[Chetan_Rao]

Contrarian view, Tata's action seem to be propagating the existing mindset of 'Pick safety or features, you can't have both', and taking it to manufacturer level.

India is slowly evolving into a safety-conscious market, but features are still a deal-breaker and it would be a travesty if a 5-star rated car gets eliminated in purchase decisions due to missing features that don't really cost much to keep.

[myavu]

Originally Posted by GTO

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.

Very True. When you brag about 5 Star safety, why should you delete rear fog lamps which is an active safety feature during poor visibility in fog (which is common in North India this time of the year).

[GTO]

Originally Posted by varunanb

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'm sorry, but this is a forum of car OWNERS, not car MANUFACTURERS. We will always be on the side of the car owner. What do you think the car owner prefers? Heck, charge 2000 - 10000 more if you want, but don't slyly delete the damn features.

Everyone always talks of how 2000 bucks / car can save crores after selling lakhs of cars. That's all bull. I would rather look at it individually. Are you seriously going to cheapen a product for just 2000 bucks when a customer has paid you 8 - 10 lakh rupees for it? That's CHEAP.

I also hope Tata never forgets that its this CHEAP attitude that had ruined their product quality and caused many to desert the brand.

[aditya79india]

They are probably just trying to lower costs and improve margins on a slow selling product to recoup as much investment as possible. Most likely, TML will discontinue the Hexa once H7X is launched.

There is simply no point in having internal competition with similar price points and vehicle configurations. In my opinion the H7X will take over from the Hexa or the former will be thoroughly decontented and price will be dropped (Taxi Market).

[varunanb]

Originally Posted by GTO

I'm sorry, but this is a forum of car OWNERS, not car MANUFACTURERS. We will always be on the side of the car owner. What do you think the car owner prefers? Heck, charge 2000 - 10000 more if you want, but don't slyly delete the damn features.

Everyone always talks of how 2000 bucks / car can save crores after selling lakhs of cars. That's all bull. I would rather look at it individually. Are you seriously going to cheapen a product for just 2000 bucks when a customer has paid you 8 - 10 lakh rupees for it? That's CHEAP.

I also hope Tata never forgets that its this CHEAP attitude that had ruined their product quality and caused many to desert the brand.

I thought we were to be neutral and constructive. I never took sides here, was just sharing my experience from my working days wondering why they deleted those features and was not defending the manufacturer. For all the debates on pricing, there could be another logical or silly reason for deletion of the features, which we do not know. I would want to understand the reason instead of concluding based on speculations.

Ridiculing one of the process followed by every successful bussiness around the world is not right. Value engineering or design optimisation has been going for long everywhere and across industries.

One example is, two of the cars I own, a civic and a 530d is/was part of your garage as well and we do know the features that were deleted in them for Indian market for various reasons. We accepted, bought them, maintain them, use them and more importantly love them every day we wake up. So isolating Tata or any other manufacturer is not fair. We should look for answers rather than blowing up the problem.

Yes, I’m saying again, not happy with deletion of features, Tata’s could have worked out a different solution by working on parts that are not visible or that does not affect the users perception. Over the years I have learnt that perceived quality is more important than actual quality. I hope they correct their mistake and hope I didn’t offend for sharing my views.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by aditya79india

They are probably just trying to lower costs and improve margins on a slow selling product to recoup as much investment as possible.

The Tiago & Nexon are not slow-selling products. They are very successful. IMHO, even the Hexa is selling well for a 15-20 lakh rupee Tata.

Originally Posted by varunanb

Ridiculing one of the process followed by every successful bussiness around the world is not right. Value engineering or design optimisation has been going for long everywhere and across industries.

I'm sorry, but if a manufacturer deletes features after launch, Team-BHP will remain the first to highlight it. For precisely this reason, all the recent Official Reviews have the brochure uploaded in the Other Points post (so that we can easily compare later). I will only think from the car owner's point of view in this matter.

A Nexon ownership report in the Assembly Line has this paragraph:

I wish TM sticked on with the features they had initially released with the car. There is no point in deleting the features under the pretext of customer demand. I missed out an important point of 12V power outlet at the rear seat. This feature was important for me as I have to play nursery rhymes whenever on move with my kids and need to have a charging point near to the rear passenger.

One example is, two of the cars I own, a civic and a 530d is/was part of your garage as well and we do know the features that were deleted in them for Indian market for various reasons. We accepted, bought them, maintain them, use them and more importantly love them every day we wake up. So isolating Tata or any other manufacturer is not fair.

1. Do check my 530d report and you'll see criticism of the missing features.

2. Neither Honda nor BMW deleted features AFTER launching the car with them. There is a BIG difference between the two. Heck, the Civic & 530d both got MORE features with time.

[aditya79india]

Originally Posted by GTO

The Tiago & Nexon are not slow-selling products. They are very successful. IMHO, even the Hexa is selling well for a 15-20 lakh rupee Tata.

My post was only for the Hexa. The volume looks good only when price-brand equation is factored in. Otherwise at the present level of volume, they are bound to lose money. As per my info, they would also like to change the seat fabric but there are 'branding' issues...

[AirbusCapt]

Hexa sales are on an average about 900 units a month since launch. Pre Hexa, the Storme/Safari used to sell only about 800 units a month, post Hexa launch it fell to about 600 units a month. I am sure there was cross sales between the SUVs but netnet Tata's monthly SUV sales doubled from 800 to 1600 units. That imo is a big win.
There is no need to foolishly cut features in the Hexa, just to justify the Harrier as value for money. Even post Harrier's launch the current Hexa sales might increase and stabilize at 1200 units a month and the Harrier may stabilize at 2000/2500 units a month, Tata would have monthly SUV sales at 4000 units a month from 1500.

[mroutlander]

Stripping features off a really competent vehicle like Hexa could, in my opinion, mean that TML wants to downgrade it in favor of Harrier/H7X. What they might to want to do after this so-called 'rationalization'/'optimization' is reduce the prices and throw open Hexa bookings for the commercial/fleet segment in a bid to bolster sales for the same.

I am yet to see a Hexa with commercial-plates and think it would be safe to assume that Tata hasn't done that yet. That would be a travesty of sorts but a plausible line of thought from Tata, nonetheless.

[rovingeye]

They're not only cutting features, they are cutting their work force too.

Tata Motors’ JLR said to plan to large-scale job cuts

[DriveOnceMore]

Originally Posted by mroutlander

I am yet to see a Hexa with commercial-plates and think it would be safe to assume that Tata hasn't done that yet. That would be a travesty of sorts but a plausible line of thought from Tata, nonetheless.

I am quite sure that Tata has opened commercial bookings for Hexa.
I have seen quite a few here in Pune with Yellow plate.
I am NOT talking about the Zoomcar's Hexa.

[abhi7013]

Originally Posted by DriveOnceMore

I am quite sure that Tata has opened commercial bookings for Hexa.
I have seen quite a few here in Pune with Yellow plate.
I am NOT talking about the Zoomcar's Hexa.

No one can stop an individual from commercially registering a vehicle. All tata can do is refuse to do the registration from their side. As far as i understand it. This could prove as a roadblock but nothing that can be surpassed.

[pandabear]

Thanks for the alert. TML just lost a potential Hexa customer. It's better to increase margins by increasing efficiency rather than plucking the low hanging fruit.

[GTO]

Thanks to a Team-BHP Fan (who prefers to stay anonymous) for sending this information in. Heartfelt gratitude for sharing it with other enthusiasts via this Team-BHP page!

From January, the Hexa XE loses its music system & speakers .

[tarik.arora]

Originally Posted by GTO

Thanks to a Team-BHP Fan (who prefers to stay anonymous) for sending this information in. Heartfelt gratitude for sharing it with other enthusiasts via this Team-BHP page!

From January, the Hexa XE loses its music system & speakers .

Wow, this is some news. Add to this the planned price hike, and you get the whole picture. Tata is surely making space for Harrier so that it appears VFM when launched. This makes me firmly believe that Harrier base will be pretty close to Hexa XE in pricing terms. Tata is killing Hexa in this process which otherwise could have been managed differently.

Stop doing this Tata, you are now losing the confidence of an existing owner as well. I graduated from Zest to Nexon and would love to stay within the same brand when i upgrade again. But, if this is how Tata will behave, i am better off with a different brand next time. Tata is hitting us from both the sides. You do not want to buy a newly launched Tata, to avoid teething issues and when the product settles, Tata starts deleting features and now you question your decision. Some fool is taking such decisions.