India gets mentioned a fair bit on this blog, and not without reason. With a population just a cat's whisker smaller than that of China (if a cat's whisker be around 200,000,000 people), and a middle class with a voracious appetite for status symbols, India is where many, if not all, car makers are turning their attention.
So what does this mean for British car makers? With the proviso that none of the sizeable UK based automakers are actually British owned, it could mean big things. Mini is opening a showroom in the country and Jaguar Land Rover has already been there for some time (ably assisted by its giant Indian owner, Tata). At present, the high end car market is dominated by German cars - BMW, Mercedes Benz and Audi, in that order. But the top brass at JLR believe their luxury offerings will be able to up-seat Audi within a few years.
So how do UK marques such as Mini and Jaguar Land Rover appear to the average Indian middle class with money to burn? Well, while Europeans may put German-made goods on a pedestal, Indians also see British made goods as being of very high quality and not the sort of place that makes cars which put excessive burdens on annual breakdown cover policies. This image of class and quality is no doubt boosted by Britain's now defunct imperial presence, but also by the fact that these brands have been famous for a long time and now Indians, at long last, can get their hands on them.