[roby_dk]

Had a great time today with Anurag Mehrotra, CEO Ford India. I was invited by him over an informal coffee meet at Ford India's office in Cyber City. Easily reached there as I am already familiar with the place. Was greeted directly by Anurag and we went to the cafeteria where we had a healthy discussion on personal, professional, cars, Ford, automobiles etc. Frankly speaking, he is a gem of a person and a down-to-earth guy. He loves to meet and greet enthusiasts like us and truly respects our views.



I discussed with him over the two ongoing issues highlighted on our forum related to the missing K-Truss in the Endeavour and Ford not providing the Ecosport for TBHP review. For the former, most of the Endeavour owners including me have stated that we don't find any need of the missing K-truss in our car as that is related to the trailer version in other parts of the world. Anurag also told the same story that we do not need the same in India where we hardly use the Endeavour for towing trailers. Regarding Ford not sharing the Ecosport for the review, he didn't tell the exact reason but said they have some issues with us which he doesn't want to share in public. Anyways since we got the car from one of our fellow members, I didn't discussed more on that topic.

He further told me about the ongoing strategy to keep the maintenance cost low for all the Ford vehicles and a bit on the upcoming models of Figo/Aspire. I asked him if we can expect the F-series trucks in India, to which he replied they are still analyzing the Indian market for pick-up trucks. Then some discussion around my selection process for Endeavour, how and why I joined TBHP. He praised our highly detailed and unbiased reviews as well.

Big thanks to BHPian Anumod for sharing my contact details with Anurag. My Endeavour was involved in an unfortunate accident sometime back and Anurag contacted me and spoke to dealer assuring the repair to be done as per my satisfaction. I am blessed to be a member of TBHP forum through which I got an opportunity to meet the MD of my car's brand (Ford).

Some WhatsApp conversations and Pic with Anurag:

[RaghuVis]

Wow.. from the horses mouth the declaration that they have a problem with Team-bhp.

Would have loved to know the reason for this ego. Also, did you ask why they did not even think of giving some explanation for the K-truss issue? I suspect they did not give statement because it was reported on T-bhp. If it was some other advertisement portals(Read Auto Portals ), they might have given clarification.

[LionX]

Originally Posted by roby_dk

He praised our highly detailed and unbiased reviews as well.

But still they decided not to share Ecosport for review

[Latheesh]

Yes, looks like there is some issue. May be our mods know it or is it just the result of various issues escalated by our forum members?

[skchettry]

Going by his statement it looks like Ford India is never going to provide any of their upcoming models to tbhp for review.

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by skchettry

Going by his statement it looks like Ford India is never going to provide any of their upcoming models to tbhp for review.

Well honestly if even all car makers start resorting to that, citing bad publicity on our forum then so be it. We are quite a large community and I am sure we will always be able to find a TD vehicle ( rather multiple) for any and every brand and even across the multiple variants/engine/transmission options. So if this is the price for being an open forum then I am honestly behind the Mod team on this.

[blueeyed]

That's a great initiative from the end of Ford India and the CEO himself. The head of an automotive brand coming to the customer to meet with him in person and assuring him everything he could do on the concerned vehicle, that's customer relationship at it's best.
But a bit disappointed as well because he said that there is some problem between teambhp and fordindia. As a proud teambhp member who likes fordindia for their offerings and initiatives, I really hope all the problems would be solved soon.

[Flyer]

That's a wonderful gesture from a CEO.

I asked him if we can expect the F-series trucks in India, to which he replied they are still analyzing the Indian market for pick-up trucks.

Nice, It will be really wonderful if Ford can launch their trucks in India. Sure our market is still not mature enough to sell them in big numbers, but still!!

My Endeavour was involved in an unfortunate accident sometime back

Unquestionably your Endeavour is in the best hands now, and wish your ride will soon be back on road in its full glory.

[roby_dk]

Originally Posted by Flyer

Unquestionably your Endeavour is in the best hands now, and wish your ride will soon be back on road in its full glory.

Car is back to its original glory. Please refer below posts.

Before
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...ml#post4422513

After
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...ml#post4431809

[Chillout]

Well, it was nice of Anurag to reach out to a fellow Ford owner and hear his views. That being said, he also clearly stated they have some issues and hence the denial for a test car. We have to move on, respect their decision and go about doing our reviews diligently and fellow bhpians will always lend a helping hand.

[AccordSport]

It is really nice for a CEO to meet a customer directly and hear the feedback!

But that said it is really cheap for the Ford CEO to say that they have issues with TeamBHP and that they wont give a car for test drive. Their motto is "Praise and get a car. If you bash about an issue you woudn't get a car"

Regarding K-struts if towing capacity is the reason why can't they give a formal reply and bring that thread to closure? It is the attitude that is sickening

[akshay380]

Originally Posted by AccordSport

It is really nice for a CEO to meet a customer directly and hear the feedback!

But that said it is really cheap for the Ford CEO to say that they have issues with TeamBHP and that they wont give a car for test drive. Their motto is "Praise and get a car. If you bash about an issue you woudn't get a car"i

How can you be so sure? The issues could be genuine for god's sake. I don't think neither tbhp owners nor ford needs to discuss this publicly.

[daretodream]

Aaah- I remember that old story: Good Cop, Bad Cop !

No offence to OP, I see it as an attempt from Ford leadership to claw back some goodwill after that snub and poor PR! Sorry, We won’t forget. We won’t forgive.

PS- I love the Endeavour.

[Samurai]

Many companies have such customer outreach programs, where the CXO level executives meet random end customers to get direct feedback, unfiltered by the company bureaucracy.

I was once visited by a CEO at my office, which was even better. I had posted this experience long ago. It does leave a lasting happy impression about the brand.

Originally Posted by Samurai

This happened late 2005 or early 2006, while my tiny company was still in Bangalore, less than 10 people strong then. I had a visitor at 6PM, and my receptionist told me it was the CEO of Airtel. I was puzzled and asked what does he mean. So he made the visitor sit in the reception and brought the business card. It was indeed the CEO of Airtel Broadband, Mr.Prem Pradeep. As part of the customer reach out program, he was visiting 5 customers every month. That week it was my turn and so there he was, sitting in my room and asking me about my feedback on the service. He spent 30 minutes listening to me and noted down all my concerns before he left.

[Blow Horn Ok]

It's because of team bhp that I have two Ford cars with me and it feels bad that the brand is having issues with the community. If it's really due to the endeavour k-truss issue then it's really cheap thought of ford. Whatever the issue is, it must be sorted.

While it's really good that the CEO himself interacts with customers to understand the decision process and solve the issues and build confidence. By the way Didn't you get a souvenir/gift at the end?