"The losses of these companies are expected to go up even in the next fiscal as both Ford and General Motors have not outlined any plans to launch new models till the end of current fiscal," industry sources said.

Thanks to the mounting losses, the Indian partners of both companies have decided to sell off their stake and get out of the jinxed joint ventures. For the current fiscal, Ford sold only 2,865 units as compared to 6,032 units in the corresponding period last year. This was mainly due to the company's miscalculations that an Indian consumer can be wooed by its brand name around the world. In the current fiscal, both M&M and Hindustan Motors decidedto opt out of Ford and General Motors respectively.

``PAL-Puegeot, Ford Motors and General Motors are case studies of what multinationals should not do in a local markets. Instead of launching affordable models in the market, these companies launched expensive models catering only to the niche segments. Hence, it was not surprising that while Peugeot closed down, Ford and GM are writing their balance sheet in red," auto analysts said.

General Motors registered a 57 per cent sales decline to 3,122 units in April-February of the current fiscal as compared to 7,285 vehicles sold in the same period last year, reveal AIAM statistics. Even Mercedes Benz is continuously making losses in its Indian operations and postponed its plans to set up a brand new plant in Pune.

Though Ford has long terms plans for India with investment of over Rs 2,000 crore in a brand new plant, the future of the company is not bright considering the wrong selections of models for the Indian market, analysts add. Ford hasunsuccessfully launched its Escort model at Rs 8 lakh bracket which has few takers. So as General Motors which introduced Opel Astra with one version costing as high as Rs 9 lakh.

The Indian consumer already has many choices from Maruti's stable and now Honda. So there is no reason why anyone should buy inflated models like Escort and Astra, auto dealers said, adding, ``both Ford and GM tried to capitalise on the brand name alone instead of concentrating on value for money for the Indian consumers which is the main reason for Maruti and Honda's success.''