Su-Kam Kohler Grand Product Launch 2012

Primary sources: Best Magazine UK, 15 Nov 2012 · Business Standard, 17 Jan 2012 · Economic Times · Newswire, 12 Mar 2012 · Facebook Archive — 22 Feb 2012 launch

They Needed Channels. We Had India.

Kohler did not come to Su-Kam looking for a logo on a banner. They came looking for India.

By early 2012, Kohler Power Systems — part of the US Kohler group — was establishing diesel and gas generators for the Indian market. They were manufacturing at their plant in Aurangabad (the Lombardini line Kohler had absorbed globally). What they did not have was what we had spent years building: a dense dealer network, service trust, and a brand Indian households already associated with power backup.

Business Standard put the commercial logic in plain language: Su-Kam would market and distribute Kohler’s diesel and gas generators; Kohler’s India MD Sanjay Bondre said the strong dealer network of Su-Kam would help Kohler serve clients across India. The same piece cited our network at roughly 12,000 dealers. That was the asset on the table.

From my side as Founder and Managing Director, the pitch was mutual. They had a global genset pedigree and fresh India manufacturing. We had the last mile. If diesel generators were going to move through Indian towns the way inverters had, someone had to own the channel. That someone was Su-Kam.

Mr Kohler Visited. We Talked About a Real Partnership.

This was not only a local sales MoU signed by middle management. Mr Kohler visited India personally. We had discussions. They were just starting manufacturing in India in earnest — Aurangabad as the production base, modernisation investment reported in the press, and an ambition to go deeper into the market.

The Economic Times covered the Pune-side pilot and noted that talks with David Kohler, then Kohler’s COO, had also extended to upgrading the supply–distribution–marketing arrangement toward an equity-sharing joint venture. Whether every newspaper used “JV” or “strategic collaboration,” the direction of travel was the same: Kohler product through Su-Kam channels, with talk of going even deeper.

22 February 2012 — Grand Product Launch

Our Facebook page billed it as the star event of the month: Su-Kam & Kohler Grand Product Launch — 22 February 2012. Graphics went up. The industry was watching. A Fortune-linked global power name standing next to an Indian inverter company was itself a status signal — the same kind of soft power Swissnex later carried in a different lane.

By March, the launch wire was public. Newswire and prbd described a high-profile introduction of diesel and gas sets and a “Hybrid Solution” — inverter plus genset — with priority-based load sharing. First SKUs cited: 5 kVA diesel and 14 kW gas. The Business Standard range for the collaboration sat at diesel 2.5–12.5 kVA and gas 14–20 kVA.

We launched. We started selling. Dealers put Kohler metal into the same trust relationship they had built for Su-Kam inverters. That is exactly why what came next mattered so much.

When a UK Magazine Puts Your Name in Print

Screenshot of Best Magazine UK coverage of Su-Kam and Kohler genset launch for India — Best Magazine (UK), 15 November 2012 — ‘Su-Kam joins hands with Kohler…’ Getting into a British industry magazine was an accolade for an Indian manufacturing brand.

On 15 November 2012, Best Magazine in the UK ran the story: Su-Kam joins hands with Kohler to launch a genset range for the Indian market. Aurangabad manufacturing. Residential focus. Inverter-plus-genset positioning. And a quote attributed to me as Managing Director on the strategic collaboration and hybrid concept already working at Easy Day outlets.

For us, that UK page was not a vanity clip. Indian companies spend years chasing domestic ink. To see Su-Kam–Kohler written up in a British battery and energy title was an accolade for India — proof that a Gurugram-built distribution story could travel into international trade press. I still treat that screenshot as part of the archive of how far the brand had reached.

The Product Had Shortcomings. Our Brand Paid.

Then the field spoke.

There were a lot of shortcomings in the product as it met Indian conditions and Indian customer expectations. That is my honest accounting as the person who had put Su-Kam’s name and Su-Kam’s dealers behind the sell. When a genset fails or frustrates a customer, they do not only blame a Wisconsin logo. They blame the company whose dealer sold it, whose van service they call, whose board they trusted for years.

Our brand was getting affected. In power backup, brand is not a brochure line — it is the reason a dealer in a tier-2 town can sell without an argument. I was not willing to watch that erode for a partnership that looked prestigious on a stage and costly in the market.

We Called Off the Joint Venture

Ultimately we had no choice. We called off the joint venture.

I will be precise about sources. The launch and the dealer-network thesis are in Business Standard, Economic Times, Newswire, prbd and Best Magazine. The ending — the product shortfalls, the brand damage, the decision to walk away — is my first-person record. I have not found a newspaper that printed the divorce. That does not make it less real. It makes this essay the place it belongs on the record.

Walking away from a Fortune-linked name is not easy for an Indian founder’s ego. Keeping a brand that dealers and households trust is harder — and more important. Su-Kam’s name had taken decades. One mismatched product line was not worth the rest of the house.

What I Want on Record

Kohler came because Su-Kam had India — dealers, service, trust. Mr Kohler visited; we discussed; they were building manufacturing in India; we launched on 22 February 2012 and sold; UK Best Magazine put the collaboration in international print; and when the product’s shortcomings started hurting Su-Kam, we ended it.

Prestige openings and hard closings both belong in a founder archive. The UK magazine page is the accolade. Calling off the JV is the discipline. Together they are the real story of that “grand product launch.”

Verified Sources

FAQ

What was the Su-Kam and Kohler partnership?

In early 2012 Su-Kam Power Systems and Kohler Power Systems / Kohler India entered a supply, distribution and marketing collaboration for diesel and gas generator sets made at Kohler’s Aurangabad plant, sold through Su-Kam’s India dealer and service network — covered by Business Standard, Economic Times, Newswire and UK Best Magazine.

Why did Kohler partner with Su-Kam?

Kohler was establishing diesel and gas generators in India and needed reach. Su-Kam had one of the country’s largest power-backup dealer networks — press at the time cited roughly 12,000 dealers — plus service strength. The commercial logic was clear: their product, our channel.

Did Kunwer Sachdev meet Kohler leadership?

Yes. Mr Kohler visited India; contemporaneous Economic Times coverage also notes talks with David Kohler, then Kohler COO, including discussion of upgrading the arrangement toward an equity joint venture. Kunwer Sachdev, as Founder and MD, was in those discussions as Su-Kam launched and began selling.

Why did Su-Kam call off the joint venture?

After launch and sales, product shortcomings became clear in the field. Because gensets went out under Su-Kam’s channel trust, the brand was getting affected. Kunwer Sachdev’s account is that Su-Kam ultimately had no choice but to call off the JV to protect the Su-Kam name. No contemporaneous press of the exit has been located; the ending is recorded here as founder recollection.

Facebook Archive — 22 Feb 2012 launch posts
Swissnex delegates visit — another prestige chapter
Bolivia Ambassador visit
National press — ET and more
How I built the Su-Kam brand
All solar blogs

Kohler Wanted Our Dealers. We Launched Together. Then We Had to Walk Away.