[maheshm619]

I would like to nominate a car which made a lot of interest during launch but tanked later.Behold KUV100 !
KUV100 was initially marketed as a 6-seater, do all car(SUV, as they called it). The dashboard mounted gear lever allowed a third person to be seated in the front row.

I still vividly remember that they had teasers and half page ads in print media prior to launch.Some of my colleagues were going gaga over the feature list and rumored price as the launch day neared. Sadly for Mahindra, the hype took a premature death shortly after launch.

[reignofchaos]

Originally Posted by yrwagh

My pick is Chevrolet SRV. 1.6ltr petrol engine producing 101 BHP & 140 Nm torque. The car came in 2006 with all hype which I feel was fully justified considering the other mundane drives on the road. I think the problem was people were not ready to pay the premium car was asking for. Consumers were more keen on having large sedan and not ready to pay premium for performance oriented car.

Even though it looked nice, the performance was just not there. It was priced almost the same as the Cedia I ended up buying which ran circles around this car in every possible way. The 1.6 liter petrol was a dud and the asking price was way too high.

[WhiteSierra]

[quote=WhiteSierra; 4887467] In my opinion, vehicles which generated a lot of hype among car enthusiasts and in car magazines but became flop are:


Adding some more information to my previous post, mods I request you to please merge the below information in my previous post which I've quoted above.

Tata

Tata Nano

Mahindra

Mahindra Alturas G4

Nissan

Nissan Teanea

Volkswagen

Volkswagen Beetle
Volkswagen Ameo
Volkswagen Touareg
Volkswagen Passat


P.S: I'm not including brands like Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar - Land Rover, Bentley, Rolls Royce, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Maserati, Porsche, Lexus and other Luxury cars, Sports cars and Super cars brands and their models as they sell in very less numbers in Indian market.

[Alpha8118]

I think even the MG Gloster is soon going to be added to this list if it isn't priced right. If we go by the unofficially announced prices by the company, it sure is to be going a dud. But if priced right, I'm going to be one of the first persons to buy it come Diwali.

[arnabchak]

[list]
Well, this is an interesting topic.

I share my thoughts based on the manufacturers, starting with the market leader:
1) Maruti/Nexa

• S Cross 1.6
• Ignis
• Maruti Zen Estilo
• Maruti Zen Classic
• Maruti Versa
• Maruti Baleno Sedan(Sizzled and then Fizzled)
• Maruti Kizashi(Best looking Maruti ever)

2) Ford

[

• Mondeo
• Ikon Diesel
• Fiesta(Not Classic)
• Aspire and Figo

3) Hyundai

• New Santro(Complete Failure after the massively successful original)
• Eon

Have deliberately left the high end Santa Fe/Tuscon as it never cleated too much buzz and cater to the niche segments.

4) Tata
Unfortunately, they are just creating the buzz and the production cars are all half baked either in fit /finish or variants.
Case in case, Harrier, Tiago/Tigor and now the super sexy Altroz.

[Asmt_b]

I dont know if this has been mentioned above but the Honda BR-V turned out to be a big disappointment.I remember delaying my Creta booking to wait for the BRV to be unvieled.However, its cross-MPV looks and boring interior din't lead to many others to the showroom as well.

[theAutomaniac]

Originally Posted by Cessna182

Perhaps OT, but I own both these cars and also cars costing 4 times as much as a Hexa. Hexa is much more comfortable on rough roads. Period. Anyone saying that it was a hype should actually experience it. It is sad that people love to buy a Dzire for 12 lakhs and not a Hexa.

As for the Nano, it remains the most innovative Indian car ever and is taught as a case study even at HBS. Yes the cars failed, but not due to a fault in their genes. Pointing out a sales flop is great, badmouthing it without reason is not. Thanks

Heyy! I didn't say anything for badmouthing the products and I am a big fan of both products!
The Hexa was an extremely capable and comfortable car and even the Nano was a great concept. However, here I was talking about the marketing of both the cars! Let me explain-

1. Tata Nano- The Nano was advertised and hyped as a 'cheap' car back in 2008 when cars were still a luxury for many and were not meant to be called cheap! That 'cheap car' marketing with the relatively infamous 'Tata' badge was itself a sign that the car will be a dud seller!

Note- The paragraph could be slightly off-topic!

I totally respect Mr Tata's sentiments towards the project, but I feel that the Nano would've been a runaway success if it was made like 'the best cheap car' instead of 'the cheapest car'! I totally respect his concern towards the safety of the lower income people, but why would a person buy a 1 lakh costing unrefined car with tons of issues when he could literally buy a more reliable and refined used M800 or any other old car which are literally priced as low as Rs. 30,000!! (My dad bought a '96 M800 for just Rs. 34,000 back in 2010! And that thing was wayy better in terms of reliability and refinement than the Nano!)

What I believe is that the Nano could've been what the GenX Nano was, right from the first day! If Tata Motors would have focused on making the Nano as an Alto rival instead of placing it in the price range of used cars, it would've been a runaway success, for sure!

2. Tata Hexa- Firstly, I don't know how did you get the impression that I was bad mouthing about the late Hexa!

It was a great car and I am a big fan of that thing! However, here I was talking about the those 'babus' in the marketing team who literally messed up the product!

Think about it, the Hexa had an ad where it trolled the Compass saying- "Takes you everywhere, no Compass required"
What were they thinking before releasing that Ad campaign!!

Also, it was compared with the mighty Crysta directly! That's clearly not how you sell a product! Yes, the Hexa was a better buy than the Crysta, but did that matter to the customers when they literally go blindfolded for the Crysta?? This exact mistake has killed so many great products like the Hexa, Lodgy and the almost dead Marazzo!

It is sad that people love to buy a Dzire for 12 lakhs and not a Hexa.

Firstly, neither the Dzire costs 12 lakh, nor does the Hexa! They both literally end and start 2 lakh below and above 12 lakh!
Also, the Dzire and Hexa have a totally different customer base and also, I don't think I need to tell you which one of the two is more reliable and refined

[jkrishnakj]

Having gone thru 2-3 pages of this thread, i wasn't sure if the 'Lodgy' from Renault had featured here yet.
Renault had spent a lot in the print and electronic and media for the lodgy. Barring a few taxis that i see on the roads once a while, you hardly ever notice this car.

How about the Honda WRV ? You rarely get to see this on the road.

[samee_arian]

I do see that a lot of people have mentioned Versa and it was more to do with the ambassador than the actual product - AB and AB Jr. This reminds me of another vehicle that AB lent his face to and it just didn't work. I am taking about Force One by Force motors.

[rkw]

My list would include:
Mahindra Quanto; KUV 100
Chevrolet Enjoy; Captiva; Sail hatch; SRV
Nissan X-Trail; Terrano; Kicks
Renault Captur; Fluence; Lodgy
Honda Mobilio; BRV; Jazz (1st gen)
Toyota Yaris
Maruti Kizashi; SX4; Versa; Zen Estilo; A-Star; Grand Vitara; Baleno sedan
Skoda Yeti; Octavia station wagon
Hyundai Getz; Elantra; Santro (latest)
Ssangyong Rexton
Tata Aria; Tigor, Indigo Marina; Zest; Bolt

[mukkavil]

May like to add Fiat 500, which could sell very few.

[CarJunki]

In recent memory:
Toyota Yaris
Renault Kaptur

Somehow these were not getting their place in the list, so i decided to nominate them.

[1.2TSI7DSG]

DC Avanti!!! India's so called first hyper car... died so badly that it didn't come up in this discussion



And San storm- India's first (and only) cheap convertible
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-...san-storm.html (After 15 months wih San Storm...)


And Cross Polo

[SahilSawant]

The only car that comes to my mind is the Chevrolet Forester. Could've been Subaru's grand entry to India but never mind

[ACM]

For sure:
Tata Aria,
Tata Hexa - But it did bridge a gap for some years.
Mahindra KUV 100
Sail Twins
Maruti Versa
Maruti Kaizashi
Audi Q5 - Current Gen
Ford Fiesta New gen.
Ford Mondeo
Hyundai Sonata (All After first gen)
First Gen Thar
Echo
Renault Fluency
Nissan Captur
Fiat Sienna
Maruti Baleno
Fiat Weekender
Fiat Adventure
Force Gurkha
Premier Rio
Nissan Evalia
Mahindra Verito
Chevrolet Forester
Chevrolet Optra SRV
Chevrolet Trailblazer
Honda Mobilo,
Honda BRV
Nissan Kicks
Nissan Lodgy
Volkswagen Passat
Rexton & Alturas by Mahindra

Borderline:
Nano - it did sell in lakhs cumulatively
Mahindra Marazzo
Ford Aspire
Nissan Micra
Nissan Sunny
Tata Harrier - But it is still fighting and going upward.
Fiat - Punto,
Fiat - Uno,
Fiat- Palio
Fiat- Linea
Reva
Toyota Liva - compared to expectations
Toyota Yaris

All these raised a lot of expectations, but fell flat on their face. Except for say Premier of which we had no expectations.