lancers,pajeros they sold where generations behind other countries's models.they took a long time to upgrade their fleet when they did it was too late.despite them ignoring the indian market we hailed them a luxury brand for a long time.

i think we should promote companies which manufacture good cars irrespective of brand image.

many blindly say cliches like 'all mahindras are jeep like'(not true at all),'tata has bad service'(they have the second largest in the country),'if it's fiat its failed'(never true).

i think we as a forum should stop this brand worshipping
 
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Re: is india relaying too much on brand image?

Roman- You have a point!. Brand is important part in any thing we buy. This is not part of only India. Its the human race mentality.
Would you buy a china made mobile if it gives you a warranty over samsung or Iphone?
It should not be a blame on brand alone, its on our way of thinking we need to stop. Buy what is best which servers the purpose.
 
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it's not fair to compare a merc with a mahindra or tata.but in many so called 'auto expert shows' we can see a bias against brands especially of indian origin.

many so called divine brands do not have the stature or reputation to be called superior or luxurious.

many may be luxurious in india but in u.s and elsewhere they are just what the ordinary joes drive.

i think many of these brands are swindling us with false promises of superior quality.
the extra premium they demand is not reflected in their quality.
 
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Nothing wrong with indians they knows which brands gives good products,
they relay titan for watches,sony/samsung for TV's,Nokia/Samsung for mobiles,goderej for locks,colgate/closeup for pastes,Bajaj for 2&3 wheelers,Tata/Leyland for trucks,Fiat/toyota for engines mahindra for jeeps and so on.

If a company consistently make a good product and sells consistently it gets branded.
 
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Nothing wrong with indians they knows which brands gives good products,
they relay titan for watches,sony/samsung for TV's,Nokia/Samsung for mobiles,goderej for locks,colgate/closeup for pastes,Bajaj for 2&3 wheelers,Tata/Leyland for trucks,Fiat/toyota for engines mahindra for jeeps and so on.

If a company consistently make a good product and sells consistently it gets branded.
choosing from a market with a few choices is easy.but indian automarket is dynamic and vast.it's not the buyers who promote 'great brands' it's the so called experts in mass media.with the media exposure high among buyers their ideas has an effect on the buyers.

a classical example:one of my best friends who owns a honda city often says that my tata safari is a bad vehicle to own because it's a tata which has 'niggles' i have never experienced anything in particular just because it's a tata.whenever i tease him about his 160 cm g.c which scrappes every hump he says its a honda characteristic.
 
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In a word,yes be it an Edhardy tee or a Lancer. Mitsu is loosing out globally,not just india. I don't know whats wrong with them.
 
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choosing from a market with a few choices is easy.but indian automarket is dynamic and vast.it's not the buyers who promote 'great brands' it's the so called experts in mass media.with the media exposure high among buyers their ideas has an effect on the buyers.

a classical example:one of my best friends who owns a honda city often says that my tata safari is a bad vehicle to own because it's a tata which has 'niggles' i have never experienced anything in particular just because it's a tata.whenever i tease him about his 160 cm g.c which scrappes every hump he says its a honda characteristic.
See its the personality, since you did your home work and purchased tata safari, you wont generally find 'niggles' as you mostly accept that you bought a VFM vehicle, you always tend to think that your friend bought over priced vehicle just because its 'Honda'.
On the other hand your friend finds 'scrapping of the bottom' is ok as long as he is driving a Honda.
So moral of the story is 'Everyone has his own reasoning behind his purchase', that is why you see people buying Honda as well as Tata and both being happy. I don't think there is right or wrong. But if some one makes the purchase based on some one elses choice blindly then I think he is going to be disappointed and he will start blaming the person influenced him. [evil]
 
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in india brand image is everything.when a so called great brand makes a fundamental flaw many in the mass media calls it a character of the product.when the so called ordinary brand makes the slightest errors they dismiss it as a failed product.

perfect example is mitsubishi(no offence to it's owners)the lancers,pajeros they sold where generations behind other countries's models.they took a long time to upgrade their fleet when they did it was too late.despite them ignoring the indian market we hailed them a luxury brand for a long time.

i think we should promote companies which manufacture good cars irrespective of brand image.

many blindly say cliches like 'all mahindras are jeep like'(not true at all),'tata has bad service'(they have the second largest in the country),'if it's fiat its failed'(never true).

i think we as a forum should stop this brand worshipping
Absolutely True if you ask me. Indian manufacturers invest almost a fraction of what global manufacturers invest in creating a new product (Examples are Mahindra XUV500 , Tata Manza) and still come up with VFM products which are suited to Indian needs. But alas brand image still impacts on customer decision, a typical example would be that of Volvo car' s poor showing for the past 2-3 years even though Volvo cars are considered the most safest vehicles in the world. IMHO Volvo couldn't catch up with the German trio because of brand image. [sad]

Regards,
Sankar
 
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Aah.. The rise and fall of a brand, My favourite favourite topic in discussion. Actually you see, Brand Image is two edged sword, you maintain well, change youself with the new aged product, and you will be laughing all the way to banks. You will have a fan following, and you can have customers lined up for your product on the day it release, without thinking a bit, or wait for a review.
But (and a big but) if you just goes out to the notion that "I can sell anything"/ "I have ready made customer who will buy anything as long as the logo is there", you should start counting you days. A lots of big bone company fails in that trap (recent exp -- Kodak - resisting the digital photography because we are blue blooded
Nokia -- Smartphone can't be touchscreen )

Now in Indian car market -- Indian car market is still in its childhood, Its like ~20 yr when India saw any car apart from good ol' Ambys, Its still consider all the car that one customer can get in his/her price range, and its India where you can sell a good car irrespective of what your history. example?? (well M&M Xuv, Duster)
On a sidenote -- I know most brand loyal country (a broad stereotyping.. But still) is American, and Indian buyer are mostly VFM seeking one-- no matter what they are buying, they still love the bit of saving.
 
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Hmm, great thread

First of all what is a brand image ?? is it something gained by a poll or with higher investments or with more quantity of products ??. First we need to understand the brand image well.

It is not overnight tag for a company or a product, it is the result of consistent quality in everything, customer centric, value for money product for many years.

So why most of the buyers look at this, as choose a good brand in the market makes their life easy, they don't need to think of many basic things where are taken care automatically and product becomes popular with its consistent offering so in my opinion

It is not Indian or foreign, but it is for every one it is part of sales and marketing strategy it is for any body and it is a matter of adopting to such standards make one a good brand.
 

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