India’s Mahindra Group will introduce its SUVs and trucks to the United States in 2009—the first Indian-made vehicles to be sold in this country—and Fast Horse, the Minneapolis-based integrated marketing firm, will support the launch.
Fast Horse is working for Georgia–based Global Vehicles USA, Inc., Mahindra’s sole U.S. importer and distributor. The deal was sealed in October, based in part on Fast Horse’s work on new-model launches for Airstream.
Those were domestic vehicles. Mahindra’s launch could be fraught with added challenges. Remember the reception Hyundai and Kia initially got in this country? To say nothing of the Yugo. Vehicles from countries that have no reputation here as automakers can face a steep uphill climb to gain acceptance.
So it helps that the image of India is changing. Scott Broberg heads the Global Vehicles account at Fast Horse, and says Mahindra represents “the new India”—a technology leader with consumer savvy. The company is building two new state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Pune and Chennai, India—one in partnership with France’s Renault and Japan’s Nissan.
Mahindra already sells tractors in the United States and has three tractor plants here. The company started in 1945 by assembling and distributing jeeps manufactured in the U.S. It has since grown into a $6 billion global conglomerate with businesses including financial services, steel manufacturing, real estate development, and information technology. Broberg says the reputation of those other Mahindra businesses will also help with the vehicle launch here.
“Forbes has ranked Mahindra among the world’s 200 most reputable companies, and among India’s 10 most reputable companies,” Broberg notes. “Mahindra’s tractor business won the Deming prize for total quality management—one of the most prestigious honors in international business. That’s something no American or European automaker can say.” He adds that within 10 years of being introduced here, Mahindra tractors were number four in sales in the U.S. market.
Mahindra began exporting trucks and other utility vehicles to global markets about four years ago. A year ago, it started making its first car, the Logan midsize sedan, in a joint venture with Renault. In late November, Mahindra was reported to be bidding on Ford Motor Company’s Jaguar and Land Rover divisions. So far, though, its vehicle sales are much bigger in India than elsewhere. The company reported exports of just 8,021 vehicles for its fiscal year ending in March 2007.
Broberg says the key message in Fast Horse’s Mahindra campaign will be high value for moderate prices: “Mahindra trucks and SUVs will be packed with content you’d expect to find on a much more expensive vehicle.” That includes the same Bosch clean-diesel technology that Mercedes and BMW use, and the promise of higher miles per gallon and lower greenhouse gas emissions than gasoline engines produce.
“We’re still doing some consumer testing on the whole India question,” says Fast Horse’s John Reinan, who also works on the Global Vehicles account. “In a very preliminary way, we’ve found no objections so far to buying a vehicle made in India.” It may be that Japanese and later Korean cars have taught U.S. consumers that high-quality, high-value vehicles can come from unexpected places, he says.
Global Vehicles’ goal is to sell at least 100,000 Mahindras in the U.S. in the first three years. One more factor that should help, Reinan says: “Global Vehicles President Bill Goetze was a key figure in building both the Mazda and Subaru brands in the U.S. market.”
