Team-BHP - Maruti's goodwill gesture! Early S-Cross buyer gets a Rs. 90,000 refund and 2 year extended warranty

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Originally Posted by pannags (Post 3930422)

This is the only I know of a manufacturer actually paying back in kind after the purchase has been made.

... and also admitting that they messed up with the pricing at launch time. A manufacturer who had the pulse of Indian market making such a bad mistake is really bad in my opinion

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Originally Posted by SRM (Post 3934809)

Wow!! This is one of its kind news and must applaud MS for this fantastic considerate gesture!

Agreed, but what about many others (like me & Sandygordon) who ended up getting the 1.3 instead of 1.6? For the current prices I'd surely have made the stretch to get it.

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Originally Posted by ashbhat2 (Post 3934829)

I believe the price reduction on the 1.3 powered S Cross was around 44k which is comparitively less as against the 2L price cut on the 1.6 variants. Not sure if a refund is warranted on the 1.3 but the maintenance packages maybe.

I still believe 1.3 owners should get the benefit of price correction in some way. But given the difference, I'd doubt Maruti would do anything about 1.3 early adopters. I will watch out for what they do but for the time being they are not on my list for my next car purchase.

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Originally Posted by SnS_12 (Post 3934843)

Well, Suzuki has done this in the past in India, when they refunded money to the Inazuma motorcycle owners after the prices were reduced on that bike.

Basically that shows the parent company's commitment. I had a chance to Test Ride the Inazuma, which was a very good bike for a particular type of rider, but it was grossly overpriced. They sent cheques to all people who purchased the bike at its initial price.

Maruti of course has a different standing compared to SMIPL (Suzuki's Bike Subsidiary). As Market leader they have to lead the way and considering the parent had set a precedent, they would have to do the same.

And a small matter that their reputation is built on their customer focus.

As an aside, for those who bought the 1.6 initially, if I may say so, this is called having your cake and eating it too :D

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Originally Posted by sudeepg (Post 3934889)

Agreed, but what about many others (like me & Sandygordon) who ended up getting the 1.3 instead of 1.6? For the current prices I'd surely have made the stretch to get it.

Agree with your point of view completely, many would have considered what you are saying. I would feel the same if I were in your place.

But then another point of view would be whoever went for 1.3 made a vfm decision at that point. And given that prices of both 1.3 and 1.6 have reduced, wouldn't 1.3 still be more vfm in the current scenario as well compared to 1.6?

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Originally Posted by chaudh2s (Post 3934881)

This is remarkable show of ethical behavior in this world full of cheats! MARUTI !!! Hats off!! Long way to go!

Yes, Its something exceptional from Maruthi but i still don't understand why Maruti is neglecting one of its customer. If they can refund all S Cross customers, this shouldn't be difficult for them.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...cross-new.html

This is a good move. But moreover, it is clear indication from them that they will never ever price a car so atrociously.

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Originally Posted by nik hill (Post 3934926)

Should ford do the same for ecosport owners

No chance at all. Maruti can afford this because they sold only limited number of 1.6.

Consider last 6 months. Assume a total of 3K units of 1.6 sold (as there is no fresh imports of 1.6 engine as of now). Maruti need to spend only around 30 crores (excluding the free extended warranty offer for 1.3 and 1.6). They can earn the good will which amounts to more than this.

But at an average of 3K units per month, Ford might have sold 18K units in the last 6 months. That will amount to 180 crores! No way they will let it go. At maximum, they will offer a 10-20K cash back and free extended warranty (as they are currently 'following' Maruti :).

When Maruti announced price cuts on the S-Cross- Many of us in team Bhp frowned on them, and empathized with the limited number of early bird buyers. Maruti has now redeemed themselves by offering the excess money back to those owners.

Ford reduced Ecosport prices by over a lakh and almost everyone here applauds this move. Don't think they would ever offer anything like this to the multitude of Ecosport owners out there. But looks like no one has complaints.

Beats me at times how same strategy by different manufacturers attract different reactions here in the forum.:eek:

Quote:

Originally Posted by SRM (Post 3934911)

But then another point of view would be whoever went for 1.3 made a vfm decision at that point. And given that prices of both 1.3 and 1.6 have reduced, wouldn't 1.3 still be more vfm in the current scenario as well compared to 1.6?

Not really because:

a. Prices of 1.3 were also higher when it was launched by almost 44K. So we lost out on that.

Just a few weeks before that, Maruti increased the prices across their vehicle range by about 18K. When I contacted Nexa about the huge price drop their feedback to me was that they have managed to reduce the cost of production and therefore passing on the benefits to S-Cross customers. Now imagine this, a new car launched and in under 6 months they manage to reduce the cost of production by so much that it offsets the increase they had a few weeks back AND by an amount of nearly 2 Lakhs on S-Cross! Which manufacturer has every been able to do that in under 6 months of launch of a product? They clearly overpriced S-Cross but they don't want to admit it - IMHO. If they could reduce costs and price it competitively, then they could have perhaps delayed the launch a bit. Now, the product is unpopular - their very first premium offering.

This re-reimbursement itself is proof of this because if they had higher production costs then, why would they refund the money to early adopters? That said I am genuinely happy for all S-Cross 1.6 owners for the refunds they got or can expect.

b. Many like me lost out the opportunity to get the 1.6 engine. I needed a change of car at that time and the 1.6 pricing just killed the opportunity. In Bangalore, the top end today costs about as much as what I paid on Road (including the remapping) without extended warranty. :(

If it was pure VFM decision, then I would have just stuck to 1.3 Zeta or 1.3 Delta. But then I don't change cars often and this time the plan was to keep the car for much longer period and therefore the desire to get a variant with all bells and whistles. :)