[Theyota]

If a car maker sees thinks that the risks of negative reviews are significantly higher than any gains in sales he would get from a positive review in a niche forum, he would not actively participate in the review. He would prefer to have his initial buyers be his reviewers.

It is my speculation that this is the case in case of Tata Altroz. They will probably give a car for review after first 10 to 15000 cars are on the streets and have sufficient visibility in the market already. It helps them to buy some time, get some initial sales and have a larger market decide on their product.

[RaghuVis]

I think most people are not reading properly the first post written by GTO. He clearly mentions that there are NO Media Fleet Cars available in Mumbai. Nowhere has GTO mentioned that this is only for Team-Bhp; there is absolutely no bias for Team-Bhp from TATA.
This is just Laziness and lethargic planning by TATA. Nothing more and Nothing less.

[DrCar]

Come on Tata, you already willingly provided your cars for GNCAP ratings and crash tests. And you triumphed over there. You have done a great job there.

Do a similar thing and provide enough of your cars willingly for test drives to customers as well as reviewers.
People just started believing in your products and are slowly and surely warming up to lap your cars.
The past scars are not easy to rub off, and buyers will need that extra examination of your cars by test driving them first.
Building safe cars have given you a great headstart. Don't botch this up now.

Safety aside, people still book Maruti without second thoughts because they have done enough to make all their final products consistent when they come out of the assembly line. No two Maruti buyers will have different thoughts or experiences post purchase as all of them will have consistent experiences.
Tata still have a long way to reach that point of consistency. And they need to provide enough cars for their potential customers to test drive it first. It's not like they are having multiple products in their kitty which makes it difficult for them to manage. Please manage well with whatever products you have and provide equal experiences to all.
Once, Tata provides consistent experiences for all its buyers, they will not bother to even test drive them in future. But for now, they have to be little proactive.

Please Tata, don't let these thread run into 25 pages. Provide the vehicle as quickly as possible. I personally hope that no similar threads comes up in future with regards to Tata. Buckle up fast Tata.

[landcruiser123]

I'm surprised that these kind of issues exist in the 21st century. Reviewing cars in India has been standard practice for ~20 years now and test drive cars aren't ready?

Originally Posted by roy_libran

YouTube gets far higher viewership and reach, and hence companies would give them the first preference over a medium like TBHP now.

YT does gets more traffic than TBHP. But does that mean it hold more information? No way! Can Mahindra know the issues in an average 5 year old XUV 500 through Youtube?
Team BHP owners write about the problems on the forum. Before someone mentions YT comments, I'll mention the excessive trolls and unintelligible comments.

Originally Posted by anujmishra

Just bashing TATA and making it sin for not providing car for review is uncalled for. There could be some reason behind it, mostly related to logistics. Just for information TATA Motors overall is much bigger than Mahindra and Maruti Suzuki....
Every company sets priority on their own for future course. What is mine, may not be others. Hopefully, soon TATA will provide car(s) for review or review team may get from owner.

Right, but one can safely assume most of that revenue is from Buses, Trucks and other CVs. They are serious about building their passenger car business. Why this goof up?

[Sran]

Tata lacks aggressiveness and zeal in marketing. In case of Nexon and Altroz one can see it clearly. Maruti and Hyundai would put up millions of banners if their cars were built for 5 star safety ratings. Why Tata's media fleet cars are not ready even after months is clearly a big oversight and can no way be termed as malicious or revengeful as it is for everyone and not only for Team-Bhp.

However it would be wise to review a car as soon as possible, possibly under a month. All I have seen in my experience is that people generally make up their mind even before discussing it with friends and families. It can be challenged but the deviation is not more than 20%. They know their budget, segment and colour. Kia is a great example of it. People did not wait for team-bhp review and booked it in huge numbers.

Team-Bhp's detailed review is the gold standard in automobile review sector and we all know it can not be biased like several others. In my opinion a 10-15 minute video on youtube would not do justice unless and until it is a detailed review like on this forum and it is neither possible nor feasible.

[The Observer]

Regarding this unavailability, it is rather funny and no matter what conspiracy theories abound I simply cannot fathom that Tata is doing this intentionally. If I were the responsible person in Tata for distributing media cars, if not being pro active I would at the least be reactive and contact TBHP the moment I read the OP topic and give them an ETA for the review cars to be arranged.

If they have not already contacted TBHP may be they really have logistical issues and are trying to figure a way out and prepping some cars for TBHP. I am speculating and I could be wrong.

Comparing Tata with KIA on this aspect brings out something clear . Planning and prioritization or rather the lack of it inside Tata. Unless of course all of this is premeditated and if so opens up an interesting debate on what is their motive. IMHO I agree Tata wouldn't be too happy with the criticism of their cars on this forum but then which car/Mfg isnt openly called out for their mistakes.

Regarding review types. We must ask ourselves what are the USPs of Team BHP reviews - it is that they are exhaustive and unbiased.

YouTube reviews have its USP in being short. Employing various audio and video elements to enhance viewer engagement over detail.

Personally I would prefer to read/go through every detail even if i am not buying the car. So I am not fully convinced Team BHP must have shorter as well as fuller versions of its reviews. I would not want to dilute the core USP. Leave the final decision to the mods and leadership of Team BHP. May be Team BHP can make documentary video reviews ( running into several episodes) on each car that matches the written review in terms of detail. Still that would require them to have the car with them in the first place.

[srh]

I guess that forum members should just reconcile to the fact that Tata Motors attaches only that much importance to TBhp to the extent of inviting for regular press drives.

I see no obligation on their part to provide a car in chosen location, for chosen duration for a review.

Similarly TBhp can choose its own approach on whether they want to do a review at all, and if yes, then how do they want to go about doing it.

Its a free world - just accept it that way.

[GTO]

*UPDATE*: We now have 13 Tata Altroz' offered to us by their generous owners. Most are from Bangalore, and there are single offers from Hyderabad, NCR & Kerala. However, nothing from Maharashtra yet (surprisingly). An enthusiast did offer his Altroz in Pune, but it's the mid-variant and we only want to review the top-end (usually the case with our reviews). I prefer MH so that I can also drive the car, as I do for all important launches. Won't be possible for me to travel along with Aditya to Bangalore or anywhere else.

One Team-BHP fan offers us what is literally "a brand new" car:

Originally Posted by The Observer

If they have not already contacted TBHP

Yep, Tata's communications team is in touch with me. No car on the horizon, sadly.

Personally I would prefer to read/go through every detail even if i am not buying the car.

Originally Posted by gururajrv

I always recollect one saying “Rome was not built in a day” - it takes a lot of time & patience and perhaps the sequence to be followed is not missed / forgotten in the process to ensure the reader gets everything in sequence and information is not collected in an haphazard manner.

Thank you. I think we have to accept that we cannot be everything to everyone. In the short-term & mid-term, our focus will remain on the current Official Review format only.

Originally Posted by civic-sense

Am sure nobody saw it coming, but looking back, you weren't very kind to their Harrier when you reviewed it, so it makes sense now.

We say it like it is! What we saw of the Harrier, we reported. Equally, we were quite impressed with the Hexa and I think that showed in our review too. What we see is what we write.

Originally Posted by AutoNoob

And most of us literally starve for information about newly launched vehicles

BHPians publish quite exhaustive TD reports from their dealer test-drives. Credit where its due. Even without our Official Review, the launch thread itself has more information than anywhere else.

Originally Posted by Theyota

If a car maker sees thinks that the risks of negative reviews are significantly higher than any gains in sales he would get from a positive review in a niche forum, he would not actively participate in the review. He would prefer to have his initial buyers be his reviewers.

Don't worry. We'll get our review car, in whatever way possible.

Originally Posted by srh

I see no obligation on their part to provide a car in chosen location, for chosen duration for a review.

Actually, Tata is providing cars to us. My problem is with the delay. Please check the opening post again.

And if it was indeed the case as you mentioned, better the manufacturer just tells us a no. Will save us (and them) a lot of time.

[PearlJam]

Originally Posted by srh

Its a free world - just accept it that way.

Well, we can say that for almost everything in life and that would be the end of all discussions . But that's not the point. Let's not get too defensive about this.

Tata (or any other manufacturer) is in the business of maximizing sales. And not providing test drive cars to influential reviewers is like shooting yourself in the foot. A lot of people buy cars only after reading a couple of reliable reviews.

As GTO mentioned, 13 members have offered their cars in just 3 days, which is a huge number - given the fact that this is just from this forum. So it's not that they don't have cars to provide for reviews. Nor, can they avoid a review from being out, just by not providing a review car.

Most of the other manufacturers don't seem to have such issues. So why Tata? May be it's a one-off thing. But, all manufacturers (other than Maruti, Hyundai, and the new Kia/MG entrants, relatively speaking) are struggling. And in these tough times, mismanaging something as basic as providing test drive cars is unimaginable, especially when you can manage to make 5-star safety cars.

This is an unnecessary black mark that they don't need at this time.

[atu2good]

Tata Motors should have learnt a thing or two from the runaway success of the virgin brand Kia & they way they directed the course of their debut in India. It's ample proof that if a brand is clearly focused in capturing the buyer's attention & thereafter invested in handling & meeting the general expectations of an average buyer success will be achieved. Since almost everyone here on the forum looks forward to the review of a new car with the same childish fervor & excitement it's a real downer when the companies choose not to cooperate or overlook genuine requests. Being a Tata Safari owner myself it's always my sincere wish that the brand does well, however these intermittently awkward & tactless acts by Tata both puzzles & pains me. Wake up Tata think tanks!

[maverick.munish]

Originally Posted by GTO

*UPDATE*: I prefer MH so that I can also drive the car, as I do for all important launches. Won't be possible for me to travel along with Aditya to Bangalore or anywhere else.

Any luck finding a MH registered car yet GTO .
Really looking forward to the TBHP review as I am waiting to book the car as a replacement for my wife's 6 year old Swift.
Do keep us posted.

Fingers Crossed ! Hopefully we are able to nail down the Top end version of the GOLD STANDARD just like the last time with the EcoSport.

[ananthacharya]

Sorry to burst everyone's bubble amidst the Tata bashing, but it looks like the reason could be this News Article which clearly states that Tata will only start delivering their BS6 models once BS6 fuel is flowing in the market. Probably Tata knows that their engine meant for BS6 fuel does not perform optimally on currently available fuel. They could be buying time(and wrongly not stating it) such that their engine doesnt become part of the famous 'Dislikes' list in the Team-BHP reviews

[JithinR]

Originally Posted by ananthacharya

Sorry to burst everyone's bubble amidst the Tata bashing, but it looks like the reason could be this News Article which clearly states that Tata will only start delivering their BS6 models once BS6 fuel is flowing in the market. Probably Tata knows that their engine meant for BS6 fuel does not perform optimally on currently available fuel. They could be buying time(and wrongly not stating it) such that their engine doesnt become part of the famous 'Dislikes' list in the Team-BHP reviews

Did you miss the word 'diesel' in the heading. Besides, how do you explain the customers who have already taken delivery of the petrol car all over the country.

[R-Six]

Originally Posted by GTO

*UPDATE*: We now have 13 Tata Altroz' offered to us by their generous owners.

Kudos to the team spirit! 13 brand new cars in 3 days! That says how beloved the forum is for the automotive community.

Originally Posted by GTO

I prefer MH so that I can also drive the car, as I do for all important launches. Won't be possible for me to travel along with Aditya to Bangalore or anywhere else.

I'm sure that you guys might have thought about this option. But just in case if you haven't, here is an idea.

Let Aditya and any other MOD who is going to help him with the review travel to Bangalore or any other location where we have the preferred variant and complete the official review from their perspective. Since we will anyway take at least a month or more to compile the official review, I'm sure that you'd get an Altroz of your choice in Mumbai itself by then. Who knows, in a month's time, you might get a car from TATA itself or from one of the dealers who are team-bhp fans too!


Ride Safe
R-Six

[ananthacharya]

Originally Posted by JithinR

Did you miss the word 'diesel' in the heading. Besides, how do you explain the customers who have already taken delivery of the petrol car all over the country.

I did read it, but I was always under the impression Team-BHP reviews mostly include both Petrol and Diesel vehicles together. But yeah, Tata could have given the Petrol vehicle atleast.