Team-BHP - The Biggest Blunders in the Indian Automotive Scene

When I bought the SCross 1.6, the first question I was asked back then was why the hell would you pay 15+lacs for a Maruti. One of the reasons why the 1.6 and the Kizashi failed was the brand value which Maruti had/has. Maruti is never perceived as an aspirational or premium/luxury brand. Due to this, people were not ready to pay big bucks.
Do I regret buying the 1.6, never. A well built and powerful car with excellent after sales and service support is a rarity, at least in India.

By far the biggest blunder in automotive scene was the stupid 4 meter and weird restrictions in cc for petrol and diesel, 1200 and 1500 if I remember correctly. These resulted in some of the ugliest and super anemic petrol engines we could ever get.

A close second (another policing blunder): The 43% taxation for hybrids when the only EV in market was e2o and Verito, even many years down the lane, charging infrastructure is still in a nascent state.

Aria was not a blunder. It was a market dud alright, but it was one of earliest indication of Tata was capable of. I don't think dropping Indica moniker would have mattered.

Extreme cost cutting and polar interiors on the Etios twins at launch. What they did in 2014, is what they should have done at launch.

Honda's cost-cutting and QC blunders. This was not just in India.

S-Cross 1.6 wouldn't have sold at the lower cost forever. The localization for 1.6 was 67% vs 97% for 1.3. The number of actual takers for 1.6 were an exception than example. Plus the perception of spending 15L+ on a Maruti, Rakesh has mentioned above and you can see in Mi10's ownership thread as well.

Mahindra's handling of Maini since acquisition. Basically did nothing in all these years, while Tata and MG have taken the goalpost to a distance. Some lame launches in ICE cars as well.

TATA not giving Altroz the attention it deserves.
First they refused to give it a better engine. Then they refused a proper AT. When AT finally came it was put into slow as snail NA version. The turbo petrol and diesel don't even get a 6 speed MT. It sells okay considering all this but it could be doing much better!

Same for Honda with their Jazz. A truly premium and spacious hatchback that Honda refused to market properly and instead followed up by removing famed magic seats, never updating the petrol engine even when turbos were all the rage, plonking lackluster diesel. List just goes on.

The car had every chance of beating every other B2 segment cars and yet was pushed to lowest selling from the segment. I doubt prospective customers even know how great the rear seat/legroom is in this car and how airy interior feels.

They will know that if they actually looked at Honda as a premium hatchback maker but Honda doesn't even try. While chasing Brio based cars for the past decade they seem to have forgotten this gem sitting in their showrooms.

Honda made many, many blunders in their existence here but ignoring this one car which could have turned their fortunes around is the biggest IMO.

The biggest blunder in todays market is Maruti Suzuki not launching the Jimny in India.

What makes this particular blunder worse is the fact that Suzuki manufactures the Jimny in India at their Gurgaon plant but only for export to places like Africa, the Middle East etc. The engine is the same 100hp 1.5L K15B as the Ciaz, Ertiga etc which means spare parts will not be an issue. (although it's mounted longitudinally in the Jimny to accommodate the Suzuki AllGrip 4WD system).

The Gyspy is one of the longest running name plates in India and this archaic design from the mid 1980's was still selling in respectable numbers in the civilian market in 2018 when they pulled the plug on it. Imagine the sales they could generate if they renamed the Jimny to the Gypsy in the Indian market and sold it. Sure the 4X4 lifestyle suv segment is a pretty niche segment with the only 2 realistic players being the Thar and the expensive Wrangler, they probably won't disrupt Wrangler sales but the Thar will face the heat if the Jimny is launched as the Gypsy in India given the brand value of the Gypsy name, the Jimny's legendary performance off road, Maruti Suzuki's unrivalled dealer network and the availability of spare parts thanks to a familiar engine.

Plus I wouldn't be surprised if the Indian army decides to give Suzuki a contract to produce military spec, Long wheel base versions of the Jimny because of how reliable it can be.

Bonus facts: When the current gen Jimny was launched in the UK there were about 4500 orders/deposits put down by customers, but the Jimny was so popular back home in Japan that Suzuki could only send in about 1000 units. When Suzuki UK decided to discontinue the Jimny in July 2020 (opting for a 100% Hybrid or Mild Hybrid line up) the demand for the Jimny was so high that they were forced to bring it back a year later as a "commercial vehicle".