[CarNerd]

We need more companies like MG who can come up with interesting products like the Astor. MG has to price it sensibly below the Creta to capture some sales. I hope it gets good safety ratings as well considering it has ADAS like the XUV 700.

I think MG has the potential to be the next MS (Maruti Suzuki). They seem to be getting what the Indian consumers want. This is what Ford should have kept doing to survive in the market. VW will follow Ford if they don't learn from the newcomers.

[Goldenboy]

I was thinking about what is a realistic and fair price to expect given all the technology on offer, and also the fact that so far at least MG cars in India have decent build quality and interior materials. The fully loaded Creta costs close to 22L on road in most cities. If MG can get the top end Astor anywhere around 18L OTR, they will have done very well.

[autohead115]

Originally Posted by Goldenboy

I was thinking about what is a realistic and fair price to expect given all the technology on offer, and also the fact that so far at least MG cars in India have decent build quality and interior materials. The fully loaded Creta costs close to 22L on road in most cities. If MG can get the top end Astor anywhere around 18L OTR, they will have done very well.

How is that fair or possible? Especially when it is offering a lot more in all aspects, even if it costs the same, given it looks like a better product with a host safety features, undercutting by 50k-1L would be icing on the cake, but 4L?

If MG is smart, they would release this with a crash test rating and with so many safety features if it has as good of a build quality as Hector, this is a 5 star GNCAP product and would give confidence to Indian customers to look beyond the Chinese brand image as the Korean twins are being mocked for their poor build ever since the crash test rating and the Seltos split incident. No offense to any of the owners, but they rightfully deserve all the trolling they are put upto these days.

I personally think if the top of the line Astor costs 20.5-21.4 it is a great buy, but XUV700 should be eating into this segment, and that is a good thing.

[shibulijack]

I’m so glad that MG has come all guns blazing. And it comes in Black too (*cough* Honda, are you watching? *cough*). If the 1.3 drives well and the car comes with a 4+ NCAP safety rating, shut up and take my money (even if it’s priced on par with Korean twins).

I’ve seen a few reviews of 1.3 and overall it seems to be good, although not as explosive as the 3 cylinder TSI. I’m a sedate driver, so I don’t really mind if an engine doesn’t have the vtec effect. But I’m curious about the reliability. Does anyone here know about the reliability of this 1.3 engine? Is it relatively new to the global market?

[Goldenboy]

Originally Posted by autohead115

How is that fair or possible? Especially when it is offering a lot more in all aspects, even if it costs the same, given it looks like a better product with a host safety features, undercutting by 50k-1L would be icing on the cake, but 4L?

I was thinking more along the lines of the mass market and what would give the product good acceptance. One of the things about Creta is its insanely high resale value. I am seeing 5 year old samples going for very high prices. I doubt many people outside of enthusiasts would understand the safety features being offered, and I can't really see mass market acceptance at 20-21 L OTR. The Astor is very important for MG to build volumes and brand equity, so let's see how they price it.

[Pras92003]

Originally Posted by autohead115

How is that fair or possible? Especially when it is offering a lot more in all aspects, even if it costs the same, given it looks like a better product with a host safety features, undercutting by 50k-1L would be icing on the cake, but 4L?
.

Because the top model petrol Hector with DCT costs around 22lakhs OTR. There is no way Astor which is a segment below would cost the same or even near it. Actually 18 lakhs OTR would be an all right price. Still not very disruptive but good enough given the features. I really hope they price it even more aggressively. Koreans and VAGs are really overpriced IMO. If the top model lands around 16-17 lakhs OTR, it would become a runaway success. Fingers crossed.

[autohead115]

Originally Posted by Pras92003

Because the top model petrol Hector with DCT costs around 22lakhs OTR. There is no way Astor which is a segment below would cost the same or even near it. Actually 18 lakhs OTR would be an all right price. Still not very disruptive but good enough given the features. I really hope they price it even more aggressively. Koreans and VAGs are really overpriced IMO. If the top model lands around 16-17 lakhs OTR, it would become a runaway success. Fingers crossed.

Yeah so Hector DCT costs 22.5L OTR HYD and Astor doesn't look to be a segment lower, this isn't a sub 4m SUV, its being projected as a premium offering/alternative to the obvious rivals, Creta/Seltos/Kusaq etc, and since its offering more than them in every way, I don't get why it is expected to be offered at a significantly lower price, lower sure, but 4L less, why? Especially when its offering more, I don't get this train of thought, at 20.5 OTR Astor will be still 2L cheaper to Hector and 1.5L cheaper than competition. I don't see why anyone would pick the Hector over Astor unless they need the last row (Hector+) or diesel because this has more features and in no way a lower segment product.

[dh.harshal]

Update - I just received a call from MG representative on my interest shown in Astor. He was very courteous to ask preference, explain all the features (although I told I'm aware of the details). He then asked my area PIN code and linked it to the nearest dealer.

He affirmed that the car will be in the showrooms by the weekend or early next week. He also confirmed that the trainings are underway, brochures are being prepared and showroom people should be well equipped to disclose the variants and variant wise features next week (although without pricing). Nowhere he was intrusive or pushy. This was a delighter (same happened with M&M with XUV700 interest).

On the contrary, Skoda & VW never reached out despite registering my interest several times and despite owning a VW car currently. Just a top honcho playing the twitter game, will not help Skoda/VW to win in India with 2.0 strategy. They have half baked products, then should double their efforts on the service.

Net, Astor and XUV700 seem very promising products, Mahindra & MG are taking all efforts to delight the customers. And hopefully one of them will be in my garage by end of the year.

[Pras92003]

Originally Posted by autohead115

Actually it costs 23.1L OTR HYD and Astor doesn't look to be a segment lower.

23.1L is the diesel offering I think. In any case we cannot possibly call Astor and Hector to be of the same or similar segments. Regarding the price expectation, it's my opinion and expectation that they price it lower than the competition since Creta and Seltos and VAGs are overpriced "IMO". I for one, for sure won't buy it if it's over 18 OTR. If you think 22lakh is a good price then it's all right. It's your opinion. Peace.

[dh.harshal]

Originally Posted by Pras92003

Because the top model petrol Hector with DCT costs around 22lakhs OTR. There is no way Astor which is a segment below would cost the same or even near it. Actually 18 lakhs OTR would be an all right price. Still not very disruptive but good enough given the features. I really hope they price it even more aggressively. Koreans and VAGs are really overpriced IMO. If the top model lands around 16-17 lakhs OTR, it would become a runaway success. Fingers crossed.

I think, both 22L on road or 17 lakh on road for top model, seem unrealistic expectations.
As earlier said on this forum, my pricing guess is 10-17 lakh ex showroom which means top model should be around 20 lakhs on road (Maharashtra).

1) Many auto journalists have quoted expected price to be in the 9-17 lakh range, ex showroom.

2) Hector is 13.5 to 18 lakh ex showroom, so Astor will be a bit lower than the big sibling.

3) MG have always undercut the competition in the pricing. So they are likely to undercut Creta/Seltos/Kushaq/Taigun.

4) The turbo petrol is 3 cylinder engine v/s usual 4 cylinder turbo engines in the competition. Lower cost of 3 cylinder engine will be compensated by added cost of active safety such ADAS.

[ron178]

Guys, it appears there's something wrong with MG's handling of the NCAP rating of the Astor. Not with the rating itself, but with MG's social media accounts' handling of people asking for it.

MG earlier hid Tweet replies from users who were complaining about MG not responding to them about NCAP tests and some predicting that the car sold here will not perform well.

This I found acceptable, since MG would want to hide baseless information that may cast doubts in people's minds. One of the users whose reply they've hidden is the same user who had received a response from MG a few months ago that the Hector's NCAP rating would be revealed soon (as can be seen on this closed thread (MG Hector NCAP safety rating to be revealed soon)) - only for MG to take down the Tweet and refuse to comment further on the matter (indicating that the news may have been false).

But today - during the Astor's unveil - they're hiding Tweets from people who are simply asking 'What is the NCAP rating?', a question any manufacturer would respond to, at least with a standard PR statement like 'Stay tuned to our media pages for more information' or 'this model does not have an NCAP rating yet'

This may well be me being paranoid, but I cannot think of a reasonable explanation for this behaviour. One explanation reported by a Twitter user is that manufacturers may not be allowed to reveal NCAP results until the car is available for all consumers to buy (based on an old Latin NCAP Car Specification, Sponsorship, Testing and Retesting protocol), but I don't subscribe to this because I think there's no reason to hide replies over this (even if they've agreed to have results revealed during the price reveal).

The only replies they've hidden are spam, replies highlighting the Chinese heritage, and those asking for the NCAP rating.

I don't want to (and can't) draw any conclusions from this, so any insights would be appreciated. I don't intend to defame the manufacturer in any way, all I'm looking for is any possible explanations I may have missed.

[Lobogris]

Originally Posted by Aviator_guy

It's good to see so many segment first feautres being launched with Astor. I'm sure these will create lot of excitement and provide novelty factor for potential customers. I just wonder about the long term reliability and longetivity of such brand new and relatively untested (extensively in Indian conditions) features. Personally i would like see how things pan out and give the car sometime on the road before considering it. That's just my thought process

Hardly an issue. If ADAS features stop working or don’t work well due to the conditions, the user can simply switch them off. At least is better to have them rather than be completely without them.

[ranjitht87]

Kushaq 1.0L Style AT is 15.8L ex showroom.
As Germans are considered more premium than Chinese, I think MG can price 1.3L astor in similar range as 1.0L kushaq.
Also features like ventilated seats, cooled glovebox, wireless charger may be missed in astor as these were not seen in unveil today. Hope I am wrong here.
Astor has a smaller engine (3 cylinder) compared to Koreans (4 cylinder) and DCT in koreans should be more costlier than TC. So yes Astor has the scope to undercut the Koreans by good margin atleast for Top end minus ADAS.
But its the ADAS that is making me considering Astor over sub 4m compact SUVs.

[fakenews]

Originally Posted by subraiyr

An interesting point to note was the tuning of the steering for different modes which is being provided. I think this will be seen in the top end. The reveal suggested Light steering for city drive and heavier steering mode for highways. I am not sure if this is true and how this can be done on different modes.

This is easily achievable, as almost all modern cars use Electronic Power Steering which can be set to feel light or heavy, as you're just turning a motor, not the wheels.

The XUV300 offers adjustable steering modes even from the sparse base model, so expect the same from MG.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by Aviator_guy

Dimensions on paper are slightly bigger than the competition however to my eyes, the stance does not look like suv'ish (even psuedo) .. May be its just in pictures and in real it'd do justice to the dimensions.

The flowing lines don't give it the design presence of a more boxy designed SUV in pictures, but the size is much larger than the VAG twins and slightly more so than the Koreans - in all dimensions.

MG Astor - 4323mm length, 1650mm height, 1809mm width.
Hyundai Creta - 4300mm length, 1635mm height, 1790mm width.

Kia Seltos - 4315mm length, 1645mm height, 1800mm width.
Volkswagen Taigun / Skoda Kushaq - 4225mm length, 1612mm height, 1760mm width.

Here is the MG ZST (Astor) against the TCross (Taigun) from the Australian market -