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Pee wee, sirmombo, and ToxicSludge; I think you guys have it right. They need to build credibility and use their time wisely. Mahindra has the weight of being the first Indian-built vehicle introduced to the US on their shoulders. If they screw it up and send us crap, they are going to handicap future efforts for themselves and others (Tata). If you were to ask the average “Joe the Plummer” blue collar American what they think of Indian made products, I doubt if you would get a pro-India answer. You might get a knuckle sandwich.
Forest is onto something. REVA could very well get here first. It’s what I was trying to allude to with that article. The gears were set into motion on REVA long before Mahindra got involved. I will write a detailed article in the future, but the REVA philosophy is very smart: They want to franchise manufacturing around the world. To keep the cars as cheap as possible, all components are either made by them or sourced by them in India. Kits get shipped around the world. Cars will then be built by a franchisee in each country. The idea is that the cars are designed to meet world wide safety requirements (emissions are obviously not an issue), so you get one design that can be made/sold anywhere. Not only do they avoid the Chicken Tax, it also means that they only need to sell something like 5,000 in the US to make money.
- Chris
08-05-2010, 06:51 AM
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