[fx45]

Tata needs to get better after sales service that's for sure. Currently at some service centers, a Nano gets serviced besides a Jaguar or a Land Rover and that surely doesnt go well with the Indian mentality atleast.

[vishygk]

Contrary to others who have commented,I feel this is a good thing as a customer.i don't think this is meant to increase sales over a long period,maybe more to clear stocks.

I believe TATA reliability is decent enough, they just need to work on Design and product marketing

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by fx45

Tata needs to get better after sales service that's for sure. Currently at some service centers, a Nano gets serviced besides a Jaguar or a Land Rover and that surely doesnt go well with the Indian mentality atleast.

Are you sure of this? As far as I know JLR vehicles are NOT serviced in TA$$ !

[vivekgk]

It's about time that Tata reduced prices. Right now, there's not much difference between the Vista and the competitors. Considering that Tata seems unable to provide an equalent level of build quality, at least the price should be accordingly reduced.

In 2010, our Indigo CS LX TDi cost 5.25 lacs OTR, and 5.08 after discounts, making it excellent value at the time. Now, it's priced at 6.5 lacs+. Tata gradually increased the prices across the range when the sales were going up, due to reasons such as reduced availability of competitor models, till it became at par with the competition. A reduction in price to normal Tata levels is exactly what is needed to push sales at this point. Right now, Tata cars are almost ridiculously overpriced. Hopefully, the prices will come down to such a level that we can think about upgrading to a Manza or a Vista D90!

[CRtorquefan]

Toyota Etios Liva & Ford Figo has taken over the crown of easy & cheap motoring, what TATA Indica once had half a decade ago & now they're left with the product what is hanging between the segments & other brand, quality & service niggles.
They've invested huge amounts of money in Indica Vista, Aria & Nano projects & after that they're left with not much in their hands to refurbish other products like Safari(thankfully they managed to push STORME in), Grande, Indigo CS(once segment pioneer).
I still miss their shelved MAGNA & PRIMA premium sedan projects.

IMHO, Now what they want to do or they can do with minor investments, as against previous ones:
-Pushing Indica eV2 further to price below, with its Diesel range beginning from Rs.3.8 lacs onwards.

-Refresh/facelift Vista range in the lines of proper hatchback, rather than overloading it with so-called sedan class CHROME lines. Manza-type driver oriented dashboard has to be provided in all of its variants(atleast all SAFIRE & Quadrajet variants).

-MANZA is also getting obsolete product now with proceeding towards maturity face of its lifecycle. So, rather than loading it with CHROME & Italian leather touches, it's the best time to chop-it & to be launched it in CS-avatar.
As, MANZA's limo-sedan pride can still bring lots & lots of customers in TATA showrooms of its CS variant.

-Current Indigo CS can be sold alongside MANZA CS, albeit with some price adjustment & specification list editing.

-Since MANZA is a hugely long, spacious & comfortable car with robust mechanicals, so its Platform can be used to create/build a completely new Premium sedan on it, competing with Verna, City, Vento than hanging in between Verito, ETIOS, etc.
It can be the best idea & iteration on its MANZA, i'd say & can be dream come true moment for reviving MAGNA & PRIMA sedan concepts into the reality.

-STORME is building a niche for it, as a refined, efficient & VFM True-blue 4x4 SUVs.

-ARIA has to be revived for Indian market for its cheaper manufacturing process & India specific details/specifications than Euro-ones.


I'm sure, my this post can seriously contribute something TATA motors, as one of the feedback on their 'THINKing-tables', hope so they'll be reading this.

[junaid12345678]

The image of Tata cars in Indian market are more of workhorses than aesthetic, comfortable, drivable cars. Tata have came across vast improvements since their launch of the first generation Indica in 1998. But still Tata cars loses its bite in front of the competitors. Still we don't have a Tata that can be said worthy to compete, be it any segment.

1. Tata cars are not that good in looks department, especially the front grill. Tata tried their level best in painting the grill with different materials, but never minded putting something that looks different. Don't know why.
2. Tata still uses materials of pathetic quality for building their cars, be it paper or gold, the quality remains the same.
3. People still have the impression brought up by the Taxiwallas that a Tata car means 1,00,000 kms. Forget the rest.
4. I haven't seen anything innovative in Tata cars, just keep following what others do, again first from the last.
5. Tata's after sale service is not that bad but older Tata cars gives unpleasant surprises very often.
6. Tata's engines had never been that refined, often sounds that everything is going to disintegrate the very next moment.

The Vista and the Manza are two fantastic products from the Tata stable especially with the Saffire and Multijet power plants but still unable the fight the above walls. Tata really needs to think a lot.

[san2]

Originally Posted by vishygk

Contrary to others who have commented,I feel this is a good thing as a customer.i don't think this is meant to increase sales over a long period,maybe more to clear stocks.

I believe TATA reliability is decent enough, they just need to work on Design and product marketing

Even I feel the same
TATA has become everyone's favourite punching bag, it seems that we only want to find fault with their vehicles
I admire this company and feel that guys like us should appreciate the efforts they are putting in

[mjothi]

IMHO, the first thing they should do is to do away with the front grill designs. Do they think its like the Mercs or BMWs way to have all cars have similar front design?

Even a Manza looks like the vista, so the ARIA too. Sadly, not the other way.

Price reduction can help them a bit, but the need of the hour is "change in perception".

Even people who do not own car, will come front and say against TATA cars. That is the way its been looked at. Better marketing added with improved ASS is the best way to change the tide.

[crisscross]

Tata needs radical new models not tweaks of existing models, in addition to fixing build quality, service & perception of poor quality. Till they do that, I dont see how they can change their current trajectory.

[AWD]

Tata cars like Nano, Indica series were always a value preposition. Other than this where the cars lost out:

- Slow product development, management delays.

- Products not able to compete with International players when it came to Reliability & ownership experience. Ownership exp. includes the whole sales & after sales.

- Entering the image rut, tagged with a Taxi image all-through is not going to help sales of vehicles to private consumers.

Now coming to this decision to cut prices, I would welcome this as a pro-active step. Maybe the inventory build-up prompted then to do so but other players with similar problems still have to act.

While Im happy with the price cut, what bothers me is that this should not be limited to a single player. Moreso because Tata cars were already VFM while other manufacturers are charging premiums. Now if other manufacturers follow suit, it could indicate price-correction in the segment.

What could undermine this price cut is the fact that these cars could be purchased with huge-discounts as-such. Still there's a strong chance for the revival of sales giving just about enough time to Tata to update products.

[scuderiamania]

Will the vista D90 be going in for a price cut too? We are even sure if we want to replace our current hatchback, but if we do so, then the D90 stands a pretty good chance. And a price cut would definitely tip the scale further towards the D90 for our family.

[Aceman82]

The basic issue with Tata motors is that the current owners are generally more vocal against Tata motors then even non Tata vehicle owners while in other brands it quite the opposite. Since in India we tend to play safe with car buying decisions, hearing constant bad mouthing on Tata vehicles tends to bring down sales.

Also the ratio of dissatisfied vs satisfied owners is very high in Tata. Unfortunately most of the dissatisfied owners tends to be in the personal car space while most of the satisfied owners might probably be in cab industry. Hence to make sales, they reduce cost which puts pressure on the suppliers and the end product quality suffers as a result. This stuff tends to get locked into vicious loop.

Another factor is that Tata cars of yesteryears also was a bit crude/unrefined and also tended to age very badly probably due to severe cost cutting which in-turn impacts the resale valve.

My own Indica started from a hatchback and has now aged to become a tractor. I am seriously thinking of selling it to some farmers as a cheap spare tractor. Then again it has become a very versatile vehicle now. If there is a pest problem the local corporation invites my car to run in the streets in-place of the mosquito replant vehicle because mine produces more smoke anyways , if anyone wants a full body massage they can just turn on the car and sit inside to get a good massage with its shaking (or) it can also be used in marriage processions since its top speed now is only 5kms/Hr and the vehicle is very temperamental since it can never likes moving in a straight line but likes to go on whichever side its wants to depending on which suspension bush or steering ball bearing has failed. But in the bright side , I have stopped using the horn due to the constant high pitched running over a squirrel sound which makes everyone turn around and see the vehicle, even a Bentley would not get this much attention . All this in a 90K run car with 90% city runabouts.

None of this would have been a problem if TASS service is cheap because they are able to resolve these issues but while parts are reasonably priced their labor rates are through the roof. Since parts tended to fail in a frequent manner the service cost tends to keep adding up and we have the usual skimming tactics like "Sir, Clutch would fail anytime, Brakes can fail fail anytime, World is going to end if we don't do an alternate overhaul...etc". This makes its TCO very high if the vehicle has crossed the warranty period.

I do believe that TML is trying to make amends with its latest Indica/Manza offerings, if my experience of driving these cars are anything to go by but in India once the perception is set then it is difficult to erase especially since Indica/Indigo would be bought by middle class to upper-middle class family. This would be their major financial commitment (say after house or marriage) and if the perception is that Tata makes unrefined, unsophisticated, unreliable, Cheap vehicles used in Taxi market then selling those at a price point close to Maruthi or Hyundai would be difficult in-spite of what the vehicle personally offers.

What should Tata do about this ? I don't have the faintest clue (nor) do i claim to have one. Maybe a out of world design like a XUV500 from Tata stables with inputs JLR might help , maybe not.

Personally i don't think that reducing the prices should happen since it will tend to pull down resale values of current cars in the market and will cause further resentment with its existing customer base. Either case i wish TML all the best since they have their work cut out and we need more competition and more competition benefits everyone.

[ACM]

Their present issues are in my view more due to Product quality itself, rather than service (which I feel overall is par with the rest of the Brands). A reliable product does not show up the quality of service and I do feel that TATA ASS is fine but the other brands come up on top only due to their products having lesser issues.

The down turn in sales would also be due to the current range of products seeming to be a bit dated in the looks aspect compared to the competition. They need a refresh across the range.

I feel their current product line up is very good and in keeping with the times but needs to have greater reliability and also look the part.

[sridhar24]

Is this price cut only for Indica or even Vista?
For Tata price cuts aren't alone going to help increase their sales volume, firstly Tata needs seriously look in to the quality of way they to build the cars and seriously work with their dealers and service centres to provide good A.S.S.
Also Tata needs to have a game changer kind of product to build the image in customers view. They had totally lost the game with Aria, which is a good car but over priced.

[swiftnfurious]

Found this interview with Karl Slym on ET.

"In passenger cars, we are not in a strong position. We have lost market share. There are segments that are booming in which we don't have products. On new products, new features, new launches, we have been rather quite, we need to change that,"

Slym said that the company would adopt short, medium and long-term measures to address that.

"In the short term, and I am talking in terms of months, there will be mild changes. In the medium term that is a year or a little more, there will be drastic changes with new products. In the long term, there will be a portfolio revision", Slym said.

Details: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...w/18777025.cms