Linkages between customization, sales and pricing power in the Indian automobile industry

Abstract

Multinational automobile majors such as Honda, Toyota, Suzuki and Volkswagen have begun rolling out models specifically designed or significantly tweaked for emerging markets. This includes local sourcing in order to maintain competitive prices because a major chunk of the Indian automobile market caters to price sensitive customer segments. The objective of this study is to evaluate whether customizing and tweaking models for emerging markets has any impact on the sales and pricing power of such global automobile manufacturers in India. Another important relationship this study investigates is that between different vehicle specifications and the sales volumes of the auto companies.