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| Edited By: Yuga Chaudhari |Source: DNA |Updated: Mar 19, 2018, 03:49 AM IST
What has been the learning from the success of Ecosport?
Figo three-and-a-half years ago was quite a game-changer. There were a lot of lessons from Figo. With EcoSport also there are lessons learnt which we will continue to implement in the future. The Indian consumer is not like a conventional consumer. You see in the Western mature markets when someone gets a job they buy a car and once they get a promotion they buy a bigger car. So there is a conventional shift. But the Indian consumer is behaving little differently.
They are becoming more aspirational. B-segment is the key segment in this country. But within this segment people are becoming very aspirational for body style at a much earlier stage than the normal conventional consumer cycle. So that’s causing some interesting dynamics, because you have to have a crystal ball really to see three from now what will be the consumer preference and which segment they (consumers) will aspire for. EcoSport is a very good example of that, because three years ago this (SUV) segment was very very small and no one would have projected this kind of growth. We see that the aspiration for a new body type continuing in the future and we see the segment growing many fold. So therefore we will have to be much more forward looking and have a better understanding of consumer preference and market dynamics.
The other lesson is that we have to build scale in our factories. We are facilitising our both Chennai and the new factory in Sanand so that we have a flexibility to satisfy demand not only in this country but also in international markets. There are different regulatory norms depending on a country. So in Chennai, the $142 million we invested in EcoSport, we invested on flexibility as well. When Sanand comes on stream by end of 2014, 25% of our total capacity is going to exported or may be more. And more than 40% of engines are going to be exported from India.
How do you plan to bring down the waiting period for EcoSport?
We are working very hard along with our suppliers to make sure that we shorten the waiting period as much as possible. We are working overtime to get rid of those bottlenecks.
Your competition is benefiting..
The demand for EcoSport is unprecedented. Even today our total order book since we launched is more than 61,000, out of that we have delivered about 25,000. The footfalls are great.
Are you worried about your other products?
Figo actually is doing well. The entire industry is in a slowdown. Figo in terms of segment share, we is very well. Once the industry starts to do well, we expect the rest of the portfolio to do well.
