NEW DELHI: As Nissan and Honda look to work out a strategy to combine businesses for survival and higher competitiveness, they are not alone in striking collaborations. Indian car companies and two-wheeler players are increasingly going for tie-ups and joint ventures as they try to strike synergies for efficient product and platform development as well as to achieve cost savings and gain access to better technology.
So, you have Japanese Suzuki (parent of Maruti) and compatriot Toyota at one end, which are co-operating on hybrids, electrics and product sharing, while on the other hand you see Korean siblings Kia and Hyundai are collaborating to understand Indian market better and for component and raw material sourcing.
When it comes to European makers, the Stellantis group, which has brands, such as Jeep and Citroen, is making cars in collaboration with Tata Motors at Pune. This relationship stems from an old manufacturing alliance that Tatas had with Italian Fiat, which is now part of the Stellantis group.
Despite having global issues with alliance partner Nissan, French company Renault churns out cars from a joint factory around Chennai. If Honda joins hands with Nissan, it will be interesting to watch how the Renault-Nissan India factory figures into the deal, considering Honda has a factory in Greater Noida (UP) and Alwar (Rajasthan).
Mahindra & Mahindra is working with German Volkswagen group for components on electrics and the two companies are now in talks for a broader and more product-oriented JV.
The situation is no less different in case of two-wheelers where Bajaj has partnered KTM for churning out powerful bikes. TVS Motor has a partnership with German BMW Motorrad for making 310cc motorcycles. The alliance has already spanned a decade and is expanding to other products and platforms. As the partnership completed a decade last year, K N Radhakrishnan, director & CEO of TVS Motor, described its success on “shared values of innovation, quality, customer delight and engineering prowess.”
“Aligning with our EV-led global vision for growth, we are proud to extend this partnership with cutting-edge technologies and sustainable mobility solutions. In this next stage of our partnership, we are creating opportunities to jointly design and develop common platforms,” Radhakrishnan said.
After a disappointing run in India, Harley-Davidson has decided to come back in partnership with Hero MotoCorp. Hero is making Harley’s mid-powered motorcycles in India, which are also being exported to global markets.
The move has also benefited Hero, like TVS gained with BMW Motorrad. “Hero expects a big push to its desire for having a bigger share in the premium and high-margin market through partnership with Harley. Hero believes in long relationships. I’m sure we will go for a long, long haul with Harley,” Hero Moto chairman Munjal said.