[anjan_c2007]

The Mahindra XUV 500 was launched with much fanfare and has been looked forward as a newgen SUV at an affordable price.It has truly done M&M and India proud.
The launch was done on schedule, bookings opened in the metros only and the deliveries commenced. After 8000 bookings the "circuit breaker" at M&M stopped any further booking.
The point is that for the first time a company has discriminated its buyers on a city to city/metro basis.The launch was solely in the metros only and the lesser cities and dealerships were out of M&M's purview - in other words to buy or drive a XUV500 one needed to be around or in a metro. The city and town dwellers were considered children of a lesser God and for the first time ever perhaps, discriminated against by an automobile company.
The 8000 SUV's could have been bought by all desirous buyers at every dealership of M&M.
The moot point is that Porsche, Rolls Royce,Ferrari,Jaguar, BMW ,Mercedes Benz and others have dealerships and buyers in select metros and cities being niche products. They don't have dealers in smaller towns and lesser cities. M&M has dealers in every nook and corner.
So why such a discrimination by Mahindra for no valid and justifiable reason ?

[libranof1987]

Something on the similar lines has been reported by tsk1979 :

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ml#post2562504

[SDP]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

The point is that for the first time a company has discriminated its buyers on a city to city/metro basis.The launch was solely in the metros only and the lesser cities and dealerships were out of M&M's purview - in other words to buy or drive a XUV500 one needed to be around or in a metro. The city and town dwellers were considered children of a lesser God and for the first time ever perhaps, discriminated against by an automobile company.
The 8000 SUV's could have been bought by all desirous buyers at every dealership of M&M.
The moot point is that Porsche, Rolls Royce,Ferrari,Jaguar, BMW ,Mercedes Benz and others have dealerships and buyers in select metros and cities being niche products. They don't have dealers in smaller towns and lesser cities. M&M has dealers in every nook and corner.
So why such a discrimination by Mahindra for no valid and justifiable reason ?

It would be interesting to note that existing dealerships were propped up for the launch of XUV5OO. Separate staff deployed directly from Mahindra at the dealership, dedicated RMs deployed (again directly from Mahindra), possibly even the service staff would have gone through XUV-specific training. Can all this realistically be done for ALL the dealers all over India? Yes, its doable, but I believe Mahindra chose not to wait for the infrastructure to catch up completely before the launch. Start small, stabilize and then expand. Seems like a logical approach. Just my 2 cents.

[mallumowgli]

As SDP said, this is the strategy adopted by all manufacturers - not only Mahindra or Toyota. Palakkad Tata-Fiat showroom got a Tjet much much later - even the sales guy was not even aware of such a model. Force Motors showroom here does not have a Force one. Perhaps thats how life is!!

[Nikhilb2008]

We work with M&M behind the scenes and it's a huge challenge making ALL the dealerships ready for a new vehicle. This is the main reason why the XUV 500 was launched only in metros initially.

They are still in the process of setting up many dealerships across the country. Obviously the priority is to focus on dealerships in the big cities.

[Saanil]

Mahindra were not sure how their product will be perceived by the indian masses as it was a very bold move this of Mahindra. Instead of going all out on this product - they played the waiting game - launch in select cities - see how the market reacts to it. IF people like it they will surely expand to other cities too - I mean more sales is something every car manufacturer wants. I understand that people who want to buy them are not able to do so simply because they do not stay in a particular city is frustrating but then you cannot blame a company when they want to play safe.

[Yeldo]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

The point is that for the first time a company has discriminated its buyers on a city to city/metro basis.
The city and town dwellers were considered children of a lesser God and for the first time ever perhaps, discriminated against by an automobile company.

I've wondered too, are we non- Metro buyers paying in Sri Lankan Rupees? Similarly, Toyota sells BS4 versions of the Innova only in metros.

M&M did this earlier also. When the Scorpio CRDe was launch, it was limited to the metros. I happened to buy one in Channai, and do you know, the Kochi people refused to service it at first!

[swiftnfurious]

I feel this is indeed a good move. By doing this M&M has actually a good hold on the issues and could track it easier for feedback. Imagine the car sold all over & people reporting different issues, the difficulty in consolidating the feedback and what not. And from what I have seen, M&M has gone one step ahead and have been giving top class CE. Compare their attitude & efficiency with TATA Aria! M&M has already brought a lot of improvements and now when the car is rolled out to the rest of the country, it's going to be a better product. I would rather get a delayed better product than a hastily bought niggle product and then cursing why did I put my money on it.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

The Mahindra XUV 500 was launched with much fanfare and has been looked forward as a newgen SUV at an affordable price.It has truly done M&M and India proud.
The launch was done on schedule, bookings opened in the metros only and the deliveries commenced. After 8000 bookings the "circuit breaker" at M&M stopped any further booking.

M&M has dealers in every nook and corner.
So why such a discrimination by Mahindra for no valid and justifiable reason ?

My 2 cents - they probably planned a step by step launch, initially starting with the metros and then going into Tier 1 & Tier 2 cities. But what they probably didn't expect the bookings to go up so fast.

But whether your point about discrimination is valid would be seen once they open up the booking again (have they?). Logic states that by now they should have got the non-metro city dealers ready for booking. Would be interesting to see how they go about it.

[Motoringlover]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

My 2 cents - they probably planned a step by step launch, initially starting with the metros and then going into Tier 1 & Tier 2 cities. But what they probably didn't expect the bookings to go up so fast.

My thoughts similar ninjatalli - again I would probably also include that any production process also factors in reasonable demand for the product, I guess in this case they did not expect such an overwhelming response. I feel the bookings may begin across once they have planned for the production capacity.

Best - ML

[phamilyman]

Anjan,

Your basic point is moot - the company could've planned a similar blitz for the smaller towns - maybe definitely Tier-II (or a stepwise Tier-II/III) coverage should've been planned for sure. They surely have the scale to do so. They could've done lots of things - maybe a staggered launch, separate delivery quota etc etc.

And before we forget, the customers there have the buying power. And often in cash. Has anyone forgotten the 101 Mercs ordered in Aurangabad? (iirc)

So yes, its a stupid (possibly intentional) mistake by M&M.

What is sad is that the Indian market's demand-supply scenario in this segment is so skewed that they will just not be punished by the customers. But maybe, just maybe, come Merlin - the customer will have adequate choice again and will be King! Maybe then will Mahindra learn its lesson the only way cos. understand - by loss in marketshare. But as of now, the XUV has got the segment in its pocket!!

Time only will tell.

[SkyWalker]

I don't necessarily agree its a concern, Anjan. Looking at it the other way, Mahindra is struggling with satisfying existing customer demand just with cities. It would have been much worse if they had released it all over India.

This way they get maximum bang for their buck, and also at least ensures reasonable service to the focus group. I am sure they will launch it pan India when they have better control on the demand -supply equation. Probably within 6 months of launch.

Like it or not, this is now becoming a common trend among manufacturers. I cant blame them.

[avira_tk]

Mahindra has done the right thing by launching the XUV in metros only. Their existing dealerships are hardly capable of converting car buyers, the scale up of after sales before the launch will ensure better customer satisfaction. If Mahindra produced 5000 units a month and sold them through all their dealers, the profits would be wonderful but response to customer feedback, like the changes made after the initial batch hit the roads, would have taken much longer/ may have never happened.
The slower rollout will mean that unlike Aria buyers who have to rub shoulders with cabbies, XUV buyers will have a much better experience. We have a Bolero at home, being our second car, the service doesn't matter much.The vehicle being rugged and simple, nothing really goes wrong, but buying an XUV at the same dealer if the XUV was going to be our primary car is definitely out of the question.

[nevertouchme]

I think this is not the first time and I don't think it's majorly a concern. If you remember, Ford once revamped Ford Endeavour with 2.5 L & 3.0 L TCDI and I read the press release that stated currently available in Punjab and Andrapradesh only.

Had the market blew their projections and instead of 8k cars, were there only 1k bookings, then scene would have been different.

[Geo_Ipe]

Even though the non metro folks might be a little unhappy about this strategy by MM, I really don't think its an unwise move from them.

The XUV's a loaded product. Its got a lot of gizmos Mahindra delaers wouldn't even had heard of in the past! So in the unfortunate event of a malfunction, the local MM service station's gonna be left clueless and will have for assistance to arrive from the company. That shall lead to unnecessary service delays, which can hamper the image of a newly launched car. I remember reading about someone form Pune having got 2 Tata Aria's for his company, and how he's struggling with his local service station to sort the 'niggles' out! That too, despite being in Pune!

Another important factor is the demand-supply ratio. Noone wants another Honda Jazz like situation where noone is sure of when the delivery can be made even after three months of booking the car, does anyone??

Maybe an unpleasant situation, but for the better I feel.