Marketing

Brands which failed to judge the Indian market * * Mercedes-Benz. In 1995 the German car giant opened a plant in Indiato produce its E-class Sedan. The car, which was targeted at the growing ranks of India’s wealthy middle class, failed to inspire. By 1997, the plant was using only 10 per cent of its 20,000 car capacity. ‘Indians turned up their noses at the Sedan – a model older than those sold in Europe,’ reported Business Week at the time. ‘Now Mercedes has to reassess its mistakes and start exporting excess cars to Africaand elsewhere.’ * Lufthansa. Germany’s Lufthansa airline joined forces with Indian company, the Modi Group, to launch a new domestic private airline, Modi-Luft, in 1993. However, three years later ModiLuft had gone bust and Lufthansa filed a lawsuit against one of the Modi brothers, claiming he had used funds obtained from the German company in other ventures. In return, the Modi Group accused Lufthansa of charging too much and of producing defective planes. * Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola company understood that distribution was the key to building a strong Indian brand. It therefore decided to buy out one of India’s most successful soft drink companies and manufacturers of popular soda brand Thums Up. However, although this gave Coca-Cola an instant distribution network, Thums Up remained more popular than Coke for many years. Most Indians initially thought that the new entryto the market wasn’t fizzy enough. * Whirlpool. When Whirlpool launched its refrigerators on the Indian market, it found the market unwilling to buy larger sizes than the standard 165 litres. * MTV. When MTV India was launched, the aim was to bring Western rock, rap and pop to the sub-continent. Now, however, the music policy has shifted to accommodate Indian genres such as bhangra. * Domino’s Pizza. Initially, Domino’s Pizza transferred its Western offerings direct to the Indian market, but the company eventually realized that it had to bow to