If public response is anything to go by, the Santro is poised to make a comeback in October when Hyundai unveils its AH2 family car.
The Korean company launched an online contest last month seeking names for this next offering and nearly 30 per cent of participants have opted for Santro. This makes them the single largest part of the pie thus far and it is logical to assume that the ‘Tall Boy’ brand is set for a return although in a completely new avatar.
Santro nostalgia
It is now four years since the car was yanked off the production line in Chennai largely because it had run its course apart from the fact that there were more contempoaray models like the i10, which were more in favour. Yet, there is no denying the fact that Santro still has a special place in people’s hearts.
It was virtually the launchpad for Hyundai in India and the first serious rival to Maruti Suzuki in the compact car segment. It was also launched during the same year as the Tata Indica and Honda City but Hyundai as a corporate brand was quite unknown at that point in time, at least in this part of the world.
The success of the Santro was an important part of the company’s journey in India, which has since grown to include other top-selling brands like i10, i20, Creta and Verna. It will be interesting to see how the market reacts to the resurrected Santro as the contemporary family car with a modern Tall Boy look.
How has the experience been for other auto-makers, which have attempted to resurrect brands? The case of Maruti Suzuki and the Baleno in India is one such where, in its first foray as a sedan, the model did not quite get the numbers and bowed out subsequently in 2007. It was then revived in 2015 as a premium hatchback and has done much better. Baleno volumes have been reasonably good and the brand has established itself comfortably in the new space. More significantly, it will now be part of the product swap route with Suzuki’s new global ally, Toyota. Keeping it company will be the Vitara Brezza while Toyota, in turn, will supply Suzuki its popular Corolla sedan.
It will be interesting to see how the Baleno will be re-engineered as a Toyota product with the DNA that epitomises successful products like the Innova Crysta. Obviously, it will be called by another name and how it fares vis-a-vis its original sibling that will still be retailed by Maruti Suzuki remains to be seen.
Amby love
Another case of a buried/dead brand that could now see a new lease of life is the Ambassador. Its manufacturer, Hindustan Motors (HM), stopped producing the model four years ago when it was getting amply clear that it was no longer a viable option. The Amby, as it is fondly known, was the monarch of Indian roads for many decades till competition finally elbowed it out of the market.
HM has now sold the Ambassador brand to its new partner in India, Groupe PSA, which makes the Peugeot and Citroen brands. The company is poised to roll out its model from Chennai in 2020, though it is still too early to say how it plans to leverage the Ambassador brand aquisition.
Chairman of Groupe PSA, Carlos Tavares, told this writer during the 2017 Geneva Motor Show that ownership of the brand would perhaps translate into an opportunity in its India innings. After all, the French car-maker is making a serious comeback after its exit in end-1997 and would obviously pull out all the stops to make an impact.
“We have to eventually see if it makes sense to the Indian customer. The Ambassador is an iconic brand and warms the hearts of people in India. If there is an opportunity where it brings value to the eyes of customers, we have the brand and can use it,” explained Tavares.
Yet, it is still a million dollar question if any connect can be made in a country where two-thirds of the population is under 30. The Ambassador is iconic for sure but can hardly be termed synonymous with modernity. It is likely that PSA will use the Amby badge to reach out aggressively to customers in Tier 2/3 regions. And, in any case, the brand is not entirely dead and buried given that its birthplace, Kolkata, is still home to the yellow Ambassador cabs.
Datsun’s renewed vigour
Datsun is the other brand that was revived with much fanfare in 2013 after nearly three decades to lead a renewed surge in emerging markets like India, Indonesia, South Africa and Brazil. There was absolutely no question that affordability was, and continues to be, a big deal in these countries. What better than a well-known global brand to lead the way?
On paper, it seemed a top-class strategy except that reality ended up being completely different. In the case of India, the Datsun GO and GO+ ended up being damp squibs though the redi-GO has been doing better in comparison. Clearly, things have not quite gone according to plan though a Datsun-branded SUV could make the difference given market preference for this product range.
It was during the Tokyo Motor Show in October 2017 when Jose Roman, Global Head of Datsun, told BusinessLine that a long-term strategy was essential in emerging markets for companies to develop the business, brand and service over a period of time. “Obviously in India, I think we will take time to develop the brand and it could be two to three generations of the product,” he said.
Roman was absolutely categorical that this was the way a brand is built and if someone thought otherwise and assumed it could be done in three years, they were completely off the mark. “You need generations of products that deliver the message of quality and service to customers,” said Roman.
The Datsun chief said the brand had things going in its favour like power and heritage but there were other issues to contend with in emerging markets. Here, a car is a big investment for the customer and completely different from the US and Europe “where it is like buying a refrigerator”.
Roman was confident that the Datsun brand would evolve over the years and that he was thinking of bigger things. “You cannot be confined to a segment as a brand given that there are passenger cars, pick-ups, crossovers and I am visualising all the possibilities,” he hinted.
Time will tell how soon Datsun will begin firing on all cylinders in India though it is clear from all these instances that nostalgia is not enough to draw customers to showrooms. Sure, there will be a curiosity factor to see what a rejuvenated Ambassador, Santro or Datsun looks like but if it eventually does not deliver on key parameters like aspiration, after-sales and cost of ownership, customers will reject the brand outright. There is only so much that sentiment can achieve.
In the two-wheeler space, the Bajaj Chetak scooter was phased out many years ago. There are still fond memories of the brand and it will be interesting to see if its manufacturer will contemplate reviving it in the electric mobility space. Reports have been doing the rounds that Bajaj Auto is gearing up to launch a new electric scooter. Will it be called ‘e-Chetak’ for instance and draw the new generation of scooter buyers to showrooms? Old-timers will also be delighted with their ‘Hamara Bajaj’ now back although in a completely new look. It is up to the company to take the call.