[Asish_VK]

Originally Posted by thehighwayman

Personally I feel M&M Design Team needs a major overhaul .Its difficult to explain why they design cars which look half good to downright ugly. Take Hyundai's case for example, from the not so good looking cars, they have started producing some really nice looking cars. M&M has to realize that a car's design has to be appealing to the buyer rather than a radical one which tries too hard to impress.

Unfortunately, the same design philosophy seems have to made its way into its two wheeler division as well.A partnership with a well established design studio would do them a world of good.

Exactly my thoughts. What did they do with Pininfarina ? Replaced everyone there with Mahindra's own designers (pun intended) . I was hoping after the acquisition, Mahindra cars are going to be beautiful. But how wrong I was proven to be !

I think Mahindra peaked at XUV5OO which I believe till now, their best and fully committed attempt. After XUV though, its a constant decline, on design, innovation and quality. Even Tata seems to be improving on those already.

Also that guy should be sacked who gives the names to their cars. Enough of "O-s"

[veyron_head]

Thanks for this thread! When I came to know the Thar was launching years ago I was really hoping for a jeep that I could take to work, take my family on a vacation and keep it as my ONLY car. What came out was another vintage jeep with the same vintage features. If Thar came with the safety and creature comforts of cars in its price range it would have been another hit like the Brezza.

The TUV is another sad story. I personally love the looks of it and want it to be my next car. But though the interiors look much better than say a bolero, the boring 4 inch audio system , manual AC, the 3 cylinder engine etc are simply unbecoming of a car in that price range. The T8 costs 11 lacs on road in Bangalore (manual, AMT is one lac higher).

[TheARUN]

I think they should have shoe-horned the engine laterally instead of longitudinally in the Bolero + using the same architecture of the Bolero pick-up. That way they could have come up with a more proportioned SUV and who knows, liberated some more space for the jump seats

The NuvoSport should have been the Quanto when the Quanto was launched. Funny thing is that Mahindra launched the Quanto to make use of the Xylo's excess capacity and have now launched the NuvoSport to salvage whatever possible from the Quanto

They have to knock down the price of the That, it will find many takers around the 5 lakh mark.

I feel they are stuck in an 'Emperors new clothes' syndrome where all praise a new design without meaning it, just so that the Boss is pleased

[greenhorn]

In my opinion, product launches for any brand are a bit of a hit and miss. even maruti, the market leader, and someone who as far as the indian market is concerned, can do no wrong, can make stumble sometimes ( sx4, zen estilo, a star etc)
its generally a hit or miss, and if you can't shoot straight, you shoot a lot, and hope some of them are hits - like the TUV and XUV. They're like the automotive bajaj (never mind the qute)

On the other hand, being conservative like tata motors, taking your sweet time to build a product that arrives late will work only for toyota. Tata has churned out competent products too late, or missed golden opportunities purely because of sheer inertia. There is theory, and there is practice. Tata's approach is conceptually sound, compared to mahindra, but in the end money talks !

[Sheel]

The QC is off the mark as well [and not just design and or product conceptualization] that is one thing which I wish to highlight via this thread.

[silverado]

We can see lot of posts where TATA motors is mentioned and compared with.But Mahindra has done better compared to TATA in maintaining their brand specific image.

While we all agree that few recent Mahindra vehicles have gone overboard as far as design is concerned, what shocks me is that they are going TATA way with their vehicles ( Treating customers as guinea pigs ), while TATA now is taking time to launch vehicles ( Trying to make them niggle free ).

In most cases Mahindra thinks , putting a better engine is the fix to plug low sales.

XUV, THAR, SCORPIO, Bolero are real brand ambassadors for Mahindra.
It is the sub-4m segment where they have not done really well.
And they seem to be in Mix-n-match mood these days, and hence may not be extensively testing such products.

What to expect next?

A redesigned/renamed KUV 100 with new engine
Thar with 3 cyl engine
TUV with m-eagle

[N.r.K]

I think there current product cycle at Mahindra is a kind of stop gap arrangement.
They've made some interesting acquisitions over the years.
While ssangyong would help them make better vehicles and probably give them better global reach. The acquisition of Pininfarina is what could be the game changer.

I'm keenly waiting to see what they come up with next as a common platform with all these entities! I wouldn't hold my breath though, as unfortunately these things take a lot of time to develop.

The xuv is a well sized, well equipped, well proportioned vehicle. Now imagine, It's next generation will probably have some design inputs from pininfarina and manufacturing processes shared with ssangyong!
But till such time we'll probably have to live with kuvs and the tuvs which keep their shop floor moving!

[1100D]

Question to ask will be, is Mahindra (Guilty) alone.


A good look and analysis of the graphs and monthly figures in this thread is required

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

It will reveal, that on overall numbers Mahindra hasn't faltered on consistency. Whereas, few more ex-biggies are also little clueless as to what will work in the present scenario (for example Honda, GM, Ford).

Yes there seems to be a few gaps in the final product offering (offering, not planning). But what one will see is that apart from the usual performers from Mahindra, the TUV300 is surely slowly gaining acceptance. Teething problems exists, no doubt, they continue to plague every indigenous manufacturer, was there for the XUV500, Scorpio 2.2.

Mahindra's strategy has been to let each sub-brand build its acceptance in the market and then slowly increase presence.

What has been disappointing is that, Mahindra has not dared to reach out for the niche, even if they have platforms that are compliant. Say for example, the TUV300/Nuvosport with 2.2 mHawk and 4WD, the product exists for their export portfolio. What Mahindra should realise is that, enthusiast usage of their product actually creates a positive marketing halo. Imagine a raised TUV300 with 4wd and Low range and MLD. Sure it wont set the market on fire, nor will it be able to beat the Thar on Offroad prowess (to pose any threat to the Thar) but a few social media posts of a few enthusiastic owners having fun with these cars, will achieve results like no other marketing campaign can.

Similarly, the Xylo, the Underrated people mover, its even a better practical package than the 2wd Scorpio with the same engine.

The biggest challenge that the entire automotive industry is feeling right now is to adjust to the changing dynamics of personal mobility and the stark preferential shift that is being envisaged in the not so distant future. Lot of recently earned lessons are having to be quickly discarded. The small engine, big power game is being quickly unlearned. Real world pollution testing, safety norms that will be prevalent, NGT etc, even the likes of Mercedes aren't sure about the direction to take. Right now the focus is hugely on alternate powertrain options (different levels of Hybridsisation, electric and its actual effectiveness) . They have consistency in present numbers, and are focusing on preventing being caught with the wrong products for the future (Most of their present products will be irrelevant if European laws were suddenly applied here).

The affordable enthusiast automobile is actually on life support now and time will be over soon.

[vishy76]

The voice a person who WAS a potential Mahindra customer here.

Mid 2014
I was on the lookout for a car in the D1 segment (I went ahead and bought a Jetta in November later). The Rexton was never a contender as was with the XUV 500. One look at the Fortuner and mom was keen on an SUV rather than a sedan.
Decided to take a look at it. I must say that I was expecting a product better than the XUV as it was priced significantly higher and also had the image of a Korean car(korean=reliability).
Visited NBS international Chowpatty, Mumbai. The S.A was kind and immediately offered a test drive.
So far so good!Right? That's what we thought until we saw the state of the test drive car. The rear brakes were making a thudding sound and the interiors were showing their age although the car was less than a year old. Had to walk away. Couldn't afford paying >22 lakhs for something like this.

Seriously, Mahindra needs to work on itself first and then concentrate on Ssangyong(both have potential). Although Mahindra was looking to launch the tivolli in India, the launch has been delayed. The SSangyong brand is suffering due to Mahindra.

Regards,
Vishy76

[SAE40 in veins]

Originally Posted by Asish_VK

Also that guy should be sacked who gives the names to their cars. Enough of "O-s"

It may be the Chairman himself insisting that the names should end with 'O'. Professional Marketing guys are not likely to be that superstitious. In short it may not actually be possible to sack 'that guy'.

[KMT]

My question is whether Mahindra needs to get a new design team/design language?

Which of the two make better looking cars?

In my opinion, Tata vehicles are generally more attractive than their Mahindra counterparts.

Why doesnt Mahindra up its design game? Is physical appearance less important to Indian car buyers?

Despite Tata having better looking cars how come Mahindra outsells Tata consitently by a wide margin?

At the outset I would like to state that I have owned a fair few Mahindra vehicles but no Tata vehicles.
I buy Mahindra because of their practicality and after sales service.

What follows is my take on current/recent models PURELY in terms of appearance.

Storme vs Scorpio - Winner Storme

Sumo vs Bolero - Winner Sumo

TUV vs Nexon- Winner Nexon

Aria vs Xylo- Winner Aria

Hexa vs Mazzaro- Winner Hexa

Harrier vs XUV500- Winner Harrier

Yodha vs Pikup - Winner Yodha

Xenon vs Getaway - Winner Getaway

My current dissapointment is with the new Thar.
While its likely I will buy one anyway, I cannot understand why Mahindra cannot move away from its wannabe Jeep CJ roots.

Mahindra have access to the worlds finest design house (Pininfarina) and yet they choose to build their brand new retooled offroader with the same old Jeep DNA.

If they change the look I am sure they can sell the product overseas without ongoing legal spats with FCA.

Look how well Tata has leveraged its inhouse design capability.

This reflects on-
(i) The Indian consumers purchase motivators.

(ii) The good sales force and service of Mahindra

(iii) The poor sales force and service of Tata.

Do you feel Mahindra needs to spend more effort on exterior design?

[PrideRed]

Originally Posted by KMT

My question is whether Mahindra needs to get a new design team/design language?

Which of the two make better looking cars?

In my opinion, Tata vehicles are generally more attractive than their Mahindra counterparts.

Why doesnt Mahindra up its design game? Is physical appearance less important to Indian car buyers?

Despite Tata having better looking cars how come Mahindra outsells Tata consitently by a wide margin?

This purely a personal opinion and I am sure there is quite a fan following for Mahindra design as well. Design of a car has significant impact on sales and clearly shows Mahindra is leading. To me most of Tata's success has come in the form of hatchback/sedans instead of SUV. Barring Nexon and Sumo none of the Tata UV's have set sales chart on fire.

[motorworks]

Both Tata and Mahindra have come a long way in the last 2-3 years. Tata has demonstrated much better design capabilities, they have churned out classic designs such as the Tiago, Tigor, Hexa and also some radical ones like the Harrier and the Nexon.

Mahindra on the other hand, have always come across as a company that tries too hard in the design department. Their designs have not looked cohesive at all. The newer ones such as the Marazzo and the XUV300 are better, but even these 2 cars are not as cohesive as the ones that Tata makes. The Marazzo, although an MPV, is not as cohesive to look at as a Hexa or even the Ertiga.
Similarly, the XUV300 too feels truncated at the rear. For sure, Mahindra has come a long way from its Xylo, Quanto days, but even now they just seem to try too hard. Almost bordering in on the way certain Chinese automobiles get designed. I wish they work on more classic ones, just like the XUV500, which has stood the test of time, almost 8-9 years now and it still does not look bad on the roads.

Tata has sorted out their design language for sure. Their designs have come off age, may be they need to work on their fit and finish, which I think Mahindra has got right with the Marazzo and the XUV300.

[ruzbehxyz]

Design of any car or a group of cars from any company is purely a personal choice.

Sumo vs Bolero. I prefer the Bolero as Sumo is just box type with excessive body roll..Again this is a personal choice and there may be more Sumo lovers.

Mahindra is doing much better than Tata from years as evident from sales, but Tata is really picking up with its hatchback/sedans instead of SUV.

The Aria was launched as a direct rival to the XUV500 but it did not do well and is stopped. XUV500 went on further and became Mahindra's Flagship model.

Summing it up, any shape of any car manufacturer is purely a personal choice.

[Sheel]

Originally Posted by KMT

My question is whether Mahindra needs to get a new design team/design language?
Do you feel Mahindra needs to spend more effort on exterior design?

I had posted something similar a while back. https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...-launches.html (Mahindra's poor planning & conceptualisation of new product launches)

One criteria where I feel the Mahindra has an advantage is -

# After sales, its almost consistent everywhere. Not so with Tata, from what I read, Tata has good service in South & West, but in some parts of North and entire East, Tata lacks in sales & service department.

This is my opinion, but I feel the engine refinement and to some extent, reliability is in Mahindra's favor. Post the slave cylinder issue in 2.2's, nothing much has gone wrong. Of course, with a new product, niggles are the hallmark of our indigenous manufacturers and one is advised to wait for an year or two, but if I had to pick between a new Tata and Mahindra, it has to be Mahindra.

Tata's forte is suspension and brakes, no product launched by Mahindra can match Tata as far as ride, handling and braking goes.

A JV between both would make a lo of sense, M&M's engine and Tata with the body shell and other components.