[discoverwild]

Originally Posted by prakash_ajp

GTO, is it possible to get in touch with the Tata folks responsible for this stunt and get some response to this? I am not saying it's our responsibility, but just curious about their side of the story.

I agree. Team BHP, as a community, speaks for a knowledgeable group of enthusiasts whose experience also is valued by others not on this forum.

It doesn't bode well for Tata to be doing this and the sooner they understand this, the better. The wise decision would be to bring back the omitted items and also provide the same to those who missed out on the same.

[varunanb]

Originally Posted by amit_mechengg

Its so frustrating to see this happening. Some sick minds in marketing are taking this stupid decisions. Infact tata should start adding more parts in same price to add value and wow factor to boost dropping sales.



I do manufacture parts for OEM and believe me these parts costs peanuts to the company. For example a part that these manufacturers buy from me at Rs.680 are sold for Rs.3800 in the box.



Chrome - Rs.7 to Rs.8 max. Tail pipes - Rs.300 max

I agree the the first part of your comment. Used to be in procurement till about four years ago and it would be a pain to get a cost reduction idea either by VA/VE or feature deletion/ addition approved from the marketing and projects team inspite of steep targets for price reduction. This trend of feature deletion even if they don't contribute to the customer interface or experience was always put down by them. Don't know what has happened to these guys off late. This is a trend not only at Tata's but in a lot of other companies too.

One logical reason could be that the cost of other critical items might have gone up and in spite of burdening the customer with the impact, the harmless features could have been deleted.

Still would like to hear from the OEM's directly on their views.

Coming to your point on spares pricing, of all people I think you should appreciate the economics involved in it. A regular supply product gets assembled within a week to a fortnight and the cost recovered immediately after, whereas a spare has no definite timeline, cost of inventory and a little incentive to the dealer, cost of warehousing at various locations needs to be added. In the scale of operations the margins on the spares contributes less to a dealer or the OEM inspite of the pricing seem steep to the actual manufacturers.

[Chetan_Rao]

Well, this at least puts the 'one has to be aggressive in the budget segments to make money' argument to rest, that plenty opined in the Tiago/Tigor threads and to some extent in the Nexon one too.

Cheaping out on a car that cost nearly TWO million rupees on-road fully loaded, I'd love to see the cost-benefit slides in the colourful sales PPT that led to this enlightened decision.

[N33raj]

So at this rate, when i decide to sell my Hexa, i can put up an ad saying something like "This car is from the initial lots where all the features were present. Here is a list of what you, the buyer, is going to get that new buyers will not."
That should let me be unrealistic about the price and still be able to sell it!
Sounds like fun! NOT!
I am coming round to the view that Tata is doing so to make the Harrier look premium. Perhaps i should tell Father to look somewhere else for his next car.

And yes, like my previous conversation with them regarding the Automatic version missing out on the safety features and their reply to it, i am expecting something along similar lines this time as well. I did ask the sales chap at the showroom as to why are they deleting features and he gave me a two part reply: 1. they are doing it based on customer feedback (unbelievable! which customer told them that deleting the sun blinds on the doors was a good idea??!) 2. the company is of the opinion that it is not needed anyway.
Perhaps GTO can get a clearer answer?

[maverickxx2006]

This is what happens when success goes into the head.

Tata brass must be surely aware that the omissions have not gone unnoticed. They have taken the calculated risk looking at the numbers.

Tata has lost my respect on this one. Sad.

[r0nit7]

Great move by Tata Motors for the existing owners (your's truly included) - the resale value of Hexa (having more features than the one on sale today) just shot up once again by a few hundreds

[NiInJa]

I do see this happening in most cars and its a bad habit, but is it me or anyone else who thinks that Tata is deliberately removing such features from Hexa to make the middle and lower models less appealing compared to the upcoming Harrier (including the seven seater) ? They might be in a different category but might fall in the same price bracket. The fleet market will not care about such niceties anyway.

[Annibaddh]

Not sure if any of this is going to make Harrier any more appealing. Not sure that can be the reasoning too. Tata have been doing this across the board, even on their bread-winner Tiago. Someone said this is marketing. I'd be loathe to believe that, being a marketer myself. Can't think of a marketer worth his salt giving up on features like this.

In fact, on my Vento, one of the many things I absolutely loved were the small things that I kept on discovering long after I'd bought the car, which demonstrated VW's attention to detail (they are pathetic in their own unique ways, but the cars they make are positively amazing). Even now, our Superb throws up a surprise or two often.

I was very (VERY) keen on the Harrier given my Vento is now nearing 100,000 and the missus needs a car too. But this scares me more than anything else. It tells me I can't trust the company. That they'll pull up cheap tricks for pennies. And who knows when they'll end up deleting something important!

[gururajrv]

Can someone send a referral link of this thread to someone in Tata? What the heck is wrong with them? Whoever is thinking, isn’t thinking right & straight. They can’t win customers or sales by deleting small elements from the car. All they’re doing is cheapening the product & not the price. Tata think over, please!

[mroutlander]

This is a real-life manifestation of the adage - "Penny wise, pound foolish". In a bid to save a trivial amount of money, Tata are hacking at their own reputation, creating a really negative impression and risking loss of potential sales.

[Karthik Chandra]

Seems like few BHPians here haven't yet gone through the below thread.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-...ml#post4512465 (Tata Nexon: Global NCAP’s first 5-Star Indian car)

Guys complaining here can also share your views on Nexon becoming the first 5 star rated Made in India car.

Here is what Viddy has to say

Originally Posted by Vid6639

This is interesting. Also on a related note, https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...-new-cars.html (Why is Tata Motors deleting features from its new cars?)

The thread above got a lot of flack and deservedly so but one of the reasons for the features deletion was to get the Nexon to 5 star certification. So the loss of minor features was at the cost of safety. They had to add components for safety and hence had to remove some so as to not increase the price.

This point can be argued but that's the way it is.

Originally Posted by Vid6639

There is a change in some components, either structurally or some redesign earlier.

As you can read, its for cars manufactured after Dec 7th that have the 5 star rating.

They have definitely done some changes to the car which is confirmed by someone in Tata as well.

I understand that deleting features isn't ideal but atleast in the Nexon it is a compromise for safety and I'm hoping its the same with the rest of the models as well. Hoping to see a 5 star rated Tiago/Tigor & Hexa.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Karthik Chandra

I understand that deleting features isn't ideal but atleast in the Nexon it is a compromise for safety and I'm hoping its the same with the rest of the models as well. Hoping to see a 5 star rated Tiago/Tigor & Hexa.

Sorry, but I disagree. The deleted features would cost between Rs 2000 - 10000 tops at the OEM sourcing level. As we all know, 10 grand is not a deal breaker in our market anymore. While I'm proud of Tata for the 5-star rating, I don't like their cheap attitude illustrated on this thread either.

[varunanb]

Originally Posted by GTO

Sorry, but I disagree. The deleted features would cost between Rs 2000 - 10000 tops at the OEM sourcing level. As we all know, 10 grand is not a deal breaker in our market anymore. While I'm proud of Tata for the 5-star rating, I don't like their cheap attitude illustrated on this thread either.

Rs. 2000 savings per car at the manufacturers sourcing stage is a huge impact for them. Cascade that to final onroad pricing it’s a reduction anywhere between 3-5k. What looks cheap for us, compounded to annual volumes is a huge savings for the other. I remember fighting with other departments for a reduction if Rs.100-150 during my working days. And it’s very common across manufacturers to do it.

I agree Tata’s shouldn’t have deleted all visible items so early in a product’s lifecycle. I hope they are watching the thread and set right the damage as early as possible like how they acknowledged and corrected their stand on the DURALLOY wheels.

Atleast I’m happy they haven’t done any value engineering on the structure compromising the safety.

[spindoc]

The award for the world's best (worst) euphemism goes to Tata Motors.

Tata Motors is terming the feature deletion / changes as feature optimization.

Tata Hexa features optimized ahead of Harrier launch

[octane_100]

I hate both Ford and now Tata for things they are doing to their products. It seems as if the product management team is idle and they want to be seen doing "some" work! To borrow a phrase, they just want to "keep the shit stirring".



Safety and features can definitely co-exist and if they need to charge more for that the mar-comm team better do their job well of making customers understand. Instead, they take the easy route of short changing the customer.