Team-BHP - MG India's first SUV named Hector. Edit: Launched @ 12.18L

Maybe after a couple of days they will come up with:

“Due to customer requests we have opened the bookings again. But please keep in mind deliveries will be delayed due to overwhelming response.”

Just to get customer sympathy and win-win situation for them.stupid:

I have an interesting observation.
If we don't consider the brand, which among MG Hector and Tata Harrier is more British?lol:

The MG Hector is a rebadged Baojun 530 based in China and the Tata Harrier is on the JLR D8 Platform, with some mechanical components also from JLR.

Me: How do people pay close to 2 million for a car from a new brand without even a proper test drive?

Why don't they wait for the initial niggles to be sorted out?

Why are they ready to be free testers for the company?

20,000 people: See they closed the bookings. They got sold out. We got them first in the introductory low price. The price will increase going forward. Phew, what a relief.

I personally cringe when I see the artificial hype that brands like OnePlus one or Xiomi create. But I guess the Full Page Sold out Advertisement will be an Owner's Pride collectible item.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vid6639 (Post 4623178)

If this is a marketing ploy by MG, it's not a very good one. The guy who came up with this idea needs a reality check.

With Seltos around the corner only a fool would stop further bookings and let people move to Kia and book Seltos or Harrier.

Interestingly, the Marketing Head quit after creating this hype. MG chose a wrong period to launch Hector unlike KIA. KIA Seltos is being launched with BS-6 compliant engine(Diesel/Petrol). MG wasted time by not launching a BS-6 compliant vehicle and delaying it to 2020. If Seltos becomes a success, MG will stuggle to push Hector in the market.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO (Post 4623650)

agree: Tata claimed the Harrier had 10000 bookings (link). The falling factory dispatch numbers tell an entirely different story.

Not the just the falling factory dispatch. It is almost available off the shelf and the waiting period evaporated overnight.

MG too is trying something like this. Hope it does not backfire and have people going to KIA than to their showrooms believe the LIE that is marketed. :D

Here is a catch 22 situation for MG dealers:-

Dealers who have been appointed to sell vehicles and make profits on Hector, imagine they are being told to stop taking bookings when customers are still flocking in to buy and it’s currently a hot selling product. This is a double whammy for dealers in this slowdown period.

How do I justify this move of stop taking bookings as a dealer who has put in so much of money in setting up the dealership infrastructure? Why wasn’t MG ready for this? They might portray that they are stopping the bookings because of an overwhelming response but who questions their incapability of not ramping up their production on time or is it just a marketing gimmick which might backfire as people would cancel their impulse buying of Hector and wait for Seltos which appeals more due to all the bells and whistles it has to offer.

Berserk move by MG both ways! You just can not stop selling the vehicle in these trying circumstances!

With a lot of bad blood here for MG, I'am reminded of 2014. I was back from Germany and wanted to buy a car. The EcoSport had set the sales chart on fire and it was seven/eight months after launch. The TeamBHP review was positive, clearly mentioning the positives. The bookings were closed. I went to Metro St.Marks road and saw the car, they didn't give me a test drive and said bookings are closed. Went to Metro Palace road and they gave me a test drive and also agreed to take a booking for the top end and gave me a days time to drop the cheque.

Did I do the right thing? Yes. It turned out to be a wonderful car.

The key words here are time after launch, TeamBHP review.

If the product is good, teambhp review is positive and real world user experience is good, then I care little for what logic makes MG do these things, gimmicks, compulsion or constraints. I will hold my horses till then.

As far as panel gaps are concerned, I see them on very expensive cars too. Unless there is evidence that these large/uneven panel gaps compromise safety, lead to rattles or any such functional issue, iam ok with the cosmetic part of it because the Hector looks good in my eyes and panel gaps are not affecting the looks.

To hit a six in a sluggish market, one needs to create the hype and aura, the kind of as seen with Hector and Seltos. I am very sure they have handsome number of bookings. But to stop bookings, unless they run into waiting periods of several years, it looks uncalled for. Few things are still troubling me:
1. I still do not understand how people are blindly going by a brand that is brand new. No real world experience of the car at our Home conditions, its service, its quality and longevity.
2. Why not introduce a BS VI version when it is known well before hand that the deadlines are soon approaching so that any inventory build up will not hurt the company in long run
3. Is it that once bookings reopen, will the prices increase? Is this a strategy to push for a price increase?
4. Any marketing strategy adopted by Xiaomi or Oneplus of stocks running out in seconds does not work really well with Cars. There is every chance people will cancel their booking unlike mobiles. So why to announce to a booking closure?

I definitely feel buyers need to take a wait and watch approach, atleast see how the brand and car are progressing in a year and then make a conscious decision whether to buy or not.
Waiting for TEAM-BHP Review of the Internet Car !

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aditya_Bhp (Post 4623938)

Nice question? Strictly JLR being Indian owned rather than MG which is purely Chinese. But the market view may be opposite. MG are also using its British heritage in advertising.

I think I saw an advertisement somewhere - the rear right side while facing the car has a badge "Internet Inside" which I find ridiculous and out of place on a car. It looks atrocious to say the least. Can anyone confirm this?

The front page Times of India advertisement posted a page or so back mentions it as an "Internet Car" and comes with some 137-8 voice commands. We have reached a stage where companies sell their cars based on this instead of the core values of a car, like engines, transmissions, comfort etc etc.

I feel we are moving away from what's really important to what's frivolous.

What is your opinion on this folks?

Cheers

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyborg (Post 4624130)

The front page Times of India advertisement posted a page or so back mentions it as an "Internet Car" and comes with some 137-8 voice commands. We have reached a stage where companies sell their cars based on this instead of the core values of a car, like engines, transmissions, comfort etc etc.

I feel we are moving away from what's really important to what's frivolous.

What is your opinion on this folks?

The major reason why the Hector has garnered so many bookings! 'Internet inside' has caught on. We love technology, gizmos, features of all kinds.

Now to have those on a car is something very attractive. Engine, transmission etc can take a back seat for now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyborg (Post 4624130)

What is your opinion on this folks?

Cheers

That’s because unlike most of us at T-BHP who would value key details like the ones mentioned below, people outside don’t see power output, Torque, Transmission and more inclined towards features and all other stuff.

That’s where where brands like MG and Kia are going to cash in.

I test drove the Hector DCT and it felt like a dead elephant once I started moving it at low RPM. The initial lag was visible and that’s what I didn’t like about it. For me, you get fun driving the car rather than enjoying features.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aditya_Bhp (Post 4623938)

I have an interesting observation.
If we don't consider the brand, which among MG Hector and Tata Harrier is more British?

Simple. JLR. Because only the shares of the parent company are held by Indian co. The main manufacturing plant, the employees etc are all UK based. MG is just a brand. There is no MG motors co anymore. The car with brand is made in China by Chinese. Heck, even the design is not even remotely MG.

The answer also becomes obvious based on whose making more noise about being 'British'. Like they say, empty vessels make more noise.

Quote:

Originally Posted by drjkonline (Post 4624048)

As far as panel gaps are concerned, I see them on very expensive cars too. Unless there is evidence that these large/uneven panel gaps compromise safety, lead to rattles or any such functional issue, iam ok with the cosmetic part of it because the Hector looks good in my eyes and panel gaps are not affecting the looks.

When you look at the right side of the car it looks good, go to the left side and man those panel gaps suddenly become huge. Wonder why the same panel gap is not there on the left side of the car. One or two are fine but I saw too many having the same issue.

So basically the car looks different from two different sides, I am not ok with that. I recently saw a Kodiaq in the Skoda showroom with panel gaps, I am fine with that as both the sides were consistent. Same with many other cars ranging from 5 to 50 lacs.

I dont mind the panel gaps, its the inconsistency that bothers me. I am guessing they dont have good quality control at their plant, they just want to sell it.