[Porschefire]

Originally Posted by Mpower

It is an uphill task but the ball is now in Ford Marketing's court to address this communication gap with the masses

And the ball shall remain there for a long long time!!!
I longed to see an ad of the Fiesta in the newspapers but never saw one. As for the Figo/Aspire, I did see a couple, I think. And I do see quite a few of them for the Ecosport but in a small corner of a useless page in the newspaper that nobody reads!
The sole reason for Ford doing the dismal numbers is Ford themselves. They've the poorest marketing team in India and the higher management couldn't be less bothered.
As for the Ford dealers, its a different story altogether. The comments of them being rude to customers and not wanting to sell them cars is because they've been turned into an angry lot by guess who, yes yes, Ford! For example, Lathangi Ford, from where I purchased my Fiesta, were denied stocks of Figo/Aspire initially because of a payment issue to Ford. Well, if you do not allow them stock and sell cars, how'd you expect the dealer to pay you back the money!? It wasn't like they had a surplus supply of Ecosport and the older Figo/Classic either!
I purchased my Fiesta in 2014 and since then I've become a Ford fan! I can vouch that their cars are brilliant in every sense, with the Figo/Aspire they've truly become more Indian in their approach, the showrooms and the service centers are fairly competent if not better than the Marutis and the Hyundais and it does not cost a bomb (ala VW, Skoda) to service the cars. But these will not matter one bit unless Ford India wakes up from its slumber and realizes the goofups they've been doing.

[Ricky_63]

I see a "sea" of cars at the Delhi NCR dealers. Massive inventory. One can pretty much get most variants in most colours. I do not know the sales numbers, but can say for sure that Ford is selling here in the NCR region. Ecosport in the lead still.

One reason why the Figo / Aspire numbers are not burning the tarmac is because of the "Maruti Effect" - the Maruti factory being in Gurgaon / Manesar is a logistical advantage. Plus the service network ofcourse is way bigger than many others..

I was baffled to know that the dealer is not "interested" in selling the all new Endy !!! Reason being that due to the ban on registration of diesel vehicles with engines over 2000 cc. Some people are getting them registered in UK =Uttarakhand or HP = Himachal. So the dealer looses out on making money on the registration & insurance. Which is a large chunk of what the dealership makes off of a car.

All in all - great cars - disinterested sales teams - period

Any update or news on the "hold" on sales of Figo / Aspire ??

[Mpower]

Originally Posted by Jose.solorider

Ford does not have wide product range..
Practically speaking
1 Figo
2 Aspire
3 Ecosport
4 Endeavour

However, name any other brand and they have quite a substantial lineup
Honda
1 brio
2 amaze
3 jazz
4 city
5 mobilio
6 crv

Similarly Maruti and Hyundai.
My point is, if anyone enters any other company showroom, they have quite a lot of variety whereas Ford it's restricted.

Not sure why you would need a wide product range for the Asipre to sell? A customer with a 25 lakh budget needing an SUV does not necessarily care if Ford is missing a C+ petrol sedan (like Focus) and an Aspire customer wouldn't really care if Endeavor existed or not

The only benefit of having a full range is that it helps you to keep customers within the brand as they upgrade to something larger every 4-5 years.

Secondly, Honda is not the best example. The Civic & Accord just disappeared after a few years.

Originally Posted by GTO

If the news is true, that just sucks. The Figo & Aspire are amazing mass-market cars that do most things well.

Equally, I don't think Ford should have launched both of them within such a short gap. Rather, they should have been spaced out as Ford's management + dealership network simply doesn't have the bandwidth to handle so many launches together. The Endeavour also followed soon after, thus they had their hands full

I see you point, but since the Figo & Aspire are basically the same car, they would both be ready for launch at the same time ...and delaying one (lets say by a year) means that Ford is

1. hurting themselves financially (payback on investment is delayed),
2. hurting the product (which is losing its freshness by the month) and
3. hurting the customer/brand (Figo customer wants his car NOW and couldn't care less if Ford is having logistics issues)

Sounds like a botched up launch where the dealerships reacted poorly to the sudden surge in customer inquires/demand

Originally Posted by GTO

Another takeaway from the current situation is that Ford will have to sell world-class high quality products to survive in India. The EcoSport is the oldest Ford in India, yet it outsells all of the others combined. Similar case with the Endeavour which has received a strong response from the market. Ford is going to have to keep differentiating, and back that strategy up with truly global products. The EcoSport is still a competent compact SUV, superior to even the brand-new Vitara Brezza.

Didn't quite understand you here. I think you are saying that the products are already quite contemporary no? Other than thirsty petrols, I don't see the products lacking anything major?

[anumod]

Figo and Aspire are really good value for money products. This time it failed to pick up in the market just because of marketing. Now with Baleno in picture, people are moving away from Figo, because of the look. If the could have tried the same trick they have done for Figo and Ecosport in marketing, these cars also would be a success.

[harishpr]

Good decision. Ford's lineup in India is uninspiring. To survive in such competitive market, manufacturers need more than 1 superstar seller. Take the top 5 automotive manufacturers, all have more than 1 successful model. It's a pity that Ford isn't bringing their worldwide successful lineups. Except for Ecosport, all others are dud in terms of market. Ford has some great cars, crossovers, suvs elsewhere, but we don't see them launching in India. Same is the case with Fiat, Mitsubishi, VW etc....

[sudhirnam]

It is quite unfortunate that the Figo twins received cold response in the Indian market. These cars are very capable and competitive in their respective segments. It has been six months since I am driving the Aspire (TDCi) and I absolutely enjoy it. I have not driven any Fords before hence can't comment on any drift from previous their models. But having driven the Swift Dzire and Amaze, I can assure you Aspire holds a superior position in many aspects including build quality. While entering into such a competitive segment Ford should have brought in more features (such as rear AC, Start/Stop button, projector headlights etc.) to awe the Indian consumers. Engine and car performance is secondary in this market! Looks similar to the fate of Fiat line up .
My dealings with the ford dealer were quite smooth and I found the service center people very professional. Nothing to complain.
Recently I have been seeing more number of the new Figos on road and hope Ford will be able to catch up.
Now that Ford has decided to bring in Mustang to the Indian market, I am hoping they will consider launching the Fiesta ST and Focus as well .

[RGK]

Originally Posted by nivatakavacha

With the management change, are things different now?
Can you please elucidate?
Thanks!

Heard there are some shortage of spares. So better check with them before leaving for service. You can meet Mr. Kumar - Senior Technician at Pallikaranai branch for any technical assistance. He is a very knowledgeable guy.I will update once I get some concrete information.

Meanwhile you can also try with Manasarovar Ford. I have not tried there.

Originally Posted by Mpower

However, more important is the fact that Ford does not have a positive image in the minds of the VFM customer that looks for attributes like FE, ASS and resale value. The disastrous reputation of the older Ford petrols have created an image that is now hurting the new products.

It is an uphill task but the ball is now in Ford Marketing's court to address this communication gap with the masses

Absolutely. Also their long term reliability was a question mark. Ford came up with bigger cars compared with Maruthi or Hyundai and so there was a premium and could not attract first time car buyers. Still Ford is not able to erase that even after Figo. They have to work out a robust sales plan and right product positioning.