Mahindra also did not want the car to cater to the taxi segment according to their initial press release but now they are doing a complete U-turn and expect a major chunk of sales from the Taxi segment.The logan[diesel gives exceptional mileage,highway 21-22kmpl is what I heard last] and this is could attract the taxi segment and so also the low maintainance costs.Now to boost sales Mahindra are all set to offer a discount of about 35000-40000 on the Logan[must add that is a pretty high figure for a newly launched car].That means bad news for the earlier customers in terms of resale value.Also mostly likely this car could go the Indica way and be a tourist car favorite.
The Logan has important lessons for the Automobile manufacturers in India.The Indian buyer is getting more and more smarter,Don't think that we would just lap up cars for the third world anymore just because they are[rather appear to be] reasonably cheap.
As for the Logan after this discount the car now is within striking distance of the Tata Indigo[a place where it always should have been in the first place] now expect a boost in sales mostly at the cost of the Indigo but that joy may be short lived ones competitors launch new vehicles[includes Tata who plan a revamp of the Indigo as well]