[JayPrashanth]

Link to News Section

Force Motors recently launched new variants of the Force One SUV, a product that's clearly not selling as well as its maker would have envisaged it to. While the new variants could do their bit to boost sales of the Force One SUV, Force Motors has begun drawing up plans for a premium SUV for the Indian car market. The premium SUV that is in the concept stage could be ready for production in the next couple of years.



Note: The Force One SUV image used in this report is illustrative in nature.

Names such as the Toyota Fortuner and the Ford Endeavour luxury SUVs are being bandied about as the possible rivals for Force Motors's new premium SUV. A price tag in the whereabouts of 18 lakh rupees is likely for the new Force Motors SUV. The premium SUV that's being developed by Force Motors is a part of the 1,000 Crore rupees investment that the automaker is making towards the development of new products.

Force Motors is yet to launch an indigenously developed passenger car. Most of its SUV, passenger carrier and MPV designs have been sourced from other automakers such as Daimler and more recently, the Guangdong Foday group of China. Notably, the Force One SUV is a rebadged and re-engineered Guangdong Foday Explorer III, which in turn is based on the Ford Explorer.

In this light, it remains to be seen whether the new premium SUV from Force Motors is a clean sheet design or whether it is a rebadged version of an existing product. Currently, Force Motors has two products in the passenger car space: the Force One SUV and the Gurkha off-roader. Both products are sold through Force Motors's recently established passenger car dealerships.

In India, Force Motors is more known for its range of commercial vehicles than its passenger car range. The launch of passenger car specific dealerships was a move aimed at changing the automaker's image from a commercial vehicle builder to a passenger car maker. Early next year, Force Motors is expected to launch a luxury MPV, said to be based on the Mercedes Benz Viano.

Indian automaker Force Motors assembles engines for Mercedes Benz and has had a long standing relationship with the Daimler group, right from the days when it used to sell Tempo Matador vans (Tempo is now owned by the Daimler group). Force Motors now sells the Traveller range of mini vans, a design based on the Mercedes Benz T1 Transporter van.

Source TheTimesOfIndia

[AyAn!]

The new MPV is going to be based on the long deceased W638 Vito, not the Viano. And I won't be surprised if they decide to choose the first generation W163 ML Class as the donor car for their new SUV.

[CARDEEP]

If they re going to launch a premium SUV, why are they selling the Force One at a premium. They could have managed decent numbers is they sell it 10-20% cheap.

[Figopian]

No hard feelings, but Force motors should first build a brand so that people would buy a premium car manufactured by them. However good the Force one SUV is, people would get away from that car just because it comes from Force Motors. Same could happen with this new premium SUV as well. When people spend money like 18 lakhs on a vehicle, they do care greatly about the brand as well. Maybe launching Force One was the part of this kinda plan, but have they achieved it? I guess not.

Having said that, I believe thy could still do this if they plan some kind of a partnership with leading players for marketing only. Similar to what Fiat did with TATA (No comments on how it ended, but still...). They should rope in some leading players in this SUV sector to get the recognition.

[performance plumbing]

The Force one is based on the 3rd GEN FORD EXPLORER? Unbelievable!

[Shiwik]

Not sure what is the plan the think tanks at Force Motors have. All the interviews that F1 was being sold Mr. Firodia has been seen talking only about the Merc sourced drive train while everything else was grossly ignored. While the F1 barely troubled the statisticians and the sales chart, it stood no chance against the XUV5OO. That said, the news about a premium SUV was a shocker. Would it really have a chance against the mighty Fortuner?

Also as rightly pointed earlier in these posts, the MUV is not based on the Viano but the (long deceased) Vito. To me it looks more in line with the Tata Winger and not really a premium MPV. I am eagerly looking forward for someone who could explain these strategies.

[Contrapunto]

This did perk up my day - just when I was feeling gloomy. Does Force motors management think Fortuner is where it is because it is the biggest (not really), most luxurious (no it isn't), or best equipped (ha!)? I sure hope not. If they do, they are naïve souls indeed. I wish Force Motors all the best, as I really do want to see an Indian auto brand up there with the best of them. But the portents don't look too good so far.

[theexperthand]

Originally Posted by performance plumbing

The Force one is based on the 3rd GEN FORD EXPLORER? Unbelievable!

Not based on Ford Explorer, but based on Foday Explorer.

--Anoop

[Soumyajit9]

Well, Force should first build up its brand image in India before investing further into high end vehicles. Simply asking Amitabh Bachchan to stand and say Force One in a grave tone won't sell the vehicle. Why would someone put 18-20 lakhs in a brand which they cannot flaunt ?

When I think of Force all I can think of are the notorious Tempo Travelers that bully me on my way to work.

[richie4u]

Force motors, If you are reading this then just drop the prices of the Force One to the extent where the top end is for 10L on road and watch wonders in your sales.You will not have the time to design another premium SUV after that.

[shankar.balan]

Better for them to focus on getting their base product(s) right rater than try to barge into a space where they have zero equity, zero expertise and zero consumer connect. Their Force One in my honest opinion is utter unmitigated rubbish as a product. Already many generations old at the time of launch itself, now with each passing day it becomes less and less relevant.

[dreadknight5]

Originally Posted by JayPrashanth

Link to News Section

Force Motors recently launched new variants of the Force One SUV, a product that's clearly not selling as well as its maker would have envisaged it to. While the new variants could do their bit to boost sales of the Force One SUV, Force Motors has begun drawing up plans for a premium SUV for the Indian car market. The premium SUV that is in the concept stage could be ready for production in the next couple of years.

Attachment 1121784

Note: The Force One SUV image used in this report is illustrative in nature.

Names such as the Toyota Fortuner and the Ford Endeavour luxury SUVs are being bandied about as the possible rivals for Force Motors's new premium SUV. A price tag in the whereabouts of 18 lakh rupees is likely for the new Force Motors SUV. The premium SUV that's being developed by Force Motors is a part of the 1,000 Crore rupees investment that the automaker is making towards the development of new products.

Source TheTimesOfIndia

Wow this is awesome news indeed . Do you guys know what it means ? The management of Force motors has the purest form of weed in the world. Because such levels of innovation and understanding can come only after puffing the magic dragon.

Jokes aside, Does Force Motors have so much extra money lying around that they need to burn it ? Didn't Force 1 teach them anything ? Did no-one get fired for wasting money on a dead investment ?

They made the first mistake of wandering into the non-commercial segment with a product that costs over 11 lakhs. They should have tried to create a competitive product in the 6 lakhs range before venturing any further.
Now they are repeating the same mistake they did with Force 1 in another vehicle that will cost around 20 lakhs.

I hope common sense will prevail.

[MaxTorque]

Before making an important step like this, Force Motors should establish themselves as a reputed brand. I think they should focus on the Force One first to make it a moderate success later they can think about a more premium model. Instead of launching outdated products they should bring an all new product.

[fiat_tarun]

The reason the Fortuner is the leader in it's segment is because of the Brand and it's butch looks. There are already better products like the Sante Fe, which coming from an established brand like Hyundai hasn't had much success.

Force have a long way to go before people start putting down 20+ Lakhs on a Force branded personal vehicle.

[noopster]

The reason why fewer people buy full-fledged SUVs in comparison with sedans/MUVs is purely the price. As such the Force One may not be up there in terms of features but at least they have a pricing advantage over other SUVs which all go to about 20L+ on the road.

Who exactly is going to buy a similarly priced Force vehicle? It seems like a foolhardy strategy to me. If anything they should chop it to under 4m and launch a Quanto competitor!