Ford and GM to Mahindra and Tata: The power shift

Automobiles have been part of history of every country since the beginning of 1900's. Sweden too had Volvo (founded in 1927) at Gothenberg And Saab (founded in 1947) at Trollhattan making their marks all over the world through quality engineering and providing employment all over the country. Jaguar on the other hand was founded in Britain in 1922 when car manufacturing was at its peak. LandRover was just one model under the  After the fall of the likes of Austin, Morris, Standard, BMC, Triumph, Land Rover and many others, what remained was niche manufacturers like Jaguar, Aston Martin, Lotus and Bentley sales of whom do not even touch 10,000 units per annum.Volvo was introduced by SKF as a subsidiary while Saab was introduced by Saab Aerospace as a diversified unit. Volvo was known for safety and Saab was known for its performance cars while Jaguar was a luxury notch above the Germans. During the peak of American Automobile revolution, Saab was purchased by General Motors (GM) in 1989 and Volvo and Jaguar were purchased by Ford in 1999. Land Rover passed through the hands of Leyland, BMC, British Aerospace and  BMW ultimately landing in the hands of Ford. The parent companies of both Swedish brands were looking to focus on their main stream business leading to the sale while the lazy butted Americans wanted ready made technology to be bought by their treasuries which prints US dollar bills 24X7. Jaguar and Land Rover on the other hand were the remnants of a fallen British car industry.

Ford was early to enter recession but Mr. Alan Mullaly had foresight and decided to get Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo off their hands. General Motors being bigger in size was also a more corrupt corporation. Directors took heavy pays and left the company draining it of cash and leading into bankruptcy. While Hummer, Pontiac and Saturn died, Saab did find a desperate buyer. A Chinese company named Geely which makes cars using plagiarized technology purchased Volvo while Spyker cars owned by an alleged Russian mobster by GM Vladimir Antonov and Victor Muller purchased Saab. Indian carmaker Tata which was flush with money and wanted knowhow in premium cars purchased Jaguar Land Rover. Now After Spyker cars has failed to revive Saab, Mahindra has shown interest in buying Saab. The concentration of power in the Automotive field has shown a definitive shift from the United States to India. Will TATA and Mahindra repeat the same story that GM and Ford wrote in the 19th century?

Geely is one of the premier Chinese car makers. China has thrived worldwide making cheap imitation products of inferior quality. Wal-mart survives by filling its stores with 99% Chinese products. But off late after growing in size, Geely has been looking outside for quality and knowhow in car manufactury. Volvo happened at the right time in 2008. The motives behind purchase by Ford and Geely might seem same but are not. Ford purchased Volvo along with a stake in Mazda to make its own cars successful. Ford Focus, Ford Kuga and Ford C-Max were successfully built on Volvo C1 platform which also comprised of the Volvo S40, V50, C70 and C30. Geely on the other hand is looking to make a transition to Volvo completely.

Similarly Volvo S80, V70, XC70, XC60, S60 and V60 shared platform with Ford S-max, Ford Galaxy, and Ford Mondeo were based on Volvo Y20 platform. Unlike GM though Ford made no hassles for Geely while giving away Volvo which was a mutual favour. Ford was desperate for cash and buying Volvo was something no major car maker would do since Ford had completely drained all its technology for its own cars. Geely on the other hand knew that a Chinese Brand name would not get it a sound footing outside China and needed a strong brand name. The deal was set. But unfortunately Geely's ambitious plans are a bit larger than What Volvo can accomodate and bit more mainstream for a semi luxury brand. Geely wants to be amongst the major car makers in the world by selling Volvo as a mainstream product. Volvo on the other hand has always had a luxurious image. Not unlike the big three (Mercedes-Benz, Audi, BMW) but still above the likes of GM, Toyota, Honda, Ford and Hyundai. At the moment Volvo's new design philosophy and its precedence in safety, technology and luxury has helped the company reach sales targets but Geely is going to find it the hard way how tough it can be to build a luxury brand. Possibly a compromise they are aware of and are willing to make.

Similar to Volvo, Tata also got a clean sale by Ford. Alan Mullaly had been in talks for sometime to sell of Jaguar and Land Rover as separate brands. Tata Motors has been in the business in India for only two decades. Known mostly for its Indica cabs, the company hardly had any international presence apart from a dealer here or there. Tata Motors as a corporation is one of the biggest in the world and hence, When the time came in snatching up Jaguar for its sedan business and Land Rover for its UV's, Tata was quick to react. Ford purchased the rights to Rover Name worldwide (Rover, MG Rover, Land Rover) to be transferred with the deal. The $3 billion deal was once considered as too much for Jaguar and Land Rover which collectively hardly sold enough cars under Ford. Today JLR sells close to 20,000 units a month.

 Unlike Volvo, Tata has successfully built the Jaguar Land Rover Marque as a luxury marque above the Big three German Marque's which is a feat in itself. Additionally, instead of stripping the cars, the british factory was given the freedom to operate and innovate and build upon its own cars. Today, Jaguar Land Rover is a profit making brand for Tata Motors surprising even the who's who at Ford Motor company. Tata also has slowly learnt to build its own cars more efficiently which is evident in the new Tata Aria. But Tata is yet to exploit the concept of platform sharing especially since there is a huge gap between Tata brand of cars and Jaguar Land Rover cars since Tata is known for the cheapest car in the world (Tata Nano) while Jaguar Land Rover pitch their cars above most Luxurious brands. The best proof that Jaguar Land Rover is a successful brand today is its increasing number of dealers globally and the announcement to actually produce a concept super car (Jaguar C-X16).

Saab's history separates itself from Volvo since the time GM purchased it. GM was quick to transfer knowhow to their American tin cans. But Saab had nothing of importance to learn from GM in return. Though smaller in scale, The Trollhattan based company made better cars in every aspect than the corrupt corporation, which was once the largest car maker in the world. After, stripping Saab for a decade Gm left it to fend for itself. A saab 9-5 launched in 1997 was sold unchanged for 14 years. Surprising, since even mainstream brands like Toyota refreshes their models every year. Such a practice is a strict no-no especially at the luxury end of the market. A Saab 9-3 with minor updates was also sold for 14 years. With only two mainstream cars in its portfolio and half-hearted attempts such as 9-2(Subaru based) and 9-7(Based on old GM platform) Saab was accused of not earning profit except for one year in eleven years. The govt. supported bankruptcy which was but only a curtain on the billions of U.S. taxpayers money mishandled by the top management meant that Saab, Saturn, Pontiac and Hummer had to go. The deal with Koeniggsegg going awry was a giveaway how GM wanted to kill the brand and keep the skeletons inside the box. BAIC (Chinese car maker) quickly purchased the old 9-5 and 9-3 tooling and those interested in reviving the brand reduced to a handful.

 But a desperate Victor Muller and Vladimir Antonov worked out a deal to keep the company up for two decades. But The new management were not an honest bunch either. While the company was struggling to regain lost ground, the new management again was taking fat paychecks while delaying wages. The company soon went under receivership in December 2011 after GM blocked a Chinese deal that could've saved the company. Reason given by GM was that they feared the Chinese Company would compete with GM posing a threat (Which they didn't think while selling the 9-5 9-3 technology to BAIC).

 While GM's Corruption drama with SAAB was unfolding, not the whole world has been a spectator. Apart from Youngman Lotus from China which is rumoured to have lost a couple of hundred Billion Euros, an Indian company has also been studying the proceedings closely. Mahindra known mostly as a UV maker before they tied up with Renault for a small car has expressed interest in buying SAAB. Mahindra learnt things the hard way when their outdated UV'S found it tough to compete but has been quick to utilize its financial standing comprising of strong liquidity. Kinetic's two wheeler business, Logan platform, Reva's electric car business and Korea based Ssangyong Car company which makes cars based on Mercedes-Benz platforms soon found themselves under Mahindra's umbrella. From making three decade old Willy's based UV's, Mahindra has come a long way in the last ten years making cars like the Scorpio, Xylo, Thar and XUV500.

SAAB can prove to be an important landmark for Mahindra since they need a premium brand (Just like TATA built upon with Jaguar) to team it with Ssangyong which has reliable and competent platform but lacks visibility and brand image. Ssangyong's vehicles have been known for their quality and workmanship especially in the UV field. SAAB's worldwide recognition for Mahindra can prove to be a boon. While the chinese have salvaged whatever remained of the technology (GM didn't oppose when Youngman Lotus purchased rights to build cars on the Phoenix architecture), Mahindra seems to be more interested in the brand image itself. Buying SAAB also makes sense since the Plant in Trollhattan will be available for much cheaper along with the tooling now that the company is bankrupt. Integrating Ssangyong cars along with SAAB can prove to be just another Jaguar-Land Rover for Mahindra where Saab makes Luxury cars competing with the Big three German marques and Ssangyong makes UV's on the premium end. Incase, Mahindra misses the point, SAAB has a superlative meaning in Indian languages. (SAAB: Means Master in Hindi and other South Asian Languages)

With the Indian Makers lapping up brands, it is clear that the power reigning in the hands of Americans has clearly moved to India. Mahindra and Tata are creating brand corporations just the way GM once did with Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac, GMC, Saturn, Pontiac, Hummer, Saab, Opel, Vauxhall and Holden and Ford did with Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Aston Martin, Volvo and Land Rover. How Mahindra and TATA progress learning from the American Big Three's debacles in the 19th century remains to be seen.