Good to see some companies that are able to see potential in an otherwise bleak situation… Good for the sales people!

This will probably just be a supplement to their used car sales if any sign on.

TAX THE FCUK OUTTA THESE PRICKS

Shame they fell into the “in US everyone drives an automatic” ideology…a small pickup with a 2.2L diesel and a manual could have made a nice beater for a lot of people. Still the small pickup segment isn’t too crowded in the US…basically the Ranger stands out and that’s it.

If they hire a sales guy named Jeep they could at least keep that part of the shingle.

Like any new player in this market I will wait to see some feedback on the reliability first but I could actually see myself getting one of these to slum around in just so I could save up extra cash for a luxury car way down the road. I still daydream about the Jeep Gladiator concept though.

If their build quality is on par with call center custom service in their country, no other car maker need worry about them.

ricky:
That is a great point.

OK, hands up, who didn’t see this coming?

As for quality: Honda, Toyota, VW, et al started off at the bottom of the heap too. More recently, Hyundai has gone from bottom of the barrel (you Americans didn’t get the dreadful 1984-87 Pony or Stellar, so you can’t appreciate how truly horrible Hyundai was) to top of the game. Anyone who thinks the Indian and Chinese automakers will not improve in quality very quickly has their head in the sand, and should consider getting a job at the “old” GM or Chrysler, where deluded thinking was the norm. It is with great peril that any manufacturer ignores these east Asian startups.

Same goes for Tata. The Nano is indeed laughable, but it is also a modern day VW Beetle (certainly moreso than that silly “New Beetle”. The Nano will succeed for the same reason the original Beetle did.

Problem is Thunder Chicken that when all of those enters the market the Auto Industry wasn’t as crowded as it now is. In addition – the auto industry was a different place back then, cars were different, companies dominated in a way it isn’t around now. With Kia/Hyundai selling affordable dependable attractive cars with such bad resale, you can buy a year old one at a price that undercuts even the Indian and Chinese manufacturers. Manufacturing costs for a automobile in India to ship it here isn’t THAT much less expensive than the Mexican/Canadian/US built car, and I can almost guarantee everyone on here would rather their car not built in India or China.

I will add in too the fact that much of today’s cars parts are already being built in China, so costs there would be about the same, so I don’t see where these cars are going to be less expensive, except if they do use inferior quality.

The problem with the quality of cars built in India or China is due to the lack of high safety standard there. I saw on Euro-ncap that a Chinese made mid size sedan got the lowest rating in front end crash test in year one. But after they went back to improve the design, it got an acceptable rating. To sell cars in the US, they are subjected to the same safety standard.

True today’s car market is not the same as when Honda and Toyota started in the US. But II think the Chinese and Indian will follow the footstep of Hyundai, which started in the late-80s, but really didn’t make a mark till the mid-90s. That’s only 15 years ago, and we still have roughly the same number of car brands today (after the French, Italian exited, as well as seeing Yugo, Daihatsu, Eagle and Geo folded).

Also, Hyundai was the laughing stock then, but its product has seen a quantum leap since 2000, a mere 9 years. Who is to say the Chinese and Indian can’t do the same in another 9 years? As to price point, even the Koreans are moving up market, leaving room for the Chinese and Indian to come in with a barebone model and lower price point. This means sacrificing luxury items like navigation, ipod hook up, Bose speakers, etc., but I don’t see it necessarily as sacrificing safety and quality.

Mahindra could save a lot of time and energy by just OEM’ing Rangers from Ford and sticking their logo on it. They’d probably end up with the same seriously outdated, poorly-built POS without wasting so much effort.

Oh wait…they’d still be stuck trying to sell a $25k old truck verus a $15k old truck nevermind…

………………….. Hey they’re movin’ on up
………………….. To the middle east side
………………….. To a deluxe Mahindra
………………….. from afar.
…………………..
………………….. Mooooovin’ on up
………………….. To Mahindra.
………………….. And not sellin’ Gov’ment
………………….. Motorcars

Jake:

Good points, but the Chinese and Indian makers will have one major advantage that no automaker has ever had: A line-up of empty dealerships looking for something to sell. All of those scorned GM, Chrysler, and Saturn dealerships will be looking for something to sell, and any loyalty they may have had (a dealer saying “ain’t no way I’m putting that POS in my showroom”) will have withered dramatically, thanks to their treatment of their franchisers. Now that same dealer would say “I’ve got to sell something or go bankrupt” at the very least, and many would also be saying “and if it hurts GM/Chrysler/Saturn, all the better”.

“All of Mahindra’s U.S. offerings will feature a 2.2L diesel engine mated to a six-speed automatic”
I believe that is the key sentence in this article which US makers and even the Japanese have been ignoring for a long time now. A truck should come with a diesel with gas optional not the other way around. Unless you wanna put high $ wheels and 20k $ in pimping it to never haul/tow anything but your own ass around for 15 MPG. I have a 1986 Nissan Pick-up that i have been torturing. Its not diesel but it does have a small 4 banger instead of a huge V8. That is what the definition of a small honest work truck and all I need. There is nothing out there for me to replace it with. Ford, Gm, Toyota or Nissan still doesnt even planning on building Ranger/Dakota/Frontier/Tacoma etc.size pick up truck with a Small Diesel.
I am glad finally somebody is doing something much needed for a long time, and maybe this will help it spread across other makers…

P.S “bigs4610: TAX THE FCUK OUTTA THESE PRICKS”

How about you tax the fcuk outta US companies who outsource your job to keep 75% of your paycheck for themselves in the first place buddy??? Globalization isn’t what it seems now, is it ??? lol

When Ford puts the 4 banger ecoboost in the New Ranger, it will achieve diesel mileage ratings at 2-3 thousand less cost than the diesel. This Indian built truck has yet to be rated by ALG which sets residual values for vehicles. No rating, no finance numbers, no bank will take one on. Insurance companies still have to rate it also. We will see just how well it goes when the numbers come out. But at least its a diesel truck where no one is competeing against it….maybe some competition here would be good for everyone. My brother still drives his 1984 Ranger diesel (Mazda diesel sourced) pickup daily. It has 275k on it…but he converted it to run on french fry oil, so it smells like a Burger King lunch now when it drives by.

LLN- You stated $22,000 a few weeks ago, and before that you were generalizing around $20k. Make up your mind, is this more made up fluff or do you have links to substantiate that?