[nkghai]

Low sales of Nissan Terrano and Renault Duster may be a clear indicator that most buyers in this category are eagerly awaiting the launch of S Cross and Creta and have postponed their purchase decision till then. I think pricing will be a big factor now and it is certain that there will be huge initial rush for both these vehicles.
Eco sport will also feel the heat, post these launches and since Fiesta seems to be done and dusted, Ford really needs to chalk out a fresh strategy for its vehicles in local market.

[AkMar]

Thanks for the much awaited thread!

Originally Posted by aniketi

Maruti:
Dzire is the best compact car and nobody is even near it.

Correction: Dzire is the best selling compact sedan. Whether it is the best or not is a debatable topic.

[aniketi]

Originally Posted by AkMar

Thanks for the much awaited thread!



Correction: Dzire is the best selling compact sedan. Whether it is the best or not is a debatable topic.

Hehe

I know it sir, but this thread is about the sales figures only. So my comment is also related to that. It is best sales wise, i am saying that only. About quality and other things, people have their own thoughts and choices. I am very well aware of that fact and do agree to that as well. One particular car may be best for me but can be average for you. Vice versa is also true.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by mail4ajo

Congrats. Nice to see you upgrade to another Suzuki. What were the factors that promoted the choice?

Thanks. My sister was looking for a petrol sedan with budget being ~10L. They narrowed down to the City and Ciaz, of which they picked the Ciaz.

[KMohanan]

I am very sad to see the situation of Tata Motors. Tata is spoiling their own future.

I was very much impressed with their coming back with Zest, Bolt and Nano-GenX. But, tata seems to be not understanding the real problems behind their failure.

Any person buying a car takes a lot of inputs from many other car owners regarding the company and product. Once the reputation of a company goes down, it needs a good amount of sincere and effective efforts to bring it up.

I will give few simple examples :

Example 1 :

I have a Tata Venture GX (Top Model). Just 2 years completed. Only 7500 kms run. On enquiry, I was surprised to find that there is no economic AMC scheme for the Tata Venture Passenger Vehicle. Tata should remember that the new Venture GX was costing more than 6 lakhs 2 years back.

Even though I want to promote indigenous manufacturers, how can I recommend such a tata to my friends ?

Example 2 :

In the above mentioned Tata Venture Gx which has run only 7500 Kms, many of the components have already failed. Eg. Fuel float unit (to be fitted on the fuel tank) and the reverse sensors.

I am replacing the fuel float unit with nearly Rs 1000 and the reverse sensors (I was directed to a third party by tata ASS !!!).

Example 3 :

The 1+1 scheme for the nano owners - Tata please find out how many of the existing nano owners are happy with the offer ? Almost all existing owners felt that they should not buy another tata car which depreciates shockingly in the first couple of years ! I also own a 2012 december Tata Nano LX Special Edition run only 20 K Kilometers. How much extra such an owner will put for replacing his nano with Gen X ?

Example 4 :

The AMT unit of ALTO K10 and Celerio from Maruti seems to be getting a huge warranty from Maruti. This warranty speaks volumes about the confidence of Maruti on their products.

When I think of buying an AMT car, the first thing coming to my mind is :

Why to buy a product where even the manufacturer is not confident and the customer to take the risk ? (Tata Zest AMT / Nano AMT)
Instead, buy a Maruti AMT and enjoy since company takes the risk by way of huge warranty. (ALTO K10 AMT / Celerio AMT)

Example 5 :

The openable boot is something the customers were demanding from 2009 !!! Please refer to my postings in the nano section indicating the need to provide an openable boot.

This openable boot feature was something tata should have done in 2010. Tata is late by 5 years !!! Even few months of delay do matter in the market nowadays.

As an owner of two tata vehicles (VENTURE & NANO), my humble request to tata - Please learn from your mistakes. Unless you understand the customers well, you cannot win the market.

Tata has invested crores in bringing new products like Zest and Bolt, without bothering to win the customer's heart by spending just thousands by way of support like Warranty, AMC etc. Tata Management may be surprised on the poor sales performance of tata, but we, tata vehicles owners, are not surprised on the performance.

It is already late, but not too late.

[chaith.turbo]

Thanks for the analysis. Best as ever.
Sad to see Tata Zest/Bolt sells less than the 18L Innova. Brand image is such a big parameter in our country!!

[Seran Manian]

Mod Note : There are several spelling & grammatical errors in your posts. This negatively affects the forum experience for other readers.

Kindly ensure that you proof-read your posts prior to submission. Also, it would be a good idea to use a spell-checker.

[p'arth]

Tata Zest/Bolt Performance - While Zest/Bolt have come out as very good products but the equivalent buying experience at a Tata dealership has not changed. These are the same old dealerships who used to sell indicas and other taxis and they met out the same socialist treatment to every buyer in the value chain.

Recently I went to a Tata dealership to check out the new Nano AMT. Things that pissed me off:
- There was no parking in front of it. All parking space was occupied by a zillion cars belonging to the dealer. No valet also. Had to park in a lane and walk for 5 mins.
- Once inside there is commotion all around. Too many people roaming around and some aimlessly.
- After few mins 1 lady comes and asks us about our requirement. We wanted to see the Nano AMT. She goes to call a sales advisor but no one is free.
- We decide to our self explore the Nano on display. But there is a waiting. Atleast 2 different families are inside the car already exploring every mm of it. Then there are kids sitting in the car fooling around with switches and refusing to come out.
- After a struggle we manage to get in. The display car is dirty - seats, the dash - everything has dirt marks. My wife is super pissed off.
- We looked around and every display car had the same 'aura' around it. We decided to leave. The sales advisor is still no where seen.

And we left without anyone noticing that a prospect has left unattended.

On other points, the tables and chairs were shabby, the showroom look and feel was mediocre, zero personalization and therefore the overall experience was a let down. How can Tata expect to sell a product like Zest that boasts of things like a Harman music system in such a buying experience centre?

A solution can be similar to Nexa. Tatas need to start premium dealerships for Zest and upcoming Hexa. Else who ll buy a 15 lac Hexa in a cab dealership environment? Anyhow I feel the number of Tata dealerships is very low and should be increased.

P.S. After this experience we went to a nearby Honda showroom, explored the City at ease, chit chatted with the advisor, were offered coffee and came back relaxed. There was no intention to buy the City though

[aravind.anand]

I think Tata has started sorting out its products already - beginning with the Zest. However, the image of Tata Motors among urban buyers is still not very favourable. The numbers simply are not complimenting how good the car really is.

I guess Tata should do more brand promotion to sort this out before going behind product promotion. Few ideas that I can think of at the moment -

- Official partners for IPL or some tournament with high TRP ratings
- Campaigns where customers drive over 1 lakh kilometers ( to show the durability )
- Bringing out performance oriented derivatives of Zest & Bolt ( I know they are, but they need to speed up before its too late )
- Merchandise ( caps, tees, mugs ) with branding to make customers bond better
- Widely visible customer camps free check ups and ads promoting those !
- Zest / Bolt single make championships ( aka the Polo Cup )

these will go a long way in changing how we Indian perceive Tata motors as a brand. This might not help Bolt with its over-the-top pricing, but will equip Tata better for "Round II" ! Don't forget that Zest & Bolt are just face-lift (stop gap) products!

[sachinayak]

Originally Posted by KMohanan

...This warranty speaks volumes about the confidence of Maruti on their products.

Why to buy a product where even the manufacturer is not confident and the customer to take the risk ? Instead, buy a Maruti AMT and enjoy since company takes the risk by way of huge warranty.

...Tata has invested crores in bringing new products like Zest and Bolt, without bothering to win the customer's heart by spending just thousands by way of support like Warranty, AMC etc.

Standard warranty offered by Maruti on Alto K10 is 2 years or 40K kms. Standard warranty offered by Tata on Nano is 4 years or 60K kms. Does this extra 2 year warrantly help you instil double confidence in Tata Motors?

Maruti (and most of the auto manufacturers) AFAIK do not offer AMC. Tata does offer on most of their passenger cars.

[ratangera]

Normally an up-gradation or next gen is when vehicle becomes more sophisticated and refined with added features . Wrt to bolero, which has huge market in government and rural sector hence a conventional upgrade IMO can go against the vehicle. Reason being hike in price or more care newer models may require. But then , no other company has anything to compete on bolero yet.

[autobahnjpr]

Maruti Suzuki continues its strong run and with S-cross launch next month, i think things will heat up for the competitors. Being lord of the compact car segment, MSIL is now established in compact sedan and sedan segment. What Baleno could not do, Ciaz has done for them.
I have a feeling that S-Cross will be a game changer and MSIL will spread to 10-15 lac segment and slowly get anchored there. With that they will have product range starting from 2 lac to 15 lac.

Each company today is a one or two model champion - Hyundai has i10 and i20, Honda has City, Toyota has Innova and Fortuner etc. Only MSIL has top brands across the range and each new launch is generating good sales in addition to super run of older models - Celerio is selling well and Wagon R still outsells its competitors!!

It is quite natural for the leader to be complacent but given the pace of new launches i think MSIL is displaying aggression of a new entrant.

[KMohanan]

Originally Posted by sachinayak

Standard warranty offered by Maruti on Alto K10 is 2 years or 40K kms. Standard warranty offered by Tata on Nano is 4 years or 60K kms. Does this extra 2 year warrantly help you instil double confidence in Tata Motors?

Maruti (and most of the auto manufacturers) AFAIK do not offer AMC. Tata does offer on most of their passenger cars.

1) The 'huge warranty' I was referring to is the 10 Year or 1,60,000 Km warranty on the ALTO K10 AMT and CELERIO AMT by MARUTI. This is really a confidence builder for a new buyer, especially since the AMT is new to Indian Customers.

Reference :

http://www.motorbeam.com/2015/01/car...-warranty-amt/

2) The 4 year warranty on Nano was a welcome attempt by Tata. Your question on 'whether this double warranty (compared to 2 year on ALTO K10) helps to instil confidence to buyers ?' is appreciated. But, the answer is NO. Even this warranty is unable to boost sales of Nano clearly indicates that this warranty alone is not sufficient.

Also, when customers compare models, they examine the price difference along with many other parameters. I mean, comparison between the Nano Engine and the K10 engine, between the 4 year warranty and the 10 year warranty on the new AMT technology, between a 4 seater (Nano) and a 5 seater (Alto K10), between Tata and Maruti, between mileage of Nano AMT and ALTO K10 AMT (in spite of bigger engine), Image difference, life of the vehicle, resale value, and many more things.

The extra offers given by the company should be attractive enough to bring customers to the showroom in spite of all the above factors.

With reference to my tata venture warranty, I would like to point out the following :

Chevrolet offers 3 years or 1 lakh kms standard warranty, Extended Warranty for 2 more years (total 5 years or 1.5 lakh kms whichever is earlier) after the 3 years warranty and this extended warranty can be purchased even upto 34 months after purchase - means just 2 months before the expiry of the standard warranty. (Even this is not helping Chevrolet - that is a different issue). For chevrolet enjoy (venture comparable 7 seater from chevrolet), just Rs 6625 is the amount to purchase the extended warranty for 2 years.

Reference :

http://www.chevrolet.co.in/owners/ch...-warranty.html

I was informed by the service centre that Tata offers extended warranty/AMC that can be purchased only within 1-2 months after the purchase of a new venture !! Not sure of other tata vehicles.

Similar is the case with AMC also. In AMC, even the consumables like engine oil, Gear Oil etc are covered.

What I meant is that these Warranties and AMCs are some of the bonus we have to give to customers so that they buy the product with confidence.

I am not blaming or criticizing Tata too much. I am proud of Tata Motors Company. I am sincerely attempting to make tata aware of these facts which are putting them down and thereby helping them to boost the sales of our beautiful cars Zest and Bolt etc.

[Prithwitheraj]

Reg Tata sales - IMO they have brought back 333 confidence - which was a major support for people who wanted to try out in the new product. So I am hopefull to see the sales up to around 3K figures next month. It's an amazing product (as a zest owner) but to gain reliability it will take some long term niggle free ownership review to drive people by flocks to buy this just like swift dezire. Withdrawal of 333 was stupid in my opinion and probably they understood after their sales plunged from 3K+ to 1k+.
Overconfidence? Immature decision making?


But Please TML if you're listening please make each and every owners ownership and service experience a delight. And unless this experience trickles down majority of owners mouth you're never going no where.

Take some drastic steps, assign the most knowledgeable and proactive service people to the new products probably create dedicated service centers and showrooms for these next gen products. Unless customers can trust you blindly and are willing to give the keys of their cars without a second thought for servicing the scenario's not gonna change. And probably some of your old people who are more used to service the cabs are holding your sales back.

[jetti]

Great thread as always. I do miss GTO's summary. Just want to add that I wouldn't underestimate the Renault Lodgy as the commercial segment is very much familiar (and was very satisfied) with the Logan and its 1.5 K9K engine. After all this is based on the same platform.