Gone with the wind (Some enjoyed the glory, some didn’t) PART II

Ambassador

Considered to be the definitive Indian car, was once the most popular car in India as it was perceived to be best suited to the harsh Indian terrain. Its iconic status was helped by the fact that it was the preferred means of conveyance of India's political leadership, including the Prime Minister of India, before they moved on to other luxury cars and SUVs. What went wrong?

It was unable to create barrier for potential new entrants & was unable to compete with their existing strategies. Even suppliers were not looked into deep; company was in a snail pace and couldn’t take up the challenge of new potential entrants in the market, including the suppliers of its different parts (remember Porter’s Model?). The brand was banking upon its niche markets (government and taxi). But even these two sectors were taken over by Maruti. Was it a case of a typical marketing myopia? The decline is sales can also be credited to the very simple fact that the Indian customer was awed by the new flashy foreign entrants. We just got bored..!