[MCR]

Originally Posted by anandjha

Maruti fleecing customers. Bad move by the brand which has seen constant dip in its norms. First bullying the strikers, second, buying out the leaders (I'm sure it must even have threatened them in connivance with the govt.) and third increasing the price in the name of rising input cost. The car would still sell but the company is on the path to losing its respect.

Times are only getting tougher each day for all the prospective Swift owners. They wait patiently, against all odds, price hikes and what nots.
Later the government may move in ( in all possibilities - defenitely) and remove the subsidy / increase the tax on diesel cars. By then the whole point of buying a diesel car would have become a stressful excersice.

[revintup]

Whats wrong in hiking the price. They are unable to meet the demand for diesels and so it makes proper business sense to charge a premium for a product thats selling so well.

If anybody's to blame it is the govt for the 25rs difference in diesel petrol prices.

Dont see anybody saying no a maruti for a Rs 10,000 hike. And if a lot of them do cancel the booking, then prices will be reverted, no matter what the input costs are.

Come on guys, its business and what sells always commands a premium.

Wouldnt you have done the same if you were heading maruti? Its not a non-profitable organisation out there to save you money. Take it if you need it, else just jump the wagon.

[download2live]

Indians do not like to change their thinking. There are a lot of worthy cars well priced below "8 lacs" on road Swift highest variant. If they still want to hang on to Maruti Swift for old times sake then all I can say is "Its their money guys." . Let them spend it the way they want. As simple as that. A rational man will quietly move over to a Figo, Ritz or Punto.

Maruti is doing a lot of "wrong" things now a days.
They way they dealt with Manesar fiasco by buying out the leaders rather than solving the basic issues or they way they are going out and out to fleece customers buying Diesel. Bad Bad Maruti.

[ethanhunt123]

Originally Posted by Rach

Unlike 2005, when old Swift was first launched, there are many options now at a lesser price. I think for about 50K less, you should get Punto MJD E+ variant, which is better built, has more boot, better suspension, albeit a little cheaper looking interiors. For 1 lakh less you should get Ford Figo Titanium Plus, which is may be little smaller in height, but matches Swift in other aspects. For about 1.5 lakh less, you should get Beat TDCi, which is much smaller with 3 cylinders, but has almost same boot as SWIFT. Unless, India gets over this hangover "Swift from Maruti is ultimate hatch ever made", they have every right to increase prices.

Punto MJD - Cheaper interiors, sluggish pickup, bad resale, lackluster A.S.S., Fiat's track record in supporting their cars

Vista - Centre speedo console, "Taxi" image, Tata niggles, TASS woes

Ford Figo - No match in performance, no Rear Power Windows, lots of niggles (check other threads), dated looking

Beat - Cramped interiors, Hit or Miss Styling, 3 cylinder diesel unfit for highways

Polo - 3 cylinder engine, lacklustre pre-sales, unknown ***, high service costs, low dealer network

i20 - no fun to drive, steering issues

Ritz - Styling not to many people's tastes, handling not upto Swift's mark

So is there really an option to Swift Diesel ? If only i10 came with a diesel heart. Until then just look at Swift numbers and the competition numbers.

[shashank.nk]

Originally Posted by Rach

Unlike 2005, when old Swift was first launched, there are many options now at a lesser price. I think for about 50K less, you should get Punto MJD E+ variant, which is better built, has more boot, better suspension, albeit a little cheaper looking interiors. For 1 lakh less you should get Ford Figo Titanium Plus, which is may be little smaller in height, but matches Swift in other aspects. For about 1.5 lakh less, you should get Beat TDCi, which is much smaller with 3 cylinders, but has almost same boot as SWIFT. Unless, India gets over this hangover "Swift from Maruti is ultimate hatch ever made", they have every right to increase prices.

Well, i drove all cars you've mentioned except the Beat before booking a swift and here's why i decided against them:

Figo: Many owners reporting engine stalling issues, no fix from Ford yet. More than enough to chuck this car. Drive wise also, its ages behind a Swift when it comes to FTD factor.

Beat: Simply can't digest the looks didn't even bother to do a TD.

Punto 90HP: About 20k more than the ZDI, agree with all you've mentioned, is certainly a very competitive car. I need a city car so the Punto with thick A-pillars, long clutch, and huge turning radius wasn't an ideal choice really.

The i20 has steering rattling issues and is expensive to maintain (almost the same as our Octavia), Polo simply doesn't justify the price tag with a noisy 3-pot engine.

We can go on and on arguing about a car's plus' and minuses', but Swift as an overall package, save for the boot, waiting period and the price(recovered when you sell it!) is a no brainer really.So you see, there's still no worthy alternative to the Swift.

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by diesel_power

Maruti says that the cost increase is due to appreciating yen and rising input costs. Raise in the cost of Ritz is Rs 2k while rest of diesels models is 10k. This raises a few doubts in my mind:

1. As the rise is only for diesel models, why 10k increase in all models while just 2k in Ritz? Is the Ritz engine manufactured using sub-standard quality material ?? or the other models are build using some special material??

IMO it might be a marketing strategy to push some of the customers from Swift to Ritz. Obviously there are many customers who just want to stick with Maruti and with Swift being expensive they will opt for Ritz which is cheaper with the same engine. Next three months sales number will give a better picture on this.

[CRtorquefan]

That's really a pathetic move by MSIL, especially at the time when Raw material pricing are facing downwards. What material costs rise MSIL is talking about.

or Is it about the payoffs paid to resigned workers !

Just wondering, by the time My July booked ZDi arrives, it'll become expensive by Rs.20-30k as compared to price at its introduction.
OMG, Rs.7.2 lacs (OTR Punjab) for Maruti Suzuki & that's too for rattly & flimsy Swift seems to be a No.. No.
Or its the time really came to think about something else.

[diesel_power]

Originally Posted by CRtorquefan

That's really a pathetic move by MSIL, especially at the time when Raw material pricing are facing downwards. What material costs rise MSIL is talking about.

or Is it about the payoffs paid to resigned workers !

Just wondering, by the time My July booked ZDi arrives, it'll become expensive by Rs.20-30k as compared to price at its introduction.

CRtorquefan, if you had booked the car in July, you should have got it by now. I had booked the VDi in August 1st week, and got it in Oct 2nd week. I think you need to clarify it with your dealer. This is too much of a delay.

[CRtorquefan]

Originally Posted by diesel_power

if you had booked the car in July, you should have got it by now. I had booked the VDi in August 1st week, and got it in Oct 2nd week. I think you need to clarify it with your dealer. This is too much of a delay.

Condition of MSIL dealers & Swift deliveries in Punjab is worst.
Most of the dealers are delivering Swift for the April 2011 orders & that's too Swift VDi's mostly.
Even I haven't seen a Newly delivered Swift ZDi on road from long time.


Even mailed to the MSIL Customer care & they reverted back the query to the dealer where I've booked my car & yesterday received the letter from the letter, quoting;

'We wish to inform you that we are not in position to effect immediate delivery of your car due to Non availability of the same from Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.'

Still there seems to be remote chances of the delivery of my Swift this year. Even before getting my car delivered, I'm coming across daily on the shortcomings of the New Swift.
But after hearing the latter & price increase, I'm Probably switching my booking to a VW(Vento/Polo) or a Skoda Rapid(if its sensibly priced).
Though my cousin is also insisting me to stay away from 7-lakh+ hatchback & that's too Maruti Suzuki, as he's a Recent proud owner of Ford Figo TITANIUM in New Delhi.

[muni]

Originally Posted by ethanhunt123

Punto MJD - Cheaper interiors, sluggish pickup, bad resale, lackluster A.S.S., Fiat's track record in supporting their cars

Vista - Centre speedo console, "Taxi" image, Tata niggles, TASS woes

Ford Figo - No match in performance, no Rear Power Windows, lots of niggles (check other threads), dated looking

Beat - Cramped interiors, Hit or Miss Styling, 3 cylinder diesel unfit for highways

Polo - 3 cylinder engine, lacklustre pre-sales, unknown ***, high service costs, low dealer network

i20 - no fun to drive, steering issues

Ritz - Styling not to many people's tastes, handling not upto Swift's mark

So is there really an option to Swift Diesel ? If only i10 came with a diesel heart. Until then just look at Swift numbers and the competition numbers.

From your post it looks like you like swift passionately than the other cars. Believe me there are a lot of people buying Swift/other maruti products with eyes closed which they dont do with other cars.

Ritz is a far better/practical car than swift for the price it sells and the only drawback being its rear looks. Quality of the new swift is still not spectacular as what is percieved. To me it is priced atleast 30 to 40K more than what it deserves.

Maruti has a crazy brand recall when it comes to decent looking hatchbacks

[ACM]

I guess when one is not able to suppy as per the demand - with a long wait period. It makes sense to encash the demand in the meanwhile. They could again drop prices if they feel the heat of competion at some point of time.

Success does seem to be getting to the head for both Maruti and Hyundai and their cars are not not really that well priced and we are paying the premium for presumed peace of mind and presumed better and known bigger service networks.

[swiftnfurious]

This is simply "making hay while sun shines". So the reason Maruti puts it across for the hike is rising raw material costs? And then why the difference in price on different models, which ranges from 2K-10K?

Well again, are these raw materials unique to diesel engines? Why there is no hike on petrol cars? As some one said, I agree this is how the business model works. Unless considerable bookings are canceled on this account, there are minimal chances that these will be reverted. Also what I know is that the price of previous gen Swift was raised to a clean 30K in a span of 3 years. Frankly I don't think there is going to be any cancellations; after all it's a 10K !

And it defies my logic when some people say, I can buy a swift if it's 7.95L but NOT at 8.05L !!

[San Phrangmung]

Girls like the Swift, so boys havveee to buy it, its that simple.

Swift is sexy, Swift is modern, Swift is a style statement, the Swift aura attracts the right bodies as the men on wheel wish for.

And thats simply not the case with any other car no matter what. Its got a magical spell sort of.

A Swift buyer will get all the good things in life while the rest gets the rejects or left overs. Thats the kind of brand Swift is.

[arindambasu13]

There already was a price hike in the extended warranty by around 2k last month. Now another 10k, total of 12k hike in prices already. Now, with most deliveries maturing next year first quarter or so, I wonder what the on road price will be when one actually gets delivery of the car. I booked the car at 6.8 lakhs, and I am having to mentally prepare for a 7+ lakhs on road price. And this is the VDI, without ABS or airbags or the other bells and whistles. For a ZDI owner, the price will probably be 8 lakhs plus soon

[arindambasu13]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Why there is no hike on petrol cars? As some one said, I agree this is how the business model works.

This is nothing but marketing strategy. With there being very few takers for the petrol variant, even though it is a highly competent machine, MSIL has probably been hesitant to push their luck any further by raising prices any further.