[superutp]

So I generally mailed VW customer care about launch date for the Tiguan and guess what I got a reply saying- We regret to inform you that right now we do not have any information regarding Volkswagen Taigun launch date in India.

This T-SUV nomenclature is really going to get messy for VW.

[crazyro]

Originally Posted by SBM3J

They had a live session for 30 mins just now in YouTube. VW are taking disappointment to a whole another level. It’s the same words again and again and again with no new information coming out. They chose the dumbest of questions to answer who no one cared.

If they keep doing these dumb sessions then this is going to backfire for VW as people will start losing interest. I for one is getting really irritated with this. He just repeats the same vague things again and again with out any clarity.

They are giving some complimentary accessory pack to the Taigun Squad members if they go ahead and buy one.

[SBM3J]

Originally Posted by crazyro

If they keep doing these dumb sessions then this is going to backfire for VW as people will start losing interest. I for one is getting really irritated with this. He just repeats the same vague things again and again with out any clarity.

They are giving some complimentary accessory pack to the Taigun Squad members if they go ahead and buy one.

Most likely a VW branded pencil with ‘Premium’ written in bold, by the way they have managed to disappoint everyone lately with their promises.

[gaurav911]

Really a dumb session. I guess the VW marketing team needs an overhaul.

Questions selected were those whose answers are already known in the public forum. Nothing new whatsoever.
Example: The hostess asks if Taigun will have features like an electric sunroof and a digital cockpit to which the brand director say yes. Now this is available in the press release. Why repeat the basic info again?

The only new info given was at the end - Taigun squad members will get first access to book the Taigun and will receive a complementary accessory pack with their booking.

Originally Posted by SBM3J

They had a live session for 30 mins just now in YouTube. VW are taking disappointment to a whole another level. It’s the same words again and again and again with no new information coming out. They chose the dumbest of questions to answer who no one cared.

[Maky]

Originally Posted by gaurav911

The only new info given was at the end - Taigun squad members will get first access to book the Taigun and will receive a complementary accessory pack with their booking.

What exactly is a Taigun 'squad member' ?

[gaurav911]

Supposedly those who have registered their interest in Taigun on their website earlier.
However, I am sure that if you visit their site even now and give your details , you will be considered as one.

It is just a marketing gimmick to garner maximum pre-bookings once opened.

Originally Posted by Maky

What exactly is a Taigun 'squad member' ?

[m8002?]

I doubt if VW itself is interested in selling this. I mean all that their marketing department could come up with a name is by repositioning 1 letter from another cars name? And on top of that, the VW team itself is confused which is which. Imagine the plight of the customer.

This will surely backfile for the costlier Tiguan. Why would one buy a 35 lacs vehicle and everyone around mistake it for the 12 lacs Taigun. Its like MS lauching an Alto with a name like Berzza!!

[viscosity]

So the summary so far is :

• Purposeless interviews and youtube sessions
• Useless slow motion unveils
• Fooling around with people on how they want to position the product without having interiors to show, price to tell
• Trying to market it as a premium product as if customer doesn't know how to judge what is premium or not
• Themselves getting confused with the names of the product
• No plans on GNCAP and saying we can't do much about it
• Looks like no panoramic sunroof in Taigun and body color interiors may still be there
• Not trying to address real concerns of customers around after sales and manitenance cost

All the above is making people feel completely tired as there is not even an iota of any real information or excitement in these events and they may very well be setting themselves up for a big failure in the coming months. May be VW is trending towards becoming a "Vast Wreck"

[Bluengel180]

Spotted testing in Pune.Looks a tad bit small to be a Seltos competitor.

[viscosity]

To add more to the confusion around which of the two siblings will be pricier, in this Autocar video at around 5 minute mark, she is saying and I quote
"normally VW prices their product premium to Skoda but we hear that this time around VW plans to undercut the Skoda Kushaq"
Given this is coming from Autocar after 24th March event (this video is of 31st March after the embargo was lifted), can we really start pinning our hopes on this ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru7GWzRIX2Q&t=34s

[Guna]

Originally Posted by superutp

So I generally mailed VW customer care about launch date for the Tiguan and guess what I got a reply saying- We regret to inform you that right now we do not have any information regarding Volkswagen Taigun launch date in India.

This T-SUV nomenclature is really going to get messy for VW.

Well, some lucky souls may book a Taigun and end up getting a Tiguan delivered .

[SBM3J]

Originally Posted by viscosity

To add more to the confusion around which of the two siblings will be pricier, in this Autocar video at around 5 minute mark, she is saying and I quote
"normally VW prices their product premium to Skoda but we hear that this time around VW plans to undercut the Skoda Kushaq"
Given this is coming from Autocar after 24th March event (this video is of 31st March after the embargo was lifted), can we really start pinning our hopes on this ?

https://www.Youtube.com/watch?v=Ru7GWzRIX2Q&t=34s

My 2 cents is that, autocar was always right based on what VW thought at that point in time. The problem it looks like is VW changes their mind all the time as they are not sure how to price these or how to differentiate it from Kushaq. Just to give an example, in January edition of autocar they have mentioned that Taigun will get panoramic glass roof and miss out on ventilated seats. Both turned out to be false at this point. But all these can again change as I suspect VW hasn’t decided on what exactly is coming to which model. Unfortunately we all will have to wait and rely on our luck as I suspect the changes will keep happening even after the car is launched.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by GTO

1. I have yet to see any Indian car that had better quality than its international counterparts.

2. Specific to VW, you just need to see the Euro-spec Polo's quality with what is being sold in India. Of course, Indian Polo is still good, but the Euro version feels much superior.

One reason for such difference is the the price constraints, If we use exceptional materials and tight tolerance and market a Polo at the price of Creta there wont be almost any takers. So it is kind of a must to cut the cost if an automotive player need to survive in India.

Also there are some manufacturing constraints. If an industry need to invest more in R&D and more advanced manufacturing techniques and facility there should be numbers, there are not so many actual premium cars produced in India, and even if produced ,the numbers are quite less. So in order to get the returns from the Investment in a reasonable time then manufacturer either need to increase the price or need to increase the numbers, both are depending on the market. Recently we are seeing some trends in markets and may be gradually there will be more premium products irrespective of size.

[Lalitha Venkat]

Originally Posted by SBM3J

My 2 cents is that, autocar was always right based on what VW thought at that point in time. The problem it looks like is VW changes their mind all the time as they are not sure how to price these or how to differentiate it from Kushaq. Just to give an example, in January edition of autocar they have mentioned that Taigun will get panoramic glass roof and miss out on ventilated seats. Both turned out to be false at this point. But all these can again change as I suspect VW hasn’t decided on what exactly is coming to which model. Unfortunately we all will have to wait and rely on our luck as I suspect the changes will keep happening even after the car is launched.

I feel that VW has got into second fiddle or back seat in their 2.0 strategy and Skoda is taking the driver seat. This Taigun, was production ready spec even when it was showcased in the auto expo before 12 months as per auto reviewers. They have delayed this one for Kushaq's launch IMHO. May be they feel due to Rapid, Skoda has an edge in the Indian market and may be a better brand to launch the new car as part of the revamp in Group Strategy. Further, the non availability of the IC chips should have added to the delay for Kushaq's launch, which would have pushed the Taigun's launch further. The ability of VW to fight against the stealth speed of Korean's in the Indian market is questionable. VW should have launched the Taigun around when Sonnet was launched. This should have helped them in re-defining the strategy for 2.0 basis the responses received and market feed back so that they could used the learnings on Kushaq's launch. Rather, they went with some CBU launch and were patting their backs that they sold all the pcs. Every months delay in launch would have resulted it at least 5k customers moving with the Koreans (Creta, Seltos, Venue and Sonnet) which will create an irreparable loss for the VAG. May be VAG group has not deployed its best resources for this market. The fire in the belly of the Koreans is something all need learn from.

[chautob0t]

Originally Posted by Lalitha Venkat

I feel that VW has got into second fiddle or back seat in their 2.0 strategy and Skoda is taking the driver seat.

Skoda is indeed driving the India 2.0 strategy for Skoda and VW both.
This was officially said in the Kushaq premiere itself, IIRC. I will try to find a video source and link it later.