Maruti, Telco lead; Hyundai zips in March

Maruti has been the clear leader in image terms, according to the Cirrus Image Index, with Telco at No 2. But the surprise in March was Hyundai

agencyfaqs! News Bureau

NEW DELHI

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Though Maruti, followed by Telco, have been consistently ahead in the Cirrus Image Index among car manufacturers almost ever since the ranking began on October 1, 2001, the first three weeks of March have belonged to Hyundai. Cirrus, a media monitoring service from agencyfaqs!, scientifically assesses the coverage corporates receive in the media.

In the full list of over 1,100 companies covered by Cirrus, these companies currently rank at No 5, No 9 and No 22 in terms of cumulative positive coverage over nearly six months.

Hyundai's showing has been so strong that it collected about a third of the image points since October in the three weeks of March alone.

On closer examination, Hyundai's showing is not surprising considering how much action there has been last month. B.V.R. Subbu's taking over as president was announced; the company unveiled a new zippier Santro version; plus there were reports of a sharp increase in sales. Newspaper stories that Hyundai would have its IPO in the next financial year did their bit to keep the company in the limelight.

The two other car manufacturers who have been receiving high positive coverage in March, as well as February are General Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra. Nearly half the coverage General Motors received last month in the Indian media was on account of its talks with Daewoo in South Korea (Cirrus takes international coverage in the Indian media into account but allocates a lower weightage.) Within the country, the rest of the score to GM was on account of higher sales, FDI approval for investments worth Rs 600 crore in India, plus restarting its plant at Halol, Gujarat.

In contrast, Mahindra & Mahindra got the maximum mileage from its sponsorship of football. Keshub Mahindra's turning down of the Padma Bhushan and the launch of the Bolero Camper were the other noteworthy items, according to the media. © 2002 agencyfaqs!