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Old 18th June 2011, 15:54   #271
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Re: Honda India slashes the City's price by Rs. 44,000 - 66,000!

In all these comments, one thing that occurs to me is - if someone is ready to shell out almost INR 9 lacs for an on road mid-level sedan like HC, does a INR 66k cut mean that much to him?

I mean is it a convincing reason to boost sales?

IMO - it is more like creating pricing gap for a diesel model that may be coming.
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Old 18th June 2011, 16:21   #272
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Re: Honda India slashes the City's price by Rs. 44,000 - 66,000!

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Originally Posted by muni View Post
Whether it will work in Honda's favour or not needs to be seen as I have a strong feeling that people have started / will start preferring the new Hyundai Verna.
very true Muni. Off late I have been hearing an increasing number of people rating the new Verna over the City. And yes, Hyundai has done a great job with the new Verna. the design is indeed impressive.
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Old 18th June 2011, 17:29   #273
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Re: Honda India slashes the City's price by Rs. 44,000 - 66,000!

The question for me would be how honda will deal with the loss of goodwill with the existing customers. I wouldn't be too happy to see my neighbour driving the same car/model paying around 70K less than me.

Frankly speaking i am surprised there is no criticism of Honda or empathy for the existing customers. Most of the posts are about how brilliant a move the price cut is.

The biggest plus of honda city was favourable word of mouth from it's current customers. I guess that will dissipate soon once these customers see their friends and neighbours with the same cars at drastically lower prices
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Old 18th June 2011, 18:44   #274
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vishnurp99
The question for me would be how honda will deal with the loss of goodwill with the existing customers. I wouldn't be too happy to see my neighbour driving the same car/model paying around 70K less than me.

Frankly speaking i am surprised there is no criticism of Honda or empathy for the existing customers. Most of the posts are about how brilliant a move the price cut is.

The biggest plus of honda city was favourable word of mouth from it's current customers. I guess that will dissipate soon once these customers see their friends and neighbours with the same cars at drastically lower prices
I'm not sure I agree. I own a civic as well as a new city. Although I'm not stuck only on honda, I would consider most options when in the market but Honda is certainly a very important part of the option list. For me I'd want to continue being able to consider Hondas for a sensible price and if this price cut is Honda recognising that it's pricing strategy needs a revisit, that's great. A minor impact on my resale value is not the primary concern.
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Old 18th June 2011, 19:00   #275
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Re: Honda India slashes the City's price by Rs. 44,000 - 66,000!

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Originally Posted by vishnurp99 View Post
The question for me would be how honda will deal with the loss of goodwill with the existing customers. I wouldn't be too happy to see my neighbour driving the same car/model paying around 70K less than me.

Frankly speaking i am surprised there is no criticism of Honda or empathy for the existing customers. Most of the posts are about how brilliant a move the price cut is.

The biggest plus of honda city was favourable word of mouth from it's current customers. I guess that will dissipate soon once these customers see their friends and neighbours with the same cars at drastically lower prices
This seems to have been addressed by the many posts on this thread. Honda is now merely extending benefits similar to what dealers have already been offering over the past couple of months. If your point is about owners that bought pre-discount, their displeasure is understandable. However, market forces apply to all manufacturers - if the cars remain unsold for long enough, the companies are going to have to respond one way or another.

At the end of the day, people buy cars at whatever price they do because they like the overall package. Tracking prices after purchasing a car isn't good for our hearts! The same applies to everything else, consumer electronics being a great example.

Owners would probably be a lot more perturbed if Honda brings in a barebones variant of the City at say 6L or entered the taxi segment, because that would definitely dilute the brand (the CITY brand to be specific) and remove any exclusivity they may associate with the brand. That would indeed be very bad for Honda.
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Old 18th June 2011, 19:04   #276
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Re: Honda India slashes the City's price by Rs. 44,000 - 66,000!

@spindoc i am not talking about people who bought this car years back but people who bought it around 6 months ago. I know guys like that and i know that they didn't get this discount.

They are not happy :(

One thing that honda won't be able to do even if they try is to have a 'city' taxi. it's petrol and the economics would never work. I don't think the price drop will have too much of impact and will infact damage the brand. Discounts might have to be offered on these lowered prices again etc and i think honda will be stuck in 1500-2500 monthly range for the foreseeable future.

Last edited by vishnurp99 : 18th June 2011 at 19:09.
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Old 18th June 2011, 19:19   #277
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Re: Honda India slashes the City's price by Rs. 44,000 - 66,000!

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Originally Posted by RavenAvi View Post
Well, they are offering 55K discount and the Rs.1/- insurance, claiming a total savings of 75K. Together with the Active kit thrown in (at least), it should take it to around 1L struck neatly off the OTR price. Like adimicra said in his ownership thread, it's best to claim for at least 1L worth of savings for the Jazz to be close to a VFM premium hatch.




Very true. Jazz gives off the feeling of being more car per car. The length, breadth and height may be similar to the Polo/Punto and slightly lesser than the i20, but what it cleverly does is provide oodles of space inside and in the rear! It is a mini-sedan or MPV disguised as a hatch.




That is bad news. Honda has struck itself on the foot again.

Honestly, what's the problem if they offered the 4 yr Warranty as standard? How many Citys actually come for that? Most Citys are built to last. This move is just not understandable.




I feared as much. Thanks, adimicra.

Yes, I went through the brochure earlier and the Select seems like the best buy of the lot. But the dealer refused to throw in any of the kits I asked him, and offered only the 55K and Rs.1/- insurance. Think I will wait for a bit - a price cut on the Jazz feels imminent, hopefully before the holiday season rolls in.

If not, there's always the City.
Very true! Finally, someone agress with me on the Jazz
Even in my case, I got 75K cash doscount on OTR price and some goodies worth 15-20K. SO, now with the price cut of ANHC, you might get slightly higher discounts if u bargain well. On top of that, if you can insist on the Michelin tires, that makes it quite VFM IMO.

Quote:
Originally Posted by akhilesh View Post
^^Jazz also feels one size bigger than the Polo. Priced around the 6.5 OTR mark, the Jazz should fly off the showrooms. i20 is nowhere close to the Jazz, be it performance, engine, ride & handling or reliability.
One thing which went in favour of the Jazz while I was looking for a new car is the awesome street presence. Though the outer dimensions are similar to the other premium hatches like I20/Polo/Punto, it does indeed look bigger from the outside. Actually, it is hard to believe the numbers about the dimensions. What I understand is - Jazz is little smaller in length here in India because of the redesigned bumpers to fit under the <4m category(Jazz in US is >4m in length) , whereas cars like Polo are the same size as in other countries. And once you sit inside the Jazz, all others including the I20 feel claustrophobic - that's the Jazz effect.

Quote:
Originally Posted by vb-san View Post
I don’t think Honda will go that low (650K OTR) with the Jazz. Not just that it feels one size bigger than the Polo, it is an excellent case of effective space management.
.
I guess the OTR will depend on the Road tax. Here in Hyderabad, it is 12% minimum and so 6.5 OTR is impossible (Swift ZXI costs same or more, just for reference). Without discounts, the OTR of Jazz Select is 8.73. I would think that 7.5L to 7.75L OTR (which will be around 50K higher than I20 and 30-40K higher than Polo 1.2) will be the right price for Jazz.

Unless Honda does a Fabia and comes up with lower versions without any features (in Fabia, even the top end does not have rear wiper/defogger and electric mirrors, silly!), they can't reduce the prices that much. And I don't want Honda to do that.
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Old 18th June 2011, 19:28   #278
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Re: Honda India slashes the City's price by Rs. 44,000 - 66,000!

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Originally Posted by vishnurp99 View Post
@spindoc i am not talking about people who bought this car years back but people who bought it around 6 months ago. I know guys like that and i know that they didn't get this discount.

They are not happy :(
City / Civic owners that I know seem to be more concerned about where Honda is headed as a company!


Quote:
One thing that honda won't be able to do even if they try is to have a 'city' taxi. it's petrol and the economics would never work. I don't think the price drop will have too much of impact and will infact damage the brand.
Yes. The City taxi was just a metaphor. It certainly doesn't make economic sense!

Quote:
Discounts might have to be offered on these lowered prices again etc and i think honda will be stuck in 1500-2500 monthly range for the foreseeable future.
If the numbers continue to stay low, the dealers are going to have to do their bit too and that is when the discounts can get REALLY big and upset owners a lot more (resale prices will dip further). However, that may not happen as Honda has announced a facelift and are maybe looking at just clearing stocks over the next 2-3 months.
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Old 18th June 2011, 19:36   #279
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Re: Honda India slashes the City's price by Rs. 44,000 - 66,000!

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Originally Posted by spindoc View Post
However, that may not happen as Honda has announced a facelift and are maybe looking at just clearing stocks over the next 2-3 months.
Where and when Honda has announced the face lift? I guess you are referring to those "Rumors".
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Old 18th June 2011, 19:54   #280
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Re: Honda India slashes the City's price by Rs. 44,000 - 66,000!

@bluevolt, Yes, I was referring to the 'rumors' I guess. I thought someone said the messages were from Honda Car India on facebook.
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Old 18th June 2011, 20:01   #281
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Re: Honda India slashes the City's price by Rs. 44,000 - 66,000!

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Originally Posted by spindoc View Post
I thought someone said the messages were from Honda Car India on facebook.
That Honda car India is a fan page started by some fan and not a genuine one of the company. There are hundreds of fan pages across facebook.
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Old 18th June 2011, 21:23   #282
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Re: Honda India slashes the City's price by Rs. 44,000 - 66,000!

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Originally Posted by spindoc View Post
Honda is now merely extending benefits similar to what dealers have already been offering over the past couple of months. If your point is about owners that bought pre-discount, their displeasure is understandable. However, market forces apply to all manufacturers - if the cars remain unsold for long enough, the companies are going to have to respond one way or another.
Exactly! They have now formalized the discounts that were being offered, so that the base prices are around that of the Vento/Verna.

Its important to find out if the discounts offered prior to the price cuts, were from the dealers or from Honda themselves. If it were from dealers AND this price cut is from Honda, then the "baseline" has changed, and we could expect discounts. Its the market that will decide if there will need to be further discounts based on the sales & discounts from competition.

That apart, City EMT is true VFM now if anyone is looking for a petrol car in the C segment.

Another thing to consider, Vento diesel is now going to cost 20K more (and much more in the south due to higher road tax). If most folks are driving less than 50kms per day, the higher price paid upfront for diesel (and the interest piece if the car is bought on loan) might take a while to break-even. Crude prices seem to be cooling off
Need to watch them futher as this might be a blip though..
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Old 19th June 2011, 00:05   #283
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Re: Honda India slashes the City's price by Rs. 44,000 - 66,000!

Honda's since their OHC launch are termed as 'over priced' cars; and i completely agree with it. The price cut is obviously a welcome move by Honda, although i still do not regret paying the 'premium', on my Honda's, when i bought them. For me, they still stand a VFM proposition with the Japanese reliability, engine refinement, butter smooth tranny's, excellent resale value and the simple pleasure of driving one. If the Vento, New Verna, New Fiesta, and the current Honda city were to be priced exactly the same in the future, I would still pick the City. Similarly, if the Jazz directly competed with the Polo, i20, Figo, Punto, Fabia etc., in prices, i would have still picked up the Jazz. Honda makes good cars. You cannot deny that. And, I believe, every Honda owner on this forum would agree with me on that!
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Old 19th June 2011, 08:32   #284
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Re: Honda India slashes the City's price by Rs. 44,000 - 66,000!

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Originally Posted by cityvic View Post
Guys any idea if the civic prices are also being cut down?
Its because I'm planning to buy a civic and the dealer is just giving me 30% disc on Insurance.No Loyalty Bonus also.
Please refer to my post here.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ml#post2397205
I read your post and since was heading to the dealership, found out what the best possible offer is right now, well atleast the best i could manage.
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Old 19th June 2011, 09:42   #285
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Re: Honda India slashes the City's price by Rs. 44,000 - 66,000!

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Originally Posted by vb-san View Post
Yes, and for the first time, I felt that City is showing its age. The said face-lift in the later part of the year will be hugely beneficial.
In addition to the cosmetic changes, what is required are all round discs (old vTec had it), and things like Climate Control, rear parking sensors/ camera. The first time I was scared reversing a car (after 35+ years) was the City in 2008! With modern high waistlines this is now becoming endemic.
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