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Spoiling Oneself

Telco, er, Tata Motors' launch of its sedan Indigo has turned out to be one of the year's big successes.

By Kushan Mitra

In the alphabet soup that the Indian car market has become, there were sceptics aplenty when Tata Motors (formerly Telco) launched its much awaited sedan in the C segment. India's first BC car, they joked. An Indica (the company's earlier B-segment launch) with an added boot. How nice. And what's with the name... Indigo?

'India on the Go' clarified group chief Ratan Tata, having thought it up himself. Oh. And people thought it would sell in any colour you like so long as it's, well, local... closer to Champaran, Bihar, than Champagne, France.

Guess what. The Indigosceptics got it wrong. The Indigo has been outselling all its C segment rivals, and averaging nicely over 2,000 units a month, which should push it across the 25,000-units-a-year threshold in its very first year. Like it or not, Indigo seems on its way to doing what the 'Josh' Ikon and 'Achtung' Corsa together could not --- driving the sedan revolution in a largely two-box car market.

And to think the success was helped along by an FCB-Ulka-crafted ad campaign that seemed to be selling sofa sets. 'Spoil Yourself', urged the ads, with visuals of a man blissfully ensconced in a sofa with enough cushioning to absorb a demolition ball. One ad sold the Indigo's suspension system, another the interior comfort.

Seasoned test-drivers were not awfully impressed with the actual product, though they did attest that the sedan wasn't really an Indica with another box. Yet, Tata Motors knew that the big lure would be the price tag. And so it was. With a base model just above Rs 4 lakh, it was enough to spark a wave of updgrades from the B segment --- and even tempt someone considering, say, a Rs 3.5 lakh Santro, to top up the budget to get three whole boxes on wheels, the classic conception of a family car.

In terms of monthly instalments on a loan, the difference was not much at all, and thus did the Indigo hit the tarmac --- in large numbers. Today, it is the segment leader, and has forced down its rivals' price tags. The Hyundai Accent, Ford Ikon and Maruti Esteem have all cut prices. And Ratan Tata has got himself a brand on the go.

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