Changing The Car-is It The Right Thing To Do

[ankit.jhamb]

mods i m not sure if this is the right place to discuss this topic,so kindly move it to the relevant section..

The main idea of starting this thread is to get views of fellow BHPIANS on whether there should be a frequent change in the models of the cars or not.I personally feel that by changing the model of the car every year is not the right thing,,the WAGON-R for example was given a facelift recently <nov 2006> and there are rumours that it will be soon replaced by the SUZUKI SPLASH
the zen(old shape) was a huge success and THE ESTILO has not been able to create its impact in the market..
others include BALENO(PRODUCTION STOPPED),ACCENT(ONLY 1 MODEL GLE ),AVEO(given a facelift recently).HONDA CITY<ZX>..
Thanks

[BUSA]

They should leave no scope for newer models on the same platform.

Like MUL does cosmetic upgrades on its car, the Swift comes with these stupid non clear lens tail lamps, i am sure MUL will put the clear lens one and call it "The All New Swift - Your the Fool"

[ashutoshb]

maruti, it seems, is going for a brand makeover. and wants to be known as the one with the latest designs in the market. obviously they didn't expect the estilo to be a flop. and i don't think it a flop.. it seems to churn out good numbers (trying to find the no. of cars sold in the last month.. will post as soon as i get hold of the data). in my opinion the car is not bad at all. maybe its the design which is a little extreme for the common man's taste.
zen, baleno, accent, OHC were good cars but their designs were too old to stand against the competition.

About facelifts.. i'll say.. are just like the bumps in a thread just to keep it active. and in cars' case just to keep buyers interested. and in my opinion is necessary.

[rohan_fonseca]

Yup the facelifts are marketing gimmicks. At the moment in the indian market they seem to work! As far as maruti is concerned i wish they would upgrade engines along with the face lifts. The very modern swift still uses the g series engine which is almost 20years old!

[Ram_NP]

The so called face-lifts are only cosmetic. Major car companies in India never upgrade the enigne for five to six years. Even the new models comes with old version of enigines.

[ankit.jhamb]

IMO just changing the tail-light to clear one`s will nt make any difference..as owner of a car it hurts when the manufacturer stops the production or changes the model of the car to a new one

[dadu]

Unless its a complete makeover from its previous version (including the engine), ot doesnt make sense, it should be called only as a variant.

Santro came with a 1.0 ltr engine when launched and then the 1.1ltr. Although they gave santro a new front and back, but the overall looks remained the same.

IMO, they should pahse out older models completely after 6-7 years, provide support for them for next 5 years, though.

[hrishig]

Changing car only makes sence if the total new version of the car is launched means the change should be in the engine + in the car body.

Maruti keeps launching the all new cars every six months with the same model. So it does not make sence to buy / sell only for the facelift.

from 2007 indian car market has started becoming equivalent to mobile market.

Sell withing 1- 2 year if you have deep pockets / else wait for new features to come and stabilise. If you find features worth for new price then go for the new model.

[theMAG]

Good topic. Its not a simple black and white decision as it seems, though. Theorectically, if a car is doing well, there's no reason to change it in any form. Obviously this doesnt work practically. Car cos balance the need to change vs the mandate to change (usually govt. induced) vs duration between changes in a way as to maximize their profits margins

[benbsb29]

Irfanmon, i dont know if you have owned a vehicle whose manufacturer follows this principle. You would bang your head on a wall upon seeing a newer version of the same, possibly within a short time frame of you buying the older version.

Something similar happened to me when Bajaj released the DTSi version of the Pulsar within 3 months of me buying the non-DTSi version.

Not that i am strongly against it,but i dont support this.

[ankit.jhamb]

i would also like add that by changing the name of the car//or keeping the same name ....does it matter

like the honda city model launched in 2004 didnt resemble its earlier model,but the brand name remained the same ""HONDA CITY"".
now in case of baleno ..there was aradical change in the shape of the car but still the name was not retained..

[phamilyman]

Everyone wants to marry the latest hot star on the scene, be it aish, mallika sherawat or now nisha kothari. Problem begins when they want it to stay that way

Change (uplift/facelift/upgrades) are the name of the game

[speedzak]

I don't know why one should bang his head just because a new cosmetically changed version of your vehicle has been launched. And also, if a person keeps in touch with team-BHP, then he will be aware of all upcoming launches.

I am also of the opinion that cars (& bikes) has to be freshened up every year or 2. It has a lot of positive aspects and negatives. Resale value will drop for the older model though.

[ankit.jhamb]

@speedzak
i started this thread only because i found that suzuki splash will replace wagonr (on TEAM BHP)...and was little surprised because the wagon r was given a facelift last year only....


apart from that the i really dont knw when exactly was the HONDA CITY ZX t launched,but still we are getting a new model this diwali thanks to the info on teambhp...

[mithun]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Everyone wants to marry the latest hot star on the scene, be it aish, mallika sherawat or now nisha kothari. Problem begins when they want it to stay that way

Change (uplift/facelift/upgrades) are the name of the game

Your name is phamilyman and you are saying that everyone wants to marry a starlet ! What a paradox ?