[rajivtelang]

Originally Posted by VWAllstar

True whatever you have mentioned. But if I had to rate the sales staff of different brands then Tata and Mahindra would come last. Look at the way MS has decked up their sales strategy by selling same cars under a different brand 'Nexa' where you see sales guys in good uniform and tabs. They may not be well educated but first impressions are good. Whereas in Tata and Mahindra, most struggle to speak well with customers, leaving aside the product knowledge.

Tata is making everything better with their products, if they have some dedicated efforts in improving their customer facing resources then you may never know they may just outdo MS.

Agree with this. I went for Tiago as my first Tata car but the appearance of Tata's dealerships, their knowledge, interest, willingness to sell, service centers, their way of exchanging cars, explaining details of new cars and their body language made a massive negative impact on my mind. Rather I found their service center car receiving people as either untrained or lethargic (more like a government office). The only reason for me to buy a Tata car was the performance and engineering efforts put in there. No complaints about the choice and the machine is great. To be honest I had planned for Nexon but just to avoid any fuss of above types and not to gamble with more than 10 lacs, I settled on Tiago as a sample test before going for a big one. I am still in testing mode since my Tiago has completed just 6 months. Nothing much to say about service since there is nothing much for first couple of years. But my impression about service centers remains as it was.
Coming to Altroz I feel there will not be any difference from dealership or service side and that's where Altroz may not make a difference as such, no matter how great the engineering is in there or how Tata is projecting it. I think there are few people like me who will look for this engineering aspect than the overall experience. But instead of impressing a small set of people Tata needs to provide a mechanism to attract more customers. Surely Maruti cannot impress me unless they improve their build quality, neither Hyundai since they are on similar path (e.g. Santro crash test). Altroz is surely of my taste but how that can become a favorite dish for many?

[yesyeswe]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

I hope this training is better than whatever has been happening for previous products.

Seriously a proper technical knowledge of the product is a must for the sales staff, recently went to test drive Tigor for a friend and during the test drive i was told by the salesman that, "Tigor is the only car with electronic steering at low speed and hydraulic at high speeds" i wasn't even able to say anything in reply

Altroz being a new product it's upto the sales team to impress the customers with the car, i think they should put extra emphasis on the safety and dynamics of the car, and the 90° opening doors

[2000rpm]

Originally Posted by yesyeswe

Seriously a proper technical knowledge of the product is a must for the sales staff, recently went to test drive tigor for a friend and during the test drive i was told by the salesman that, "tigor is the only car which electronic steering at low speed and hydraulic at high speeds" i wasn't even able to say anything in reply

Having some experience in this, let me try to guess what must have happened. A lot is lost in Communication, interpretation, memory and translation.

Communication: Trainer a non technical non enthusiast MBA Grad from a Tier 2 / 3 B-School
Trainer: The car has light steering at low speeds which feels like an electronic steering which get weighed up at higher speeds to provide the driver feedback like the hydraulic steering. This makes the car well suited car to India. (Never explained how both mechanisms work, assumed the audience will know since they have been in the industry for long, same assumption as all other trainers before.)

Interpretation: Sales executive who has struggled with classroom mode of training throughout his life. I doubt anyone who was attentive in school would end up at the dealership field force level. (no hard feelings but our education system discards all people who dont learn as per the system, which is classroom, one-way learning method).

(Mental Interpretation, post training)
"Car mein steering hai. Kum speed pe electronic jaisa, high speed mein HYDOORLICK jaisa. India ke liye MAST"

Memory, one week post training.
"Car mein steering hai. Kum speed pe electronic, high speed mein HYDOORLICK. India mein FIRST"

Translation
(Hindi to English Translation) - First Attempt
"Saar, car has world-class steering. First time in India car has electronic steering at low speed and hydraulic steering at high speed"

First customer (non - auto enthusiast): Accha! (books the car)
Salesman: This is really working.

(Hindi to English Translation) - Second Attempt
"Saar, car has awesome steering. First time in India car has electronic steering at low speed and hydraulic steering at high speed"

First customer (teambhpian): Accha! (no comments, posts on TeamBhp, adding to dealership accolades)
Salesman: This steering feature is really working on customers.

[shaheenazk]

Originally Posted by 2000rpm

Having some experience in this, let me try to guess what must have happened. A lot is lost in Communication, interpretation, memory and translation.

The funniest post ever on team-bhp!. You can give Kapil Sharma serious competition !

[isldhn]

Originally Posted by 2000rpm

Having some experience in this, let me try to guess what must have happened. A lot is lost in Communication, interpretation, memory and translation.

Lol!! Thats a nice interpretation of the conversation of a typical salesman of an automobile dealership. ‘Hydoorlik’

As ironical as the discussion is, it is actually the truth. I am thoroughly amused when I get a chance to interact with some of these examples but also am saddened with the quality of training these guys have to go through for getting to be on the showroom floor. The management has to be held accountable too in this case for approving incompetent sales personnel to be recruited and then for not giving them proper product training.

[2000rpm]

Originally Posted by 2000rpm

This makes the car well suited car to India.
First customer (teambhpian): Accha! (no comments, posts on TeamBhp, adding to dealership accolades)

Sorry for a few typos, I typed this when I was in transit and realized the mistakes once I got a QUOTED notification.

@ Mods, I cant edit the post now, as I have passed the time limit. Is there anyway we can correct the typos?

[shineshine]

Any idea if this section would collect rain water? If so, is there a chance that it would spill towards the rear seat when we open the door?

Note: No chance of checking the car in person

[wheelguy]

Originally Posted by shineshine

Any idea if this section would collect rain water? If so, is there a chance that it would spill towards the rear seat when we open the door?

Generally, such areas will be provided with drain-passages.

Originally Posted by shineshine

Note: No chance of checking the car in person

It's okay if you aren't buying it, if you are seriously considering it then someone from the forum definitely might check it out for you.

[rajivtelang]

Originally Posted by shineshine

Any idea if this section would collect rain water? If so, is there a chance that it would spill towards the rear seat when we open the door?

Note: No chance of checking the car in person

Oops. I can smell an issue here. The water should not go via a passage usually through the door. I remember one incident with 3M people who were insisting some anti-rust treatment for doors wherein the water from windows will go inside the door and that gets drained through a passage through the door. They were saying the portion of door where it gets drained will be rusted over years. Now in this case the door handle if accumulates water will add to that drain and eventually will rust some part of door. Good catch.

[SaiSW]

I cannot wrap my head around the fact that Tata cannot provide auto dimming irvms in their cars. Mahindra had this problem a while back, seems they've finally learned it as the XUV3OO has it, Tata still doesn't.

The car otherwise has a fantastic feature list, IIRC, no other car in the segment has the trio of auto headlamps, auto wipers and cruise control, (correct me if I'm wrong), but they still missed out on auto dimming irvm.

Is it some kind of dark magic/mystic tradition that you have to go to some ancient Shaolin school in China, to learn?

[Aditya_Bhp]

Originally Posted by SaiSW

I cannot wrap my head around the fact that Tata cannot provide auto dimming irvms in their cars. Mahindra had this problem a while back, seems they've finally learned it as the x300 has it, Tata still doesn't.

Even the digital car MG Hector doesn't get one. I don't think its a factor a buyer will use to reject a car. If Tata keeps the basics right, the Altroz will sell, especially the Diesel.

[shineshine]

Originally Posted by wheelguy

Generally, such areas will be provided with drain-passages.
It's okay if you aren't buying it, if you are seriously considering it then someone from the forum definitely might check it out for you.

I am considering Altroz for my in-laws and if anyone could check this out, would help immensely. Thanks.

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by shineshine

Any idea if this section would collect rain water? If so, is there a chance that it would spill towards the rear seat when we open the door?

Note: No chance of checking the car in person

Easiest will be to check a Chevy Beat - had a similar set up. Personally I dont think so, there should be gap for the water to flow out, the black portion seems to have a nice slope to aid water flow.

=====================

PS : A very polite request to the detectives on t-bhp. Please dont start dissecting on some of these design elements / panel gaps / irregularities etc before you see the car or even after that. Its a TATA - you'll not have BMW levels of finesse and design quality / consistency. Please appreciate if the car fits your requirements or even makes you smile. Please dont go after 3-4 silly issues (like 'you could put your middle finger between the closed doors' etc etc) which you'll never bother about (in a Maruti) and post 100 pictures on the same piece in back to back posts and contribute to the murder of the product & brand. If every bl**dy guy shuts shop due to flops, we'll be left with tinny Maruti cars and nothing else.

As for me, am awestruck with the Altroz design and it strongly tugs at heart. Been sometime since a car made me smile while looking at one. Am a little underwhelmed with the 'supposedly' lower diesel power output, but the last I drove my brother's i20 (with 90 bhp), it didnt feel bad (inspite of its heavy build). My Swift diesel (75 bhp) was definitely peppier but also had its share of unstable ride post 120 kmph. So you gain some, you lose some.

[yesyeswe]

Originally Posted by 2000rpm

First customer (teambhpian): Accha! (no comments, posts on TeamBhp, adding to dealership accolades)
Salesman: This steering feature is really working on customers.

Hahahah even i thought the same thing, wanted to correct him but thought maybe he'll think i'm being over smart and not give me the extra discounts which i was trying to get

[SoumenD]

Originally Posted by shineshine

Any idea if this section would collect rain water? If so, is there a chance that it would spill towards the rear seat when we open the door?

Note: No chance of checking the car in person

Is it any different from swift or erstwhile beat? They too have similar setup IIRC. Those owners might be able to throw some light on this I believe.