[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by searacer932

S-cross is surely a flop. S-Cross's competitor Creta has been selling 7K-8K consistently every month since launch. S-cross is around 2K only,

2000 units might sound sure shot flop in case of other small cars Maruti sell, but not in the 12L - 14L range the SCross operates in. The ultimate cars of that segment like the Creta and City sell 7k and 5k units respectively which makes the S-Cross a average seller, rather than a flop.

But, in other ways you can say it MIGHT flop in future if the sales go downwards from here.

Originally Posted by searacer932

in spite of the price cut and Maruti's strong A.S.S

First of all, after sales networks dont sell cars, dealers do! And NEXA has much lesser presence than even of the smallers players in the country as of now.

Take Karnataka for example. Normal Maruti dealer network covers over 200 towns including cities with most places having multiples dealers. NEXA covers only bangalore and mangalore cities alone. 2 against 200! No matter how many service stations are there, most people wont travel hundreds of kilometers to purchase a car, when similar price range products from same company (Ciaz) and other brands are available closer to town.

I believe sales of SCross and Baleno (against Swift) should improve once the NEXA network expands.

Originally Posted by searacer932

S-Cross is selling only around 2K in it's first year, so I will not be surprised if the numbers drop down further.

Petrol variant, automatic option and even the facelift is in the pipeline. Too soon to predict the volumes will drop just like that.

PS - The 1.6 variant (although a brilliant car) is a flop. It is almost discontinued as well now.

[vijayvelprakash]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Take Karnataka for example. Normal Maruti dealer network covers over 200 towns including cities with most places having multiples dealers. NEXA covers only bangalore and mangalore cities alone. 2 against 200! No matter how many service stations are there, most people wont travel hundreds of kilometers to purchase a car, when similar price range products from same company (Ciaz) and other brands are available closer to town.

I believe sales of SCross and Baleno (against Swift) should improve once the NEXA network expands.



Petrol variant, automatic option and even the facelift is in the pipeline. Too soon to predict the volumes will drop just like that.

PS - The 1.6 variant (although a brilliant car) is a flop. It is almost discontinued as well now.

I think you have nailed it . The numbers should improve one we have more Nexa showrooms.

[searacer932]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

First of all, after sales networks dont sell cars, dealers do! And NEXA has much lesser presence than even of the smallers players in the country as of now.

Take Karnataka for example. Normal Maruti dealer network covers over 200 towns including cities with most places having multiples dealers. NEXA covers only bangalore and mangalore cities alone. 2 against 200! No matter how many service stations are there, most people wont travel hundreds of kilometers to purchase a car, when similar price range products from same company (Ciaz) and other brands are available closer to town.

Excellent! Datsun Go and Go+ are not flops either , going by your argument, and if are to consider the number of Nissan-Datsun showrooms we have in India. When a comparable product is available in nearby Maruti why would somebody want to buy Go and Go+. Nissan do not even have 200 showrooms in entire India. Maruti have 200 in Karnataka itself.

And this was Maruti's own target last year - to sell 4K-5K units and they are struggling to hit 50% of even that and that too in the first year since launch.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...w/48381953.cms

"We have set an internal target of selling 4,000 to 5,000 units of S-Cross a month, and capacity can be ramped up or down depending on demand," Executive Director and Head of Marketing and Sales, T Hashimoto said here after launching the S-Cross today, priced at Rs 8.8 lakh to Rs 14.5 lakh, ex-showroom, Mumbai.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by searacer932

Excellent! Datsun Go and Go+ are not flops either , going by your argument

Good twist. I've already clearly explained this and my view of Datsun few posts earlier. Nothing much to add, so let's wait and watch few months, shall we?

Let's see how many defence will come one year down the line for the numbers for Go and Go+. With the launch of Redi Go, these already insignificant products have become obsolete.

Originally Posted by searacer932

And this was Maruti's own target last year - to sell 4K-5K units and they are struggling to hit 50% of even that and that too in the first year since launch.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...w/48381953.cms

Brilliant. Thanks for that. Like I said, 50% of target is still a respectable number in this segment and makes it an average seller. It can go either up or down as a flop depending on how Maruti reacts for the next few months.

I'm of the opinion it will go up with the introduction of showrooms, petrol and automatic options, facelift etc. You can have the opposite view for sure, but the results can only be seen few months down the line.

[saleem_k]

One famous flop car in our market was the Chevy SRV. I purchased a well-maintained preowned one in 2013 and sold it in 2015 as I was moving to a different city. I must say that this car didn't flop because of the reliability or the features it offered but because the design was too ahead of its time and also the petrol engine wasn't known for its mileage. At the same time the prices were slightly premium considering the body style and our Indian mindset.

In my almost two years of ownership I drove a little over 10k kilometers to different destinations, with friends and at least with 3-4 on-board most of the times and the way this car cruises at top speeds is unbelievable. The build quality is excellent and today's i20s or Jazzs are nothing compared to this car. The space inside trumps today's Jazz car easily and the width was sufficient to accommodate 3 healthy individuals at the back. I would have retained the car for life, especially since I bought it at a great bargain but for the notoriety of Chevy service in Hyderabad. If you ask me for the negatives of this car, I would say a a slightly low set backseat and soft suspension that sometimes led to under-body hits especially when 5 individuals would be in the car but again this was quite rare and on very bad roads, moreover the underbody was very well protected.

I can go on and on because of the positive ownership experience and the unlimited fun I had with this car but I miss it too and it makes me very nostalgic just thinking about the trips I made in this car and the safety with which it brought us back every time without complaints.

[searacer932]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Good twist. I've already clearly explained this and my view of Datsun few posts earlier. Nothing much to add, so let's wait and watch few months, shall we?

Let's see how many defence will come one year down the line for the numbers for Go and Go+. With the launch of Redi Go, these already insignificant products have become obsolete.

I ain't a defender, nor was trying to provide a twist but rather pointed out a flaw in your argument and used the argument to build a case against your defence of s-cross where you linked the sales numbers with the number of dealer outlets to reach a conclusion but apparently that conclusion was not applicable when another party put a similar case forward for Go and Go+. So, two similar scenarios but your conclusions were different is what I tried to bring forward.

Sure, let's wait and watch the results down the line.

[ubermeow]

Originally Posted by searacer932

India's no#1 car manufacturer, Maruti, has produced a number of flop cars!!

- AStar
- Ritz
- Baleno Sedan
- SX4
- Kizashi
- Zen Estilo
- Versa

We can now add the following recent cars to that list
- Celerio
- S-Cross

I wonder how you came to the conclusion that RITZ is a flop??

[400notout]

Originally Posted by searacer932

And this was Maruti's own target last year - to sell 4K-5K units and they are struggling to hit 50% of even that and that too in the first year since launch.

Let me add. When we talk of numbers its important to look at the car itself as well as the company behind it.

2-3k units is less considering Maruti's standards. But let us not forget they are reinventing themselves at the premium segment.

Ciaz managed to prove itself worthy, (mainly because its price undercuts the city by a lakh) but the S-cross had a different task at hand.

The S-cross is a "crossover" pitted against Creta a "Compact SUV". Had it been an extended and a plusher version of the Vitara brezza,

things would have surely been different. Also Nexa limited its reach.

For its body type, it does decent numbers IMO. Creta though expensive is still an "SUV".Maruti have been brave here.

I doubt any other manufacturer would have been able to pull off such a body-type at this price point.

I dont see any similarity in them except the price-points at which they sell. Its like choosing between the Ford Figo and KUV 100.

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

50% of target is still a respectable number in this segment and makes it an average seller. It can go either up or down as a flop depending on how Maruti reacts for the next few months.

I'm of the opinion it will go up with the introduction of showrooms, petrol and automatic options, facelift etc. You can have the opposite view for sure, but the results can only be seen few months down the line.

With all that it still might not out-do Creta, but IMO calling it a flop would be a quite inappropriate.

[timuseravan]

Worldover Suzuki sells the Vitara (not Breeza) 1.6 diesel variants at about the same price as the SCross. For the life of me I cant understand why Maruti did not consider the Vitara for India in place of SCross.
Just imagine, the Vitara at the price of SCross - it would have been a success with wait times approaching the Creta.

[volkman10]

Originally Posted by timuseravan

Worldover Suzuki sells the Vitara (not Breeza) 1.6 diesel variants at about the same price as the SCross.

Here is the break-up of Europe sales for both the cars.
Suzuki for not bringing the Vitara is mystery still. But as heard the Vitara could be introduced in the higher trim and need to see if this happens.




Source of data - Left-Lane

[HyperRetard]

Is it time to include the Mobilio and the BR-V?

[jbpanda]

Originally Posted by searacer932

India's no#1 car manufacturer, Maruti, has produced a number of flop cars!!

- AStar
- Ritz
- Baleno Sedan
- SX4
- Kizashi
- Zen Estilo
- Versa

We can now add the following recent cars to that list
- Celerio
- S-Cross

Do not quite agree with you on Ritz and Celerio being flop.

Ritz may be relatively less popular as compared to Swift because of its 'like it or hate it' rear profile but definitely did good numbers as compared to many other car manufacturers. Excellent car with a brilliant suspension and overall quality. Most of the Bhpians who own one including me love the car. I have done 95K in my 2011 VDi and it drives great. Though Maruti stopped manufacturing it for other reasons but it did quite decently and consistently all throughout.

Similarly, Celerio may be relatively less popular as compared to Wagon R but it's one of the top 10 selling cars even as on date. The CNG version is a popular choice for Cab drivers in Delhi NCR. Though the Diesel is indeed a flop but the Petrol variant and AMT are doing great.

Even S-Cross for that matter of late has been quite popular atleast on Delhi NCR roads.

[bhaskar.guru]

Originally Posted by jbpanda

Ritz may be relatively less popular as compared to Swift because of its 'like it or hate it' rear profile

Absolutely. Ritz though not as successful as Swift is by no means a failure. I loved the car when we went on a road trip in my friend's car from Hyd-Blr-Munnar-Guruvayur-Blr-Hyd.

It was so stable and fun with 4 adults in it and so spacious.

[dhruvritzed]

IMO, if the ritz is a flop, i don't know what is the definition of a hit car
The original 1st gen i20 sold very similar numbers and is declared a super hit
The ritz surely is a way better vfm product than the celerio priced close to it, had a stonker of an engine, read:not the de tuned 1.2 we see in the swift vvt and baleno, neither was it a super light build
And for all those who like numbers, google up and check which cars have sold more than 4 lakh units, number won't cross 15

[petrolhead_chn]

I have been thinking about the discontinued and failure models of cars and the way the manufacturers approach it. I don't want to highlight or discuss about resale value, discounts, offers, etc., for which there are dedicated threads. I thought I could post the topic and read what my fellow mates think about it.

Every car is designed and rolled out with highest hopes that it will win scores of hearts thereby boosting the sales revenue and market share. However few cars fail to win the hearts and it is eventually tagged as 'failure model'. Such models are still being sold with or without offers. Uninformed buyers fall prey to such offers and end up taking a bad decision. In a year, the resale value takes a face down hit even before it is discontinued. Eventually there will be a day when this 'failure model' will be discontinued and the plight of the owner can't be explained just in case if he wants to sell/exchange. The buyer loses the 'feel good factor'. I feel there should be a different approach from the manufacturer towards such 'failure models'.

Now, consider an already discontinued model coming in for exchange/sale at the manufacturer's dealer outlet. Can you imagine? Yes! These models can be sold in the market at a fair price but only if the buyer is innocent or a first time buyer or sheer luck. The hassles such as RTO, name transfer ,etc., is simply painful which makes us go to the exchange options with dealer. When one turns to the manufacturers' outlet for an exchange, the value quoted by them is so disheartening. This is the area where manufacturers should rework. Imagine an assurance from manufacturer that even discontinued models earn respect and good value when you bring it back to them, it just might be reassuring to the customer.

Be it failure or discontinued models, I feel the manufacturer has to have a revamped approach which just might reassure the buyer and ease the decision making process. Of course the manufacturer has to make profit and that will eventually come in with more sales.

Few thoughts that strike to me-

1. When a car's fate is sealed as 'failure model' the manufacturer has to act upon immediately and provide guaranteed resale value basis the condition of car over the new years.
2. Provide additional free services over and above the current free services.
3. Provide 'special attention' to buyers of such models by frequent interactions through emails, texts or even over the telephone to ensure the car is doing well and if they are planning for an exchange, etc.,
4. Provide freebies and discounts on 'unique accessories' after the purchase every year or once in 6 months or even replacing few consumables FOC.

[With some or all of the above the buyer would not feel that he has made a bad decision. Instead he just might feel special as he is getting more than he has expected. And eventually the car though tagged as 'failure model' would be bought by the masses if the manufacturer lives up to the commitments.]

5. Provide additional exchange bonus on discontinued models that comes in for exchange at their outlet.
6. Provide additional warranty or discount on spares for discontinued models.
7. Zero labour charges on particular jobs for discontinued models.

I am not sure if I am going overboard with such expectations from our manufacturers. I wish to read the opinions of our fellow mates too. Let the thoughts pour in.
The manufacturers' steps should directly benefit the buyer and provide the 'feel good factor' and ultimate peace of mind that he has taken a great decision.

MODS: Please merge this topic if there is an ongoing discussion on Manufacturer's approach towards failure and discontinued models. I couldn't find one and started a new topic. Thank you!