Dr. V. Sumantranis a familiar face in the Indian automotive sector. After spearheading Tata Motors’ entry into cars, he is now leading the Hinduja Group into many new sectors including ones that have been in the news recently — light commercial vehicles and construction equipment. He is the Executive Vice-Chairman of Hinduja Automotive, UK, the group’s auto and manufacturing sector holding company. He is on the board of Ashok Leyland (AL) and Chairman of the joint venture, Ashok Leyland Nissan Ltd. He is also Chairman of Defiance Tech, an IT and engineering consultancy, which is said to have been asked by Nissan to design the next Datsun.Excerpts from an interview:
How does the Stile fit into AL’s growth strategy?
I think Tata Motors before Indica was a commercial vehicle company. Today, they are an automotive company. Before the Scorpio you would not have thought of taking a Mahindra and parking it in your garage. But after the Scorpio, it was okay. I think brands evolve and I don’t think there is any stigma whatsoever in saying we have been a commercial vehicle company and we are now going into passenger vehicles. But, on the other hand, what they do is appreciate our values and intrinsic product strength. Indica at its time offered a diesel small car with very good economics that made an impact. Scorpio had its own appeal. Similarly, we felt that if you come up with the right product for the market, people will not worry about whether you are Ashok Leyland or XYZ.
And when we came out with the Stile, we had the benefit of two schools of experience. One was derived obviously from Nissan — monocoque, design, construction, design integrity, quality standards, manufacturing standards, panel gaps, fit and finish. Stile has better fit and finish in panel gaps than many of the products I just talked about.
But we were keenly tuned to what the market was telling us about this class of products. We needed to have an interior with bucket seats, arm-rests, carpeted cabin, second-row air-conditioning, etc. We were quite keen to note that while we had pop-out windows earlier on, Indian customers were not happy with that. They wanted an openable aperture. So, we went with opening windows on the side.
We listened to what customers were telling us. Furthermore, we tuned what is already a very good drivetrain. Believe it or not, the fatter tyre Stile version gets 19.5 kmpl, which is already best in class. The 14-inch wheel gets over 20 kmpl. Now our nearest competition is something like 14–15 kmpl and I am talking only ARAI-certified numbers. Compared to the class-leading MPV in the segment, we will be at least 30 per cent cheaper and yet having Japanese design origins, with Japanese quality, and produced on a plant producing other Japanese vehicles. Within this we also have significantly more space than an Innova, Tavera, Xylo, or any one of the other competition.
It is a departure for AL. You are getting into a different category of passenger vehicles. Has the impact of this move been identified for your various constituents?
It has. If you notice, our LCV division operates very separately. We have a dealer network which is separate. If I go back to all the steps, if I look at the joint venture staff, my head of programme is ex-Maruti, ex-Tata Motors; my head of production is ex-Maruti, ex-Hyundai; my head of quality of ex-Maruti; my head of engine development is ex-Tata Motors. We brought in people who really understandd passenger cars.
Nitin Seth is the Executive Director of Sales and Marketing. He ran the whole car business for Tatas. Adinathan, Head of Service, is ex-Maruti and ex-GM. Every city you go to, we have roped in amongst the top three Hyundai dealers, amongst the top three Maruti dealers, amongst the top three Nissan and Volkswagen dealers. So, our network is full of people who understand passenger cars. And this was by design. We wanted to make sure we understood addressing a personal customer.
Third, our dealer sales floor. A person walking in would say, “This is not an LCV showroom.” Sure, it has been designed at a fixed investment, at an affordable price, but it is suitable for a family walking in and getting the experience of a car showroom. We appeal to the full spectrum — personal users, family users as well as fleet operators. But I won’t pretent that I am going to be positioning myself next to Honda. I think we understand that we are a brand that has more value connotation than having an aspiration connotation.
Is it part of a plan not to offer Stile as more of a commercial vehicle used for moving cargo and instead focus on its people-mover packaging?
Initially that’s what we will do. We have been getting demand or requests for only the front-row-seats-give-me-an-empty-van. We are looking at that option; it is possible down the road that we may come up with it. But, initially, we are seeing more opportunity in the passenger vehicle space. In India, for load applications, people still prefer something like the Dost than a covered container van.
Sometimes in joint ventures one partner being more passive than the other, especially with technology sharing, is always a concern. We have had a few examples in India in the past. Is that a concern here when you are entering the passenger vehicles business?
No, I think, any JV will be successful when the two partners are contributing commensurately. I said for our JV the motto should be Japanese quality at Indian costs. It is forcing us to leverage the skills of both parents. If you look at the Dost, a product from the JV, it is a completely new clean sheet engine, frame, suspension and transmission from AL.
The lead engineering responsibility was with the team in India. With the Stile there was no need for changes, because it was a well-established platform and very highly localised. The Partner, when launched, will start with an engine that will have 98 per cent local content and completely redesigned and developed in India.
To further validate the credibility, let me tell you that Nissan has asked one of our subsidiaries — Defiance — to help design the next Datsun. They trust us to design a car for them.
I don’t have any concern or see any reason for the JV to be considered as being dominated by one partner. I think that there is a healthy dose of respect between the partners both ways.