MRF test drives a luxury brand

The tyre maker relies on its association with the customer to build a new brand in a new category

For as long as one can remember, MRF has been associated with cricketers and cricket bats and the muscle man holding up a tyre in its logo. Now, as it launches its first line of luxury tyres called Perfinza, the company is banking on the familiarity that it has built with consumers over the years and on its partnership with cricket to extend its equity to a new brand among a new category of consumers. However, given that the luxury car market in India is barely 1.5 per cent of the branded passenger car segment, the biggest challenge will be