[Unbranded]

Definitely Ford is trying to make hay while the sun shines.
I had pre booked an Ecosport A/T without having an idea of the prices other than the occasional rumors which put the price anywhere from 9 to 14. When the prices were announced, felt justified that i had made the right choice.

If at all ford priced the car at a much higher price point, I would have taken it as is - still happy with my choice.

But this practice of increasing the price or rather the way it was done, just because competition is starting to think or because they feel they can get away looking at the sheer demand for the vehicle smacks of opportunism. Even though i own a ford, i can sense the loyalty i felt towards the brand coming down several notches. Really a lost opportunity for ford to stand apart and earn goodwill compared to other manufacturers.

I am seriously having second thoughts on whether i should continue with this or just go back and cancel my booking - nothing to do with the vehicle/dealer or price but the attitude displayed by ford. Lack of a viable alternative is what is stopping me right now.

Cheers.

[harishpr]

To all, if you like Ecosport, just go ahead for it. Few thousand rupees shouldn't matter in a long run.
Almost every metal piece will see price hike and ecosport is no different. Who would have thought that rupee will erode 20% in 2 months. (I was trading Euro at 66 rupees in June, and now it's at 80 rupees). Even ford wouldn't have seen this coming.
I'm sure that if I or you were in the decision-making seat of Ford India, we would have done the same.

Don't sweat, and accuse. Accept the market reality and move on.

[Unbranded]

Originally Posted by harishpr

To all, if you like Ecosport, just go ahead for it. Few thousand rupees shouldn't matter in a long run.
Almost every metal piece will see price hike and ecosport is no different. Who would have thought that rupee will erode 20% in 2 months. (I was trading Euro at 66 rupees in June, and now it's at 80 rupees). Even ford wouldn't have seen this coming.
I'm sure that if I or you were in the decision-making seat of Ford India, we would have done the same.

Don't sweat, and accuse. Accept the market reality and move on.

This is not a question of a few thousand rupees. Booking a car in India is a long thought out decision and it is very unlikely that you pre book a car you don't like.

Its the demand management and the process that ford has put in place for the booking, being at the mercy of the dealership, which is causing the cancellations. Price increase could be the final nail

I would have thought that in automobile industry the impact of price hikes should come probably after 4-5 months based on the long term forward contracts they have with the suppliers and also considering the inventory levels being held either at the automobile plant or being managed at the supplier end. So the price hikes should be a clear thought out decision and not a knee jerk reaction because rupee appreciated by 10% in a month. The right practice would have to revise the price for newer bookings where the impact of the price increase would be captured in the BOM. Maybe the automobile experts can put in their thoughts.

Now that it is hovering around 63-64 from the previous levels of 68, Would any manufacturer retrace the price hike ?

Cheers.

[longhorn]

To put it lightly, Ford is just making hay while the sun shines. Don't you see it guys, how come the sharp hike is only for the Ecosport, the one product that has the highest levels of localisation right from the word go. Same technique was employed by Renault for the Duster - only thing they couldn't make too much hay because the sun didn't shine all that long for them. And now the market is giving it back to them big time.

The devaluation of the rupee definitely did not warrant a 50 k hike for the Ecosport. Market will give the same treatment to the Ecosport once the
XA Alpha and Honda's MPV is out on the road. The least they could have done is hold the current rates for those who have already booked their Ecosports. Dealer malpractice is not an excuse to make customers suffer. That's Ford's headache. Nothing a good ERP software cannot take care of.

[Hayek]

Actually it's called the law of demand and supply - when demand exceeds supply, prices will rise. If the wait lists evaporate, prices will fall again. Don't see anything wrong with it, and it is certainly better than having dealers sell cars at a premium as happened with Maruti for example when the swift launched.

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by Hayek

Actually it's called the law of demand and supply - when demand exceeds supply, prices will rise. If the wait lists evaporate, prices will fall again. Don't see anything wrong with it, and it is certainly better than having dealers sell cars at a premium as happened with Maruti for example when the swift launched.

I agree with you.

It is just like the recent Onion price hike. Demand was huge but low supplies so shop-owners started pricing it high and cause the sales to fall due to high price. This led to no movement of stocks from distributors and below the food chain guys. The government realized this and cracked the whip.

Now since stocks were present for an year and supplies have started back in-line the prices have fallen to the normal rates (Or rather falling to the normal rates as it used to be!)

Anurag.

[puchoo]

My only disagreement with that stems from 3 points , the first being -clearly- Ford's unkept promise of production commitments , they have not been able to cater to demand and i think they could have been more prudent in this.

The second is the entire issue of "fake supply capacity" , demand and supply can be influenced artificially , we know that , we dont have any facts to support that for EcoSport but clearly a condition well prevalent in the Indian Auto scene.

Leaving the above aside , there is no restriction on Ford showing good will and consumer empathy by doing away with the cancellation charges given the situation. That has nothing to do with Rupee Depriciation.

What will the effect of this price hike be on Ford's numbers - maybe nothing , maybe they will continue to sell as they are right now and people would be willing to make that extra financial commitment , or maybe we see a srop in bookings.... time will tell.

Originally Posted by Hayek

Actually it's called the law of demand and supply - when demand exceeds supply, prices will rise. If the wait lists evaporate, prices will fall again. Don't see anything wrong with it, and it is certainly better than having dealers sell cars at a premium as happened with Maruti for example when the swift launched.

[alpha1]

Originally Posted by Hayek

Actually it's called the law of demand and supply - when demand exceeds supply, prices will rise. If the wait lists evaporate, prices will fall again. Don't see anything wrong with it, and it is certainly better than having dealers sell cars at a premium as happened with Maruti for example when the swift launched.

Agreed about the establishment of equilibrium in supply and demand by price mechanism.

HOWEVER a caveat:
Booking is a precursor to contract an agreement between a buyer and seller at a certain price.
In case the price is revised, the buyer or seller should have all the freedom to walk away from the deal without any "cancellation charges".

Originally Posted by alpha1

I think it is clear that "booking" happens when a price (between buyer and seller) has been established.

In case of seller's side price revision, there is simply no justification to a "booking cancellation charges".

A buyer and seller had agreed upon a certain price that was established earlier, and that lead to the booking. Let's say if it was available off the self, the payment and delivery would've completed there and then.

[LoneWolf9]

I always wonder why all claims about rise in input cost and depreciating rupee is not applicable to other models which are not doing well . This is the case with almost all automobile company. The rupee has moved back from 68 to 63. If this moves back below 60 again, will Eco-Sport revise the price downward again? Think about it.

There are two thumb rule which almost all companies are following:-
1. If the model is not selling well.. Revise the price downwards with a reason that "increase localisation" has resulted in decreasing the cost.
2. If the model is doing well.. Revise the price upwards with a reason that " Rise in input cost" has resulted in cost increase.

I dont deny the effect of economy and other factors impacting the cost. But these factors sometime gets exploited. Talk about demand and supply. Have we ever came across any company which has said that they are increasing the cost because there is a huge demand for it

[Drivethru]

Price hike combined with taking away some features in the top end titanium variant indicates certain level of arrogance after the success of Ecosport. Clearly Ford India is unable to handle demand and success (their only big success) hence these decisions. Cancellations could help dealers as they would make money through cancellation charges. Like other members pointed out, I have seen dealer staff behaviour changing for the worse when prospective customers visited them for ecosport test drive / booking / enquiry. I still have not seen an AT model available for test drive.

[Prafful_Rathod]

Renault was able to sustain huge success for little over 10 months. Same can happen with Ford Ecosport, with Honda, Hyundai, Maruti planning to launch their Compact SUVs in little over a year's time.

Ecosport is an aspirational vehicle more than performance / value for money. No doubt it is a very good vehicle, but people have lined up mainly because they have had an emotional connect with the vehicle. So it is imperative for Ford to maintain that connect. They have got a very good platform to build a solid and long lasting brand around Ecosport. Its upto them whether they want to play short term or long term.

[9thsphinx]

In this particular case, my grouse is more about the cancellation charges. For a car like the Ecosport that is already selling so well in the market there should really be no cancellation charges. It's not that the dealer has ordered one for the potential customer and if the customer decides on not buying it for whatsoever reason, that it's going to lie in the dealer's stockyard unclaimed for months together. The Ecosport is hot property and the demand for the product is much higher than its supply. The cancelled out booking and the car will end up finding a buyer very soon. Why levy the unnecessary cancellation charge to the customer canceling the booking in that scenario?

IMO, cancellation charges should only be levied for a made-to-order products - the reason being pretty self explanatory.

The price revision was bound to happen sooner or later with Ford having mentioned earlier that the Ecosport prices were "introductory". Same was the case with Renault's Duster.

[scorpion_blore]

With the price rise, Ford has definitely lost a few potential customers. I just overheard three colleagues discussing about Ecosport price rise. All three own a hatch now and planning for their next upgrade. All are now planning to pick up the Amaze diesel top-end version over Ecosport.

Ecosport/Amaze/Swift DZire seemed to be the logical upgrade for someone owning a hatch and planning an upgrade. The OTR in Bangalore for ES 1.5 TDCi was 10.5L before. With the price rise it gets close to 11L. However the OTR for Amaze diesel top-end version is around 9.5L. All three seemed to be happy with the fact that they would be saving 1.5L by picking Amaze over ES, and the wait times are a lot lower compared to ES. Better mileage of Amaze compared to ES seemed to be an icing on the cake. They even started listing down the extra accessories that they might purchase with these 1.5L savings.

I believe the thinking would be similar with many more potential car buyers eyeing for their next upgrade with a 10L budget. The price of ES top-end diesel version comes very close to the price of Vento's diesel top-end version. If I were to pick between Vento top-end and ES top-end version, I would go for Vento any day. I would miss the SUVish look and stance of ES no doubt, but then Vento is a tried-and-tested car, and has been on Indian roads for quite some time.

[Vid6639]

I'm seeing people who have booked EcoSport are seriously looking at other options.

Skoda is pushing the Rapid very aggressively with an offer of 7.99% interest rate for 5 years, 5 year warranty, 5 year maintenance plan and some extra features like leather seats, sat-nav, reversing camera and parking sensors for the new Rapid Leisure variant. All this for 30K more than the Ecosport Titanium.

Same with the Fluidic Verna. Customers going for the EX are getting cash discounts. EX loses out on alloys and passenger airbag but has most of the other goodies. Seriously good VFM. Verna 1.6 CRDI EX is same as EcoSport Titanium variant after discounts.

[Abh1nav]

Originally Posted by scorpion_blore

I believe the thinking would be similar with many more potential car buyers eyeing for their next upgrade with a 10L budget. The price of ES top-end diesel version comes very close to the price of Vento's diesel top-end version. If I were to pick between Vento top-end and ES top-end version, I would go for Vento any day. I would miss the SUVish look and stance of ES no doubt, but then Vento is a tried-and-tested car, and has been on Indian roads for quite some time.

I have booked the Ecosport Diesel Titanium (o) and just like you mentioned, looking at other options within the same price bracket. After the price hike, my variant cost Rs.10,80,000 on-road, Delhi (11.05 if you take body care package + reverse camera).

Vento / Rapid are the most ideal alternatives to Ecosport, and if I am to chose one, I'd pick the Vento as it appeals to me more than the Rapid.

However, the freshness of Ecosport and the fact that I had made up my mind for a mini-SUV is making me stick to my booking. Though the price point is close to that of the Vento, but then Ecosport has some extra features like 6 airbags, SYNC, Keyless Entry.

Still, offers on the Vento make it more reasonable than the Ecosport. Currently, Volkswagen is offering 0% interest for 3 years on the Vento, which in my opinion is quite hard to resist!