[dZired]

Thank you to the Team-BHP fan (he prefers to remain anonymous) who sent this information in. Heartfelt gratitude for sharing it with other enthusiasts!

Ford has made some changes in the variant-wise feature distribution of the Figo hatchback and the Aspire compact sedan. Post these changes, all variants of the Figo & Aspire have lost some features. No changes have yet been announced to the prices of both these models.

The Ambiente variant of the Figo loses the passenger-side vanity mirror. Additionally, the front grille surround and bars, which were earlier finished in silver, will now get a blacked out treatment. The Trend trim also loses the silver front grille bars, along with the fabric door panel insert and the lunar grey inserts around the audio bezel and steering wheel. Height adjustable seat belts offered with the Titanium variant have been removed, and will now be offered only with the top-end Titanium+ trim level. Moreover, the driver-side vanity mirror, which was earlier available in the Trend, Titanium and Titanium+ models, has been removed from all variants.

Similar changes have been made to the Aspire's feature list as well. The Ambiente trim loses the passenger side vanity mirror and the silver front grille surround and bars. On the Aspire, the Trend variant used to get a chrome surround for the front grille, which has now been replaced with a silver painted insert. It also loses the fabric door panel insert and the lunar grey bezel around the head-unit and steering wheel. Driver side vanity mirror has been removed from all variants, while height adjustable seat belts will now be offered only with the Titanium+ trim.

The said changes are expected to be seen on all 2017 manufactured models of the Figo and the Aspire. Ford had recently made some feature changes on the EcoSport as well.

Link to Team-BHP News

[Torquedo]

To add more misery for the perspective buyers, the ex-showroom on the Titanium has been jacked up 12K (15 odd should be the case OTR) in 2017, Carwale has the updated price and if you build and customize your Figo on the Ford India website, you'll see the updated prices.

[R-Six]

Seriously! Fail to understand what is the strategy behind such a blatant move! When they have fierce competition from other manufactures in these segment, and where they have a decent market share as well, taking these features of the list is definitely not a smart move.

More reasons for prospects not to look at their offerings. And the sales guy next door would be happy to give their "expert advice" explaining the stuff you'd loose if you chose to pick up a Ford.

@Ford, What are you guys upto? Are you guys trying to shave off all the goodies and nice to have things from your bread and butter cars?

How silly a feature might seem to be, removing it from the feature list without a significant price cut will definitely leave a sour taste.

[MotoNanu]

Has Ford hit a jackpot in India which we are unaware of? This is downright stupid move IMHO.
They have done a similar move on Ecosport too! Though the features are tiny, but removing anything from existing model is always a LOSS for a prospective customer and I don't know what justification has Ford for this!

[Mad Max]

Looks like a MBA prep is working on a cost-optimization project within Ford India proposed these.

Penny-wise and Pound-foolish.

[kpzen]

Originally Posted by R-Six

Seriously! Fail to understand what is the strategy behind such a blatant move!

How silly a feature might seem to be, removing it from the feature list without a significant price cut will definitely leave a sour taste.

Originally Posted by MotoNanu

Has Ford hit a jackpot in India which we are unaware of? This is downright stupid move IMHO.

Dear R-Six/ MotoNanu,

Price of commodities are rising at an insane rate. Steel, crude, styrene everything is hitting the roof.
To make this worse, the sales hasn't been great in last quarter due to demonetization.
Even now, no one is able to forecast the market mood in coming months.

How does a manufacturer survive ?

[narayan]

I would say well done Ford for atleast not cutting on safety features. With sales down, manufacturers have to do some cost cutting to stay afloat. I don't see any of these cuts as real deal breakers for someone who would consider the Aspire. It would be mostly internet critics like us who would keep nitpicking.

[Torquedo]

Originally Posted by kpzen

How does a manufacturer survive ?

Does everything that you have mentioned happen as the new year dawns in ?

Have all manufacturers increased the prices (well a handful have) ?

Ford, Chevy and a few others are not surviving on Indian operations, they need to build the base here and go from there.

Maruti sanely prices at launch and gradually increases the prices as there is market acceptance to the product.

Thought (product perspective, interiors/exteriors including) and pricing (reducing prices by 50K after 6 months of a product launch leaves a very bad taste) are critical for survival in the Indian market, look at what Kwid has done for Renault.

Low intial margins for volumes should be the gameplan for the tertiary players like Ford, Chevy etc.

[prkiran]

Guess some overenthusiastic MBA has rolled out some six sigma projects at Ford. Would work well for his/her appraisal maybe: "Saved xx dollars annually for Ford through a path breaking cost saving initiative"

[subraiyr]

With prices across Figo and its contenders being in a +/- 15% band, product features were probably the differentiating factors + service. Now with product features going out, this seems to be a draconian move by Ford. At these levels, Ford will keep a better margin per car, but overall volumes are likely to drop and overall margin for vehicles should see a marginal shift
I was in the market to buy a Figo, looks like i might just sit back, relax and enjoy some more interest hitting my account

[blackbandit]

Very sad to see the features being cut down on the trend variant. But glad that i ended up purchasing a 2016 model in December. The cut down on features are fairly cosmetic and would definitely not be missed by prospective buyers. However considering the prices would also be increased, i feel it is not something well played by Ford.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Mad Max

Looks like a MBA prep is working on a cost-optimization project within Ford India proposed these.

Originally Posted by prkiran

Would work well for his/her appraisal maybe: "Saved xx dollars annually for Ford through a path breaking cost saving initiative"

Meeting goes:

CEO: Figo & Aspire aren't selling. Problem.

MBA managers: Yes, we need to control the situation.

CEO: But we've tried everything we possibly can to enhance their sales??!!

MBA managers: Lets improve profits by milking those who have already decided to buy the Figo / Aspire. Lets remove some features that no one other than those irritating Team-BHP guys will notice.

CEO: Very smart. I'm so glad that we hired young talent like you. What else?

MBA managers: At the same time, let's also increase prices. Let Maruti offer more for less. We'll rake in the moolah by offering LESS FOR MORE!

Originally Posted by kpzen

How does a manufacturer survive ?

The same way successful manufacturers are surviving. Taking value away from customers is damaging in the longer-term. Building & selling cars isn't rocket science - it's a 100 year old business.

Originally Posted by narayan

It would be mostly internet critics like us who would keep nitpicking.

Don't underestimate the average Indian car buyer. He is an extremely astute + shrewd customer.

NOTE: No offence to MBAs; I'm one myself!

[MotoNanu]

Originally Posted by kpzen

Dear R-Six/ MotoNanu,

Price of commodities are rising at an insane rate. Steel, crude, styrene everything is hitting the roof.
To make this worse, the sales hasn't been great in last quarter due to demonetization.
Even now, no one is able to forecast the market mood in coming months.

How does a manufacturer survive ?

Well, I guess 'subraiyr' has answered your question in a way!

Originally Posted by subraiyr

With prices across Figo and its contenders being in a +/- 15% band, product features were probably the differentiating factors + service. Now with product features going out, this seems to be a draconian move by Ford. At these levels, Ford will keep a better margin per car, but overall volumes are likely to drop and overall margin for vehicles should see a marginal shift
I was in the market to buy a Figo, looks like i might just sit back, relax and enjoy some more interest hitting my account

There are many more prospective buyers who would think on similar lines, which is justified. Would Ford survive with this move then?

[narayan]

Originally Posted by GTO

Don't underestimate the average Indian car buyer. He is an extremely astute + shrewd customer.

NOTE: No offence to MBAs; I'm one myself!

Without commenting on the astute/shrewdness of the average Indian car buyer, I can safely say that most prospective car buyers in many of the entry segments will evaluate all the various brands and finally end up at Maruti or Hyundai's shop. My opinion is that the very few who would opt for other brands(including Ford) may not get turned away because of these feature changes. As long as the overall cost vs value equation doesn't get distorted too much - which is unlikely at these price points ( wow - did I just speak like an MBA ! ).

Lets see the sales numbers for these cars in the upcoming months and see how many buyers they lose due to this.

[subraiyr]

Originally Posted by GTO

NOTE: No offence to MBAs; I'm one myself!

To digress a bit from the main topic - sounds like one of the Big 5 consulting firms to me.

Ford : No margins, please help
Big 5 - Reduce product features. Get margins up

2 months later

Ford: Slips on revenue. Market perceptions hit. Reaches of to second Big 5
Big 5 - Defines revenue strategy, runs campaigns, sales bumps up. CEO happy

5 months later

Ford: CSAT takes a beating. Customers unhappy. Market perception affected
calls third Big 5
Big 5 - Invents service strategy. More customer touch points, customer engagement, big events, meets - creates FOCUS (ford customer) campaign. CSAT up, service head happy. Marketing lead happy, CEO happy
Note - CFO murmurs

5 months later
Ford - Annual report out. Revenues high. Margins down. CEO and CFO grilled. Projections thrown out of the window. Fourth Big 5 who modeled financials thrown out. CEO calls Biggest Fish for Business Transformation

Biggest Fish - Does an in depth study for 3 months and comes back with Cost to Serve High and therefore bottom line high. Starts customer segmentation. Different Strokes for Different Folks policy and voila the vanity mirror has disappeared permanently.

And folks, that's how we make money