Re: Ford CFO comments on the company's Indian operations Quote:
Originally Posted by Sebring All cards on the table means everything will be under scrutiny, nothing will be off-limits. It could go either way. They could either strengthen their presence, by bringing in innovative products that wont compete directly with the market behemoth or go the GM way. It's up to Ford's country heads to showcase a great strategy, and show the way.
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There are gaps though. The Ecosport is their best seller and they must concentrate on it. Bring in more products in the affordable SUV space, because that's their strength. The automatic doesn't come with all the bells and whistles and there's no pop up screen, why?. Why is there no diesel automatic? Or even a 4X4? Look for gaps guys.
The car doesn't look dated at all and there is no need to bring in the face lift. It needs a slightly wider rear bench. Might need new colours. Just make it an unbeatable value proposition. |
True but the face-lift will address some shortcomings like adding more bells and whistles and the much famed "touch screen". And you're right in the looking for gaps, that's the key to success if you want to beat Maruti. Quote:
At the dealer level the sales staff are unenthusiastic. The guy wasted 30 minutes of my time explaining features on a tablet, something I already knew, without even having a test drive car on hand. It was so irritating. Their exchange schemes are just for the heck of it, and are not tempting. There is no real drive to close the deal.
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I'd say they need to set common standards for all dealerships. The experience currently varies so much from dealer to dealer. I had registered interest at 2 dealers. One has a fab salesman, who followed up with me for months after I talked to him. I'd tell him to call after 2 months and exactly 2 months later, bang! I'd get his call just like clockwork. The other dealership didn't even call me a week later. The Hyderabad dealers are better in this matter. I've heard horrible things about the Vizag dealership. They are the only one in town there, giving rise to Skoda-esque behavior. To correct this they should get feedback independently. Honda customer care for e.g. calls the customers and checks how their dealership experience was. Quote:
Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR Am I the only one who thinks his words are actually positive rather than negative, and is being taken out of context?
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Why would they exit when the strongly believe this is the third biggest market in the future, and that they have a stronger position than GM?
Looks like me like they are trying to figure out an action plan to revive their Indian arm. |
Definitely. It definitely will result in evaluating the current strategy and building a new one. If it results in them realizing that they cannot get anywhere by copying Maruti, that will be good. I hope it results in bringing newer, esp. European designed products where Ford has a distinct strength over others. Quote:
Originally Posted by anjan_c2007 To start with, the Escort had an under powered petrol engine. The spares were prohibitively costly.
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The Ecosport took off very well but the sales have stagnated lately. There are no noticeable efforts to prop up the sales with any refreshed model and so on. |
That should be out soon: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ing-india.html Quote:
The newer Figo and Aspire are again good cars but the team Ford's laid back attitude is quite apparent. These cars are not being bought by the average buyers, who prefer the Marutis, Hyundais and Hondas.
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Ford or any other manufacturer will never do well in India by copying Maruti. All the cars that have succeeded are those that bring something unique and distinct from Maruti. Like you've mentioned below, they should focus on their strengths. But efforts to reduce service costs and spare prices are commendable. Quote:
The Endeavour, was never a good seller. There are many reasons which have been discussed elsewhere in many threads.
With their solidly built cars, they need to have focussed on the build quality,safety and reliability to win over those loyal to the Japanese and Korean brands.
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Endeavor does decently well for its segment. Fortuner is more of an exception. (Off topic: I think fueled more by political wannabes. ) Quote:
We only hope that Ford stays back in India which is destined to be and for a long term remain among the top five markets for cars.
Ford needs to have proper products, a proper marketing team and market spares at the most affordable costs. The sales and service centres need to be more customer centric.
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Originally Posted by Nissan1180 This is exactly why people go for Toyota in India. Even till the early part of this year, GM showed no signs of an exit. People bought Trailblazers for close to 30 lakhs. Now the resale value is questionable, service support is close to non-existent. If a company can consider all options, it will most likely choose the easiest one. Remember Jaguar and Land Rover was sold by Ford and now it is owned by Tata. |
They might have not shown any signs but no product of GM was selling for months before they made the decision. If you read the comments on our monthly sales threads, you'll see people commenting on why don't they exit already. GM sales one year back (Jun'16) for e.g. were 1951. Ford sold 1882 Aspires in Jun'17, and that is not its highest selling product.
Toyota is similar to Ford in the sense that it has succeeded only where they had no competition for a long time. Toyota has only Innova and Fortuner that are bestsellers and they failed miserably to crack the market with other products. If you consider the total sales of the segment, Endeavor sells quite decently. Although the next month sales will make the post-GST impact clear on both Fortuner and Endeavor. Quote:
Their factory in Gujarat is huge (near my house ) and it won't be easy for them to walk away. Most likely, they'd continue the GM way.
I hope the home-grown manufacturers benefit from the void that will be left behind by the possible departure. Their current products for the mass market lack a strong fan following, except the EcoSport. Also (apologies for the generalization), the effort that you have to make to convince an Indian buyer about a brand is very high compared to the return. It is not that Ford did not try advertising- the Aspire advertisement involving a skeptic trying to find faults was one of the best we have seen in recent times. The problem is, the mass market in India follows a herd. They will buy what their colleagues buy or their relatives suggest. Their relatives behave the same way- and thus it goes on.
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In a way, Ford suffers from the same problems like Tata. Fortunately, Tata has a very radical design philosophy now that forces even the most vociferous critics to notice the products. No one will miss a Tigor on the road. However, it is not so difficult to miss an Aspire or a Figo.
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What is common between Ford and Tata was that they didn't update their products in time and in line with market demands. Ford, however, never had such a steep fall as Tata. They initially had the Figo and Fiesta, then the Ecosport, which is still a strong seller and about to be face-lifted. Tata was much stronger to start with. The amount of Brand perception and market share that it lost was tremendous till they came up with Tiago.
Apart from advertising it is the value proposition. What do you get in this car that you don't in the competition? That is the question that determines sales for all brands non-Maruti IMO.
Last edited by jetti : 1st August 2017 at 22:27.
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