01-08-2020, 12:44 PM
There's nothing inherently wrong with goods made in India. Those who think so may be shocked to know how much of a typical modern car sold in the UK is sourced from India, China, Brazil, Indonesia and anywhere else labour rates are cheap. As others have observed, the whole economic landscape is changing; there is an emerging middle class in India pushing up prices, and then automakers will be looking to see who's next in the low labour rates game. Throughout my career in the car industry we've chased after the cheapest locations to source components, it shifts every few years.
What is however necessary is oversight from experts in manufacturing and quality to bring parts up to the expectations of the European market, left to themselves Indian makers will produce the standards expected by the domestic market, and those are not high. There are quite a few A7's knocking around in India and I wonder if perhaps someone came up with this product with the home market in mind, then looked for opportunities to sell elsewhere. Even with quality issues resolved I'm not sure the market is really there (in Europe) at that price level; though there is a certain attraction in being able to buy assembled wheels 'off the shelf'.
What is however necessary is oversight from experts in manufacturing and quality to bring parts up to the expectations of the European market, left to themselves Indian makers will produce the standards expected by the domestic market, and those are not high. There are quite a few A7's knocking around in India and I wonder if perhaps someone came up with this product with the home market in mind, then looked for opportunities to sell elsewhere. Even with quality issues resolved I'm not sure the market is really there (in Europe) at that price level; though there is a certain attraction in being able to buy assembled wheels 'off the shelf'.