It is indeed facelift season in Motown

Carmakers give a push to laggards

If you must act, but the real thing is not at hand, go in for cosmetic changes. That explains the new look season at Motown.

In a bid to rekindle market curiosity towards dated models, car makers from market leader Maruti, to niche player and luxury car maker DaimlerChrysler, have gone in extensively for facial adjustments.

With expected replacement models still on the drawing board or in the test stage, these auto firms have little choice other than to resort to the time-tested option, "repackaging the old into new", to stay in the reckoning.

The long list includes hackneyed models like the Esteem, Sumo, Ikon, Indica, variants of Opel, the workhorses M800 and even the good old Amby. In fact, a look at the sales figures of these models reveals that these are precisely the ones staring at the falling market share.

For instance, market leader Maruti's volumes fell 3 per cent to 25,054 units in August, with their flagship product M800 alone seeing a 42 per cent fall in sales to less than 10,000 units. Correspondingly Alto notched up handsome gains, clearly indicating which category of aging models badly need a facelift.

Latest to enter join the facelift queue are General Motors' relatively new offerings, Vectra and Forrester, that were met with enthusiasm initially. Now GM has put in place cosmetic changes and price reductions to woo back straying customers.

The jeweled effect changes, along with a slight price cut, seem to be a viable attractive business proposition. David Friedman, president and CEO Ford India, says, "Cosmetic changes can cost anywhere between Rs 10-50 crore and these have consistently jacked up sales by up to 30 per cent."

A leading Delhi-based auto analyst looks at it differently, "These changes are utmost deferred revenue expenditure and seldom capital costs. They will be termed judicious if they just about arrest the falling sales." This will, in effect, give the company a breather to work on its new models.

A senior official of a South-based auto firm offers another perspective. A new concept can cost upwards of Rs 300-500 crore, while homologating an existing world car will take more than twice that of tweaking an existing version." Add to it the uncertainty over market acceptance and you know why firms that have lost ground are sprucing up current models to emerge out of the sticky wicket. The new concept model will come once the gloom clears."

What is being undertaken includes fitting models with clear lens head lamp, a new front grille and fender, designer fog lamps, fresh look rear lamp assembly, besides friendly and contrasting instrument clusters and cushy seating. That's tinkering but when did cosmetics deliver anything else?