[4x4addict]

Originally Posted by nik_kapur

They need to work there way from the bottom like a Mahindra did if they have aspirations to be a auto manufacturer. They should do a utilitarian UV with bullet proof reliability and target rural India.

Absolutely right. Tata & Force should take a page out of Mahindra's success with the Bolero. It started out as a rudimentary under powered basic rural SUV. Today they made it a rudimentary under-powered basic rural SUV with updated interiors, which the villager wants when he has arrived in life.

The Force Gama/Jude was a very decent platform with the right powertrain and better interiors, they could have tried to capture the Bolero/Sumo market first. Instead they launched and outdated SUV.

Originally Posted by SDP

A friend who had test-drove the Force One was mighty impressed by the suspension and the ride quality. After XUV was launched, he picked up the XUV, but still fondly remembers the ride of the Force One on non-existent roads.

A friend of mine has one and I have been in it a few times. It is good in terms of space and comfort. But the earlier one had a lots of niggles etc.

Besides the top end version is not exactly cheap. If I were in the market, for a body on frame SUV in the 15 Lakhs on the road budget, I would any day pick the Safari Storme Varicor 400 over anything else.

[swiftnfurious]

A badly priced product from day 1 I say. The marketing focus was too much on the Mercedes engine as if people dont look for anything else. A 15L SUV with no ABS (even on top end). I think it was a case of snobbish approach with the market, trying to capitalise on Merc brand name.

The fact is, this never had a USP in the segment at all, anyone could blindly pick a Scorpio or a Safari for a similar price, with safety options at least on one variant.

However, I remember OD reviewing it & terming that it had segment leading ride quality. I dont have complaints on the looks front either. The 3rd row space also was appreciated in the review I recollect; so was the acceptable boot space with all rows up.

Force should have had the safety option at the time of launch and should have priced this lesser than the Safari to make the initial move. That's where they faltered. Hope they do their homework & comeback with a ground up product which can revolutionize the segment. But having read about what they can't do with a good platform (Gurkha), I have zero expectations from them.

[RSR]

So, the rebadged RHD Guangdong Foday Explorer III with the Mercedes OM611 diesel engine under its hood finally bids adieu! Not many are going to miss it, I guess.

Many suspect the Foday Explorer is a cheap Chinese knock-off of the Isuzu Alterra, which is nothing but the Isuzu MU-7 sold here. In India, the Isuzu MU-7 was introduced later than the Force One, and cost substantially more, more than double in fact (at least initially).

Most shockingly, while the Force One is equipped with a relatively advanced multi-link rear suspension, the Isuzu MU-7 has an extremely crude leaf-spring rear suspension!!!

So that's a rare occasion where a knock-off product's re-badged version proved to be better in one area than even the original!

Other than this shocking surprise, the Force One was bound to be a failure. ABS was absent at launch, and was added as an option much later, but airbags were conspicuous by their complete absence in any variant!

Although the two are different kinds of vehicles, the Mahindra XUV5OO was launched immediately after the Force One, and by this time everyone knew what was going to happen to the Indian version of the Guangdong Foday product.

There are two more products made by Indian automobile companies that have strange origins. One is the Premier Rio (RHD version of the Zotye Nomad, itself a legal Chinese knock-off of the Daihatsu Terios / Toyota Cami) and the other is the ICML Rhino (a cheap Toyota Qualis knock-off).

What happened to the above two? Are they still in production?

[noopster]

Originally Posted by GTO

Good riddance, I say! Never been a fan of the Force One.

Originally Posted by nik_kapur

I don't even know what Force Motors was thinking launching this product ? Why do people waste money like this ?? I could have told them at the conceptualization stage itself.

Originally Posted by avdhesh15

Were they even selling this? I don't think I saw it on the monthly sales threads!

LOL those are some strong opinions. Looks like the market has had its say! And rightly so.

Originally Posted by smartcat

Other than the incredibly hard and clunky gearbox (imagine 1980's bus or truck), I quite liked the Force One.

Force Motors is giving up way too soon.

I liked the Force One too. Butch looks, nice suspension ("Lotus-tuned") and a Mercedes engine to boot. What broke it was for is the fact that it came with zero safety features: no airbags, ABS, traction control or anything you'd expect in a million-plus vehicle.

Originally Posted by SDP

This is one product that got its pricing fairly right at the launch, but was immediately outdone by the much more modern XUV5OO in similar price-band. Wish the Force One would have been launched a few months earlier. Because there was no other SUV in that price bracket (a USP of XUV5OO when it was launched), may be it would have sold in fair numbers. I still remember there were some good positive vibes about the Force One (on TeamBHP at least) when it was launched. Once a customer base would have been established, the word of mouth publicity possibly could have sustained respectable sales numbers. Sometimes the timing is just unfortunate. Force should have considered repositioning the Force-One (with possibly a good price-cut) after the XUV launch. Anyways.

SDP, I was one of those! Bunch of us from Pune went and test drove the Force One and came back reasonably happy. Of course it's not an aspirational vehicle by any stretch of imagination but a real SUV for that kind of money is tempting. Guess it's a valuable lesson that features do matter and regardless of which big name you sign up for your promotion, you need an image that transcends the tractor/minibus perception!

[Nissan1180]

I am perhaps one of the very few people who liked the One. It was big, spacious, comfortable and well engineered. It doesn't matter if it was a copy of some Chinese vehicle. The base EX version was priced slightly higher than the base model of the Ecosport. How much more car could you get for the money? The revised editions had ABS but they were priced higher.
I think most people in rural/semi urban areas don't care about the brand value of an UV unless they are spending a couple of millions to buy a Land Rover or something similar. Purchases in those areas are usually driven by more pragmatic considerations What they do care about is reliability, maintenance costs and service quality. This is where Force failed to invest- had they done that this would not have happened.

[dhanushs]

The problem with Force One, from Day 1, wasnt the product or pricing.

It was the Quality and Serviceability.

No one would pay 15 lacks for an SUV however, comfortable or powerful it is, which is full of niggles and literally cannot service from the Authorized Service Center.

An Example of a Force Motors Service Center Competence:

[mukul32]

Well, here is one car I'm happy to see going. In fact, I'm surprised they kept selling it to this moment. Don't know what Force motors were hoping would have sold this thing in 2016. It had a decent mechanical package and looked quite bullish in certain shades from certain angles, but everything else was a complete mess. In a segment where old-school rules, they tried to sell the properly outdated. But it's better not to get into that anymore.

But yes, I'll remember this Force One for one thing, if at all: an utterly useless TVC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-qEvd0k4UE

It seemed really sorry to see an all-time legend like Bachchan Sr. in what is such a lame excuse for an advert. I guess this ad must have scared away even more of the miniscule number of folks having any little interest in that car.

And it is not just this Foday Explorer clone, they don't seem to be going anywhere with any of their their plans to enter the personal vehicle space. There were talks about a Merc Viano based MPV which was never heard of later, and even an upmarket Trax which was supposed to rival the Bolero, which never came into existence. Instead, what we did see out of the Trax platform was this. And I haven't heard of this monstrosity either after that. And with their first attempt itself failing so badly, it'd be safe to assume that Force aren't going to try their luck in the personal car market anytime soon. They'd find themselves better off with the people and cargo movers of different shapes and sizes. And oh yeah, the RFC!

Anyway, another point is that the Indian market just hasn't taken a liking to Chinese cars. Be it this one, the Premier Rio, the Sail Twins and the Enjoy from GM, all have failed badly. The first four were doomed to fail, but the Enjoy is a decent people mover at a good price. The only exception, and a very strong one at that, is our 'perfect SUV'.

[4x4addict]

Originally Posted by dhanushs

An Example of a Force Motors Service Center Competence:

HaHa. I wouldn't surprise me, if your bill said bottle holder instead of Snorkel head.

[nkghai]

Force Motors assembles and test Mercedes Benz Engines for G, E, S, GL and M Class Cars and SUVs in India since 1997.

Post 2015, Mercedes Benz has entrusted them with assembling all the engines for its production cars/SUVs in India.

So while they are capable in the engine assembly field, assembling a competent vehicle/SUV using parts from all around has really not been a successful venture.

[apachelongbow]

So who will provide spare parts and support for the hundreds of unfortunate Force one owners? As it is with the car in production the after sales was pathetic, now that they don't make it anymore, don't expect to get any kind of technical help.
I have seen quite a number of Force ones roaming around Hyderabad, it's a pity that most of them were smoking white fumes out of their dual tail pipes, speaks volumes on the 'Mercedes' engine...

[4x4addict]

When I went to the RTO a few months back, I came across a Gama/Jude 4WD supplied to the Tamil Nadu Govt Department of Health.

Overall, it is a decent platform to start with. The can put a decent power-plant, decent interiors, improve the overall ergonomics and it will be much more practical than the Bolero. Instead of steadly improving a decent platform they have, Force has decided to take Mahindra and Tata head on at the top of their segment and failed miserably...

[TejasKinger]

Note to Mods: Please move this to an appropriate thread, if necessary.

Force Motors and Rolls-Royce Power Systems form a new JV in India

The new joint venture will be called as Force MTU Power Systems Pvt. Ltd and the company will manufacture MTU's Series 1600 engines, which are suitable for power generation and rail underfloor applications.

Read more