*Assistant Professor, School of Management, Karunya University, India.
Online published on 29 September, 2017.
This research identifies the potential opportunities of accessories in the automotive market so to maximize Mahindra's sale and to analyze the dependency of value added products in various market segments and to measure the level sustainability for Mahindra. Mahindra embarked on its journey in 1945 by assembling the Willys Jeep in India and is now a US $7.1 billion Indian multinational. It employs over 1,00,000 people across the globe and enjoys a leadership position in utility vehicles, tractors and information technology, with a significant global presence in financial services, tourism, infrastructure development, trade and logistics. The Mahindra Group today is an embodiment of global excellence and enjoys a strong corporate brand image. Mahindra is the only Indian company among the top tractor brands in the world. It is today a full-range player with its presence in almost every segment of the automobile industry, from two-wheelers to CVs, UVs, SUVs and sedan. Mahindra recently acquired a majority stake in REVA Electric Car Co Ltd. (now called Mahindra REVA), thereby strengthening its position in the Electric Vehicles domain. The Mahindra Group expanded its IT portfolio when Tech Mahindra acquired the leading global business and information technology services company Satyam Computer Services. The company is now known as Mahindra Satyam. Mahindra is also one of the few Indian companies to receive an A+ GRI checked rating for its first Sustainability Report for the year 2007–08 and has also received the A+ GRI rating for the year 2008- 09. Mahindra & Mahindra Limited (M&M) is engaged in financial services, tourism, infrastructure development, trade and logistics. It operates in nine segments: Automotive-which consists of sales of automobiles, spare parts and related services; Farm Equipment- which consists of sales of tractors, spare parts and related services; Financial Services- which consists of services relating to financing, leasing and hire purchase of automobiles and tractors; Steel Trading & Processing- which consists of trading and processing of steel; Infrastructure- which consists of operating of commercial complexes, project management and development; Hospitality, which consists of sale of timeshare; IT Services, which consists of services rendered for information technology (IT) and telecom; Systech, which consists of automotive components and other related products and services, and others, which consists of logistics, after-market, two wheelers and investment. Mahindra & Mahindra grew from being a maker of army vehicles to a major automobile and tractor manufacturer. It has acquired plants in China and the United Kingdom and has three assembly plants in the USA. M&M has partnerships with international companies like Renault SA, France and International Truck and Engine Corporation, USA. M&M has a global presence and its products are exported to several countries. Its global subsidiaries include Mahindra Europe based in Italy, Mahindra USA Inc., Mahindra South Africa and Mahindra (China) Tractor Co. Ltd. M&M is one of the leading tractor brands in the world. It is also the largest manufacturer of tractors in India with sustained market leadership of over 25 years. It designs, develops, manufactures and markets tractors as well as farm implements. Mahindra Tractors (China) Co. Ltd. manufactures tractors for the growing Chinese market and is a hub for tractor exports to the USA and other nations. M&M has a 100% subsidiary, Mahindra USA, which assembles products for the American market. With the growing income levels and availability of more disposal income in India, the trend of acquiring cars is on the rise. Keeping the above facts in to account, the main objective of the research has been initiated to investigate the opportunity for Accessories, VAP and customization of commercial and Passenger vehicles. This research focuses to find out the potential market in different places like Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad and Delhi and another module of this study namely VAP and customization help us to find the current trend in car customization and how well VAP can play a vital role to increase company profit per vehicle. India holds huge potential in the automobile sector including the automobile component sector owing to its technological, cost and manpower advantage. Furthermore, India has a well developed, globally competitive Auto Ancillary Industry and established automobile testing and R&D centers. The Indian automobile industry today boasts of being the second largest two wheelers manufacturers in the world, second largest tractor manufacturer in the world, and fifth largest commercial vehicle manufacturer in the world and fourth largest Car market in Asia. Car accessories have always been an added value for the automobile industry through which automobile are having a higher profit margin and growth rate. The accessories of the passenger car of Mahindra and Mahindra mainly deal bull bars, rack carriers, Fog lamp, Scuff plates etc. Many car companies provide these accessories separately and not along with the car. Nor are they in active production of these accessories. But in Mahindra and Mahindra there is an active plant that produces these accessories and sell it through accessories shop and other local dealers, there is also potential market for GPS and reverse parking sensors. Hence through this project we are trying to find the potential market in different places like Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad and Delhi. Further value added products are those which are having an active market growth, and potential. Mahindra and Mahindra is planning to have their own customized vehicle with added value in their product. Customization is the current market trend and a potential field for research in the automobile industry. Hence similar research has been carried out in different places like Pune, Delhi, and Hyderabad apart from Mumbai.
