Tata Motors : What ails the brand ?

India's largest automobile company is struggling with its passenger car business. The company which owns best selling ( once upon a time) brands like Indica, Indigo, Safari and the " Iconic" Nano is finding it difficult to sell their cars in a market which is diesel crazy. Isn't it ironic that Tata Motors is not at the top of a market where diesel models are selling like hot cakes ?

I was reading a very critical piece of analysis in Forbes India ( read here) which throws in many pertinent issues. My two cents is that there is a larger issues of marketing in play here. Tata Motors has a big marketing problem and the company is not doing anything on that. It is sad.

Tata Motors virtually changed the Indian passenger car market in 1998 with the launch of Tata Indica. Although Indica faced lot if teething issues , the brand became a trail-blazer creating the diesel car segment which is affordable and durable. But along with the success came the baggage of perception. Indica despite being highly successful was perceived to be a car riddled with nagging problems. The lack of refinement and the not-so-perfect build quality became the hallmark of Tata passenger cars. Consumers accepted those nagging issues because the value offering was so good.

But market began to change with competitors catching up with better quality diesel engines and superior built quality. Tata motors , in my opinion,  was  stuck in the past. Although the company came out with product refinement, it failed to make the quantum leap in changing the perception problem.

Now a time has come where Tata cars are not in the ' choice list ' of the customers. It is a grave problem that needs to be addressed quickly other wise the firm will enter into a league of Ambassadors and Premier Padminis.

 Tata Motors need a new face. The company is desperately trying to improve upon the Indica platform which has a huge perception issue. If the firm wants to get back into the game, it needs a new brand which is distinct from Indica and Vista as a brand has not been effective since it was launched as a sub-brand of Indica. So a new product with a new brand would be the ( expensive) option available for Tata Motors to make a comeback. At the product level, nothing less that a sort of quality revolution is needed to bring consumers back to Tata showrooms. Aria was a leap in terms of built-quality but priced beyond common sense.

The product related drive should be followed by a strong branding campaign for Tata Motors to change the quality perception. This should be  backed by a strong change in attitude of dealers towards Tata Motors ' customers. The dealers still live in the era where there is a beeline of customers for Indica. That attitude needs to be changed and a strong responsive action at the moments of truth touchpoint is needed in this crisis.

Tata Motors need a strong product pipe-line backed by a strategy to change the perception of the market towards its products. This needs to be addressed at the highest level and Tata Motors has the wonderful JLR resource to do this within no time.

Brand Update : Indica Vista Goes Sedan Class

Brand Indica got a big boost recently by the launch of the new Tata Indica Vista . The new Vista comes with a spruced up looks and classy interiors packed with goodies. While the competition is hotting up in the premium hatchback market in India, Tata Motors is leaving no stones unearthed to regain its position in the Indian car market. Tata Motors launched its Vista product-line in 2008. The attempt was to strengthen the brand's foothold in the growing premium hatchback segment. 

Although Vista was launched as a sub-brand of Indica, the car was built on an entirely new platform and the refinement and the quality was entirely superior to that of Indica V2. However, Tata Motors decided the new launch to be under the umbrella of Indica brand. This move however was faulty and the response to the premium offering from Indica product-line found reluctant takers despite being value-for-money package.

This year, the brand relaunched the Indica Vista with lot of refinement and tweaking in the pricing. The frequent fuel price hike proved to be a boon to the predominantly diesel focused Indica range. 

The new Indica Vista  finds its point of parity with the sedans. The brand compares itself with a sedan and tries to convey the message that the car is  " Like Sedan".

Watch the ad here : Sedan Class

The new Indica Vista has the tagline " Sedan Class " reinforcing the new positioning. The ad is very sensible and conveys the message quite forcefully. The brand's idea of exemplar comparison with another category is quite effective in communicating its USP of better space and comfort.

During the early months of 2011, there were several reports of the plan of Tata Motors to make the Vista brand independent. The visibility of Indica brand name has been made insignificant and Vista is made prominent. So technically, Vista has become the primary brand in this case. The question is why Tata Motors is reluctant to let go of the Indica endorsement of Vista and make Vista a completely independent brand ? The damage has already made by associating an value-for-money brand ( Indica) with a premium offering ( Vista). Vista is going to suffer by continuous association with Indica brand. Other wise, the brand should be priced significantly lower than the other premium competing brands. 

The confusion regarding the branding of the premium hatchback offering from Tata Motors is evident in the case of Vista. The initial mistake was to stretch the Indica brand to a premium offering. It is very difficult for a VFM brand to build an equity in the premium segment. Second was the reluctance to make Vista an independent brand together with the fact that the premium offering had lot of similarities in features with the VFM offering. On hindsight, I feel that Tata Motors lost an opportunity to build a premium hatchback brand Vista. Three years is pretty long lost years in branding world. Would be interesting to see how the New Tata Indica Vista going to play up in the market. The timing has never been so perfect for a diesel car launch. 

Tata Manza : A Class Apart

Brand : Manza
Company : Tata Motors
Advertising Agency : Draft FCB Ulka

Brand Analysis Count : 473

Philip Kotler once famously said " Marketing is easy to understand and difficult to practice ". The concepts of marketing are no rocket science and hence we can see those concepts being casually treated.Marketing practitioners know the difficulties in cracking the marketing code and making the product successful in the market. It may be the simplicity of marketing concepts that make marketers to defy common sense and make marketing mistaks.

The same casual treatment of branding is visible in the case of branding of Manza and the brand is now investing heavily in undoing the mistake done in the past. Manza was launched as a sub-brand of Indigo in 2009. The Indigo Manza was the premium variant of the popular entry-level sedan brand Indigo. 

Indigo Manza was an effort of  Tata Motors for breaking Indigo from the perception of a Cab Car. Since Indigo was one of the most value for money diesel car in India, it was popular as a cab. Indigo Manza was styled differently and sported the state-of -the art engine from Fiat. 

Indigo Manza was positioned along the same lines of Tata Indigo. Indigo was positioned as a luxury + VFM brand and had sported the tagline " Spoil Yourself ". Indigo Manza had the tagline " Indulge in Style " . 

The brand was positioned as a stylish luxurious car and as usual Tata Motors added lot of goodies to the product to make it worth the price paid for. Another big leap for Manza was the engine. Tata Motors used the tested Fiat engines into the Manza and concentrated more on the style and product packaging . The variant was heavily promoted across the media.

Watch the TVC here : Indigo Manza

Interestingly the confusion regarding the brand started in early 2011. Tata Motors made that significant strategic decision to disassociate  Manza from Indigo. The company decided to make Manza an independent brand and dropped the Indigo endorsement from all communication. Indigo Manza became Tata Manza. Along with the decision came  the launch of Manza Elan which is the premium hatchback variant of Manza.In its independent avatar, Manza did not change the core brand DNA of luxury. Manza reinforced its " Luxury " positioning with the new tagline " A Class Apart ". 

Manza is now investing heavily in creating an independent image for Manza and also moving away from Indigo. Interestingly Indigo is now more associated with its Compact Sedan variant Indigo CS and has left the luxury + VFM positioning to Manza.

The important question here is why didn't Tata Motors think about Manza as an independent brand at the time of its launch itself. Why did the brand spend hell lot of money to promote itself as Indigo Manza for more than two years and then decide to go independent. 

Was it not a bad decision to launch Manza as a sub-brand of Indigo ? What may have prevented Tata Motors to hesitate from creating a new premium brand rather than trying to extend a VFM brand to premium segment.

It is this dilemma that makes marketing decisions difficult.One argument can be that the company wanted to establish Manza in the market first and then gradually make it independent.  My personal opinion is that Tata Motors did a branding mistake in launching Manza as a sub-brand of Indigo. Its common sense that it is always better to launch a new premium brand rather than extend a VFM brand to premium segment using a variant. The decision to sub-brand Manza also shows a lack of long-term strategic thinking on the Tata Motors part regarding the brand porfolio decisions. The company is little confused about how Indica, Indica Vista, Indigo, Manza are to be managed. There was a recent report which suggest that Vista will be disassociated from Indica and launched as a standalone brand. 

One of the reasons for disassociating Manza from Indigo is the threat from the launch of Toyota Etios. Etios  is being offered at a terrific price point and is a direct threat to Indigo's position in the market especially at the premium end . Tata Motors feel that potential Indigo Manza owners will move to Etios because of brand equity of Toyota. Indigo Manza may not be capable to fight Etios because of the baggage of Indigo association. That can be one of the reasons for such a decision.

It is easy to criticize the branding decisions as an observer because the brand managers are bound by lot of internal pressures which force them to take these kind of decisions. 

Regarding Manza, the road ahead is not going to be easy because the association with Indigo is still strong. It will take a lot of money to erase or at best reduce the level of association between Indigo and Manza. 

Ideally the brand owners should have charted the vision for every brand in their portfolio before launching to the public. This creating of brand vision is of extreme importance and should be undertaken for every variants and sub-brands. It should be this vision that will guide the brand's path to future and protect it from the short-term thinking of individuals. 

Related brand

Tata Indigo

Brand Update : Tata Indica Brand Portfolio

Indica is a brand that is an epitome of persistence. Tata Motors through Indica has demonstrated how to manage product lifecycle effectively. The brand which was launched in 1998 has passed through many hurdles. The brand successfully transcended the initial flaws, bad customer /expert reviews and brickbats to become one of the largest selling cars in the Indian auto industry.

The brand survived and thrived because of the constant focus of Tata Motors to improve the product continuously. More than the product innovation, it was the value proposition that forced customers to choose Indica despite all those nagging troubles. You can see lot of Indica customers cribbing about the bad service and constant trip to the service centers but sticking to the brand because of the value proposition. You cannot get a diesel car with that much space at the price at which Indica is selling ( so far).

Tata Motors has been continuously tweaking the brand over these years sometimes making quantum leap in the quality and refinement of the product. A snapshot of the brand's evolution is given below

1998 - Indica announced
2001 - Indica V2
2004 - Rejuvenated Indica V2
2005- Indica V2 Turbo Diesel
2006- Indica Xeta
2008 - Indica Vista

The brand made a quantum leap in 2008 with the launch of Indica Vista. The entire brand personality changed with the launch of Vista. The product's looks and feel had changed completely and it was a rebirth for Indica.
The changes in the product was not limited to exteriors. Indica began sporting different types of engines from Fiat which gave a new perception of quality to the brand.

At the pricing also, Tata Motors consciously raised the Vista brand to a higher level . The Vista is pricier than the original V2 thus reducing the attractiveness of the brand to the Taxi segment. At a price range of Rs 4 - Rs 5 Lakh, Indica Vista is not a cheap diesel car. It was an upward stretch by the brand.

The Indica Brand portfolio is given below.

















The Indica brand portfolio consists now of three sub-brands V2, Vista and Xeta.

V2 is the most economical of the lot and is the original Indica. This product is retained because there is still huge demand for V2 at that price point. Within the V2 range, there are three variants which includes the Indicab which is for the Taxi segment. Price of this sub-brand ranges from Rs 3,50,000 - Rs 3,95,000

Next sub-brand is the Vista. Vista is the new generation Indica and Tata Motors would like this brand to take over the leadership position from V2 in future. The brand is targeting the discerning Indian consumer with its value proposition and good looks.Vista has lot of variants satisfying the various needs of the customer. The Indica Vista Aura is the premium range that sports many goodies that premium brands claim like ABS, Airbags etc. Vista also comes in Petrol version sporting the Saphire engine. Prices range from Rs 3,90,000 - Rs 4,90,000 ( apprx). Within the Vista range, customers are given lot of engine option including engines from Fiat.

Xeta is the petrol variant of Indica V2. I am not sure about the future of Xeta since the petrol segment is heavily competitive and compared to Maruti and Hyundai, Indica Xeta's value proposition is not that attractive as the diesel option. Prices range from Rs 2,72,000- Rs 3,00,000).

The positioning across the brand portfolio remains the same. All the brands focus on the value proposition. But these sub- brands sports different taglines

Indica V2- More car per car
Indica Vista- Changes Everything ( Surprise Yourself is the new tagline)
Indica Xeta - Makes much more car sense.

Vista recently relaunched itself with Drivetech 4 technology and is now sporting a new tagline Surprise Yourself .

Indica in a way is an example of good marketing practice. The brand continues to evolve and is a pleasure to watch.

Brand Update : Tata Indica

Tata Motors recently launched the new generation Indica Vista. The best selling car from Tata Motors has become even better with a new look and a new positioning.

Tata Indica was launched in 1998 and has sold more than 9 lakh cars so far. It is the second largest selling car trailing Maruthi Alto. Indica is a classic example of managing product life cycle efficiently.

From a shaky start, Indica has come a long way. Written off by many skeptics as Ratan Tata's unachievable dream, Indica has proved skeptics wrong by selling huge numbers. The core strength of the brand being its value proposition.

To sustain in a highly competitive market for more than 9 years is no child's play. Tata Motors has invested heavily in both product and brand development over these years. The new launch is yet again another proof of the company's resilience.

Indica Vista is Tata's entry into the luxury hatchback segment. The segment is dominated by Maruthi Swift. Indica Vista replaces seven variants of the original Indica V2.
Over the last few months, the sales of Indica was showing a decline. A classic case where the product reaches the declining maturity stage. And as theory says one strategy is to go for product modification.

Vista comes with a new style, more space and a new set of engines. The car sports Quadrajet and Safire engines which was build jointly by Tata Motors and Fiat. The new Indica Vista comes in the price range of Rs 3.50 - 4.50 lakh price range.
The original Indica is also retained in the product line. Now Indica offers a wide choice to the customers from price points of Rs 2.80 lakh to Rs 5 Lakhs.

The brand Vista sports a refreshing next generation look . Indica had the weakness of not looking peppy or sexy. That put off many young customers. The new Indica Vista is more curvy and looks pretty cool . But not as sexy as its competitors like Swift or Getz.

The brand now sports a new tagline " Changes Everything ". The slogan is primarily telling the consumers that the brand has changed. The ads are also more tuned to attracting the new generation.
Watch the new tvc here : Indica Vista

More than looks , I feel that Vista will sell more because of value proposition. The acquisition of Land Rover and Jaguar and the Tata Nano has helped a quantum leap interms of brand equity for Tata Motors.

Tata Indica : Truly more car per car

Brand : Tata Indica
Agency : FCB Ulka
Company: Tata motors

Baseline : more car per car

India is a lucrative market for automobile manufacturers. If we believe the fancy numbers floating around regarding the industry size, this is a market no one can ignore.

Fighting with all the big names in the auto industry is our very own Tata Motors.

Let me be patriotic and say " we have done it". We have our own Indian Car: Indica.
Well You may say that the design was outsourced from IDEA ITALY so this is not 100% Indian. I would say that Tata's are smart so they outsourced it.....

Any way as hypocritic as we are by birth, although we say " sare jahan se acha " , we were ruthless towards Indica. Everyone looked down upon this car from Tata talking about all the negative points about the performance and writing off this dream of an Indian to build an Indian car.

Despite the initial setback with Indica, Tata motors reworked on the engine and relaunched Indica as Indica V2. Now indica is the second largest selling car in India.

Indica is positioned as a value for money car. I have said in my earlier blog that this is a proposition that will always work on Indian consumers, provided the promise is delivered.
Indica delivered its promise. It promised that it will give more car per car and delivered that.

The success of this proposition had an interesting side effect ( positive of course). Tatas have discovered its vision : deliver more value at a reasonable price. The recent launches prove that Tatas have imbibed this "value for money " proposition . The latest products like Safari Dicor and Indigo give many features which were seen only in premium cars.