[noopster]

VW and customer-centric?

Hell, I am a Vento owner but even I wouldn't go that far!

Ask me- or any of the dozens of VW owners on the forums who have had an almost-uniformly pathetic pre-sales experience.

And since most of these cars are less than a year old, it's too soon to call them on service.

So what exactly are you basing this on? A couple of predictable changes based on general feedback is hardly customer-centric.

I'd say Hyundai, Maruti, even Ford are much more customer-centric than VW. These companies have invested in India for the long term and built a service network and a brand to be proud of.

Give VW time. If they do turn out to be the most customer-centric aut maker in India, you won't find me complaining!

[rajess_in]

Interesting!!

Let me put in my views (from my association with these!).

TATA

1. No diesel hatch in the affordable range at the time (except may be ambassador & Palio) - The Tata Indica. It has almost 6 variants having almost all features you look forward in a car. Now thats' customization for you. Remember, it is one car that was designed for the entire family to travel in comfort.

2. When u were looking to save money for a scooter / bike, the nano comes to mind. Thats' ingenuity for you. Now everyone wants to jump in.

3. Now who thought a diesel SUV at 10 Lakhs would mean same pride and status as the bigger ones? Then arrives the Safari. Now thats' vision for you.

4. When every one was bored by the cramped cabs / padminis - the Indicab rolled in.

5. If autos meant a real time horror to most, the magics & iris flew in. Thats true customer focus as a end user.

Mahindra

1. when Safari was the only alternative to SUVs we had a killer in Scorpio.

2. Rural India images of riding in bullock carts changed with the parade of the Boleros (read status, reliability & affordability).

3. When enthusiasts cried over the death of the Major/Commander/ Jeep, came the Mahindra Thar. Now thats called Customer inspired Solutions.

4. Xylo put the sedans in spot (in pricing) bringing the VFM factor a few notches higher.

Now, many might nag about various quality issues, apprehensions over style / looks, Service / Dealer experience, etc. Always remember, it is a very good company that sells what you actually ask for, but the best give you something you had never asked, but had always dreamt of. That is where these two stand out in the industry.

Off Topic - The only reason Apple stands out is simply because thay gave products that none asked for, but always dreamt of.

[raj_5004]

I disagree. VW makes expensive cars & I feel their cars are not value for money. If they actually responded to customer feedback, they would have actually improved their service quality & network first.

Originally Posted by iSpoke

1. December, 2009 Polo was launched without electronic ORVM, lot of people complained about it. Polo the hot-hatch comes with manually adjustable rear-view mirrors, sigh! - Done
Ans. Polo now comes with EORVM

Yes, they increased the price to Rs. 3000. Thats okay. But at the same time, they removed rear power window swtiches on the driver's door in the Polo. What did they think? a person buying a 8 lakh hatch has to stop his car, get down & close rear windows???

They also removed one touch operation for windows & anti-pinch technology, now only driver's window is one touch.

they also removed the feature where one could open & close the windows with the remote key.

So, they are adding one feature & deleting three & increasing the price!

4. We have enough hue and cry for Polo/Vento lacking steering mounted controls and Bluetooth connectivity, if Swift/i20 have it why not Polo? - Doing
Ans. Enough scoops (Polo with new bluetooth stereo...) to support that such variants are already under test.

forget steering mounted controls & bluetooth, Swift & the competition have had USB or AUX facility for quite a long time. The polo & the Vento does not have this.

VW makes awesome cars, reasonably priced!

Because of all the above reasons, I dont think VW makes reasonable priced cars.

[Akshay1234]

You can't call VW customer centric because they added features which the car should have been launched with anyway. All the other hatches come with these features and more.

[atrisarkar]

I'm a bit confused here on what 'customer centric' exactly means. It may refer to:

1. Building cars for the 'Indian' consumer in mind. In this category obviously the TATAs and Mahindra-s will take the cake.
2. Messing up with the first launch and then releasing special editions or future revisions almost like developing it in an exploratory model. I won't say that comes under 'customer centric' as that's what they'll have to do to stay in business, otherwise it called being stupid. simple.
3. Going the extra mile in terms of A.S.S, pre-sales and customer care behavior. In this category in recent times I think Ford is doing all the right things.

[vb-saan]

For me, these are some parameters of being customer-centric.
1) Make the customer feel that s/he is important, and give him the feel that the company is here to serve the customer - Showroom experience and pre-sales interaction

2) Knowing the target customer and delivering ‘quality’ options to meet their requirement and beyond –Quality product, and flexibility for customizations is the key

3) Keep the customer relation intact, and take the pains to ensure that the customer is happy with his/her purchase – Here is where the A.S&S play a big role. Also keeping the customer updated about the latest developments also plays a big role. This helps in (a) repeat customers (b) word of mouth publicity / referrals from existing customers.

Now do we have a manufacturer who satisfies all the 3 above? Quite doubtful

Personally Ford has been almost fulfilling the 3 points mentioned above. My buying experience was pleasant, the A.S&S are very prompt with service reminders, pickup and delivery of the car, and their sales department contact me very often with details of new launches, and also possible upgrade options (sometimes they are misinformed is a different matter altogether )

When I interacted with Honda and Fiat, they were pretty good in points #1 and #2. I can comment on #3 only if I have purchased something from them. Skoda failed on #1, and VW was quite passive.

[souravc]

I nearly flipped when I read that VW was being bracketed as customer centric, my buying experience certainly didn't leave that impression and I believe that its the most important parameter of a customer centric approach. That apart, the VW family does churn out fantastic cars . I think in India , till now VW has been more competition centric rather than customer centric.
I strongly disagree with the view that VW is not right pricing their products - I think right pricing has been central to their approach in India (and China) where they have kept some leeway inspite of their badge premium (by VW here I do not include Skoda) Thats my conclusion when I see the pricing of Vento , Passat and Polo and their target audience

[roy_libran]

Okay, I guess people have pretty much nailed the top end of the list of manufacturers, in the post above.
So, here is my take on who make up the bottom end of the list. Here are three of them:
Bottom of the heap = Mitsubishi (HM) - Customers... Who?
Next Two = M&M (They want to show that they listen, but actually they give a damn - e.g. Thar) and Force (Not even sure whether they count any more)...

I was tempted to add Tata to that list, but I would rate them somewhere in between because they seem to be making efforts, although with limited success.

[Daewood]

Originally Posted by souravc

I think in India , till now VW has been more competition centric rather than customer centric.

+1.
Not only VW, it's the case with almost all carmakers in India.
They bring about these changes for their own survival than for anything else.

Originally Posted by dhanushs

Why do you think the Ford Fiesta 1.6 S had been launched? By the looks of it, even Figo might get the 'S' badging soon.

It's been said many times in the forum that Fiesta S is Ford's gift to Indian enthusiasts. But in reality it's part of a bigger game called Branding. It's like someone saying that " X" company brought a celebrity to perform in their town, for the benefit of its residents, when in reality it's to build their own brand.The brand mileage that Ford gets out of selling Fiesta S is much bigger than the profits or losses they make on it, as sales is miniscule.

[Latheesh]

Customer centric manufacturer in India? None!

Competition make them to do those mods. Do it otherwise you out of the market!..

But 10 years down the line I would love to see MM and TATA in the list.

[ghodlur]

Most of the so called customer centric manufacturers relent to the customers demand by offering them limited editions. Ford is typically known for that and most of the manufacturers do follow the trend once started to just up the ante.

I have heard many a manufacturers saying during the product launches that the car has been designed by the Indian engineers and for the Idian junta. Nano is an example of that.

[patil]

Hyundai, Tata, Maruti and Chevrolet in the specific order.

Hyundai because it has wide range starting from Santro to Santa Fe. Low cost of ownership, most feature rich cars for reasonable prices and all their recent launches such as i10, i20 and so on confirm to euro NCAP standards which goes to show that they are concerned about safety of both the passengers and the pedastrians.

Tata, Maruti and Chevy cos they offer real value for money products and are reasonably reliable and easy to maintain. In fact Chevy's free maintainance for three years is a great deal for first time buyers and short term owners also.

We are discussing about the manufactures who are customer centric and not the ones who make drivers cars or who are having the so called snob value.