Team-BHP - Designer Pratap Bose quits Tata Motors. EDIT: To join Mahindra!

Senior executive from Tata Motors quit and join M&M.

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In a well thought out move, Mahindra & Mahindra which strives to have a paradigm shift in its design language and be future-ready, has roped in Pratap Bose ( formerly with Tata Motors, UK) as its chief designer.
Strengthening the agenda, the homegrown SUV maker has appointed two more senior resources in the design team: Ajay Saran Sharma, also from Tata Motors, and Pankaj Dhamane from Renault

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Bose, who is given a free reign to hire, is understood to be revamping the India design team too. After the hiring of Sharma from Tata Motors and Dhamane from Renault, Bose is looking at expanding the team in the UK and is understood to be taking engineers from Mahindra's Chennai R&D unit to the UK .

Bose will be responsible for both M.A.D.E and M.I.D.S and will oversee the design of all key business segments such as authentic SUVs including Born Electric Vehicle (BEV), LCV products (under <3.5 T), Last Mile Mobility (LMM), Large CVs, Peugeot Scooters (France) and Tractors & Farm Machines. Bose reports to Rajesh Jejurikar, executive director, auto and farm sectors, Mahindra and Mahindra

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Looks like Mahindra is luring more people from Tata/Renault design team to join them. Wonder if Tata/Renault have no-compete clause which many MNCs seem to have to prevent poaching .

Senior executives from Tata Motors, Renault design team quit, join Mahindra

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In a well thought out move, Mahinda & Mahindra NSE 1.40 % which strives to have a paradigm shift in its design language and be future-ready, has roped in Pratap Bose ( formerly with Tata Motors NSE -8.44 %, UK) as its chief designer. Strengthening the agenda, the homegrown SUV maker has appointed two more senior resources in the design team: Ajay Saran Sharma , also from Tata Motors, and Pankaj Dhamane from Renault.

I am very surprised at the heaps of praise Pratap Bose has been receiving in this forum in general and this thread in particular. Most of his designs, with the exception of Altroz, have been disasters. Even a car like Tigor (which should not have been designed in the first place, when they already had Zest in their portfolio) could have been designed as a notchback to market it as it's USP, than trying to design another run of the mill sub 4m sedan trying to fight only on the cost front.

The first generation Nexon was a mishmash of too many design elements in what was essentially Indica Vista on steroids. Drooping bonnet with the 'humanity line', pulled back roof line with upright split tail lamps, the ceramic shoulder lines, outright boring 15 inch alloy wheels which made steel rims look better etc were the handiwork of the design team.
Ultimately the sales picked up purely on the VFM package and the sales pitch based on safety. Nexon could have been a runaway success if Pratap Bose and his team could have come with a simple, clean, upright design like the Brezza or the Magnite.

Next design disaster was Harrier. Though visually pleasing, designing a 460cm long 5 seater from the scratch without a reclining back bench? What was the design team thinking? Add to it the lack of sunroof, AT and a 140 hp engine on your flagship offering. Landrover pedigree to boast but with no NCAP rating to prove the point....and those ORVMs with huge blind spots... design disaters. The first year sales showed it to be a dud. Fortunately the marketing team realised the flaws and must have pushed for the 170 hp engine, AT, pano sunroof etc, which has made Harrier the success it is today. If the harrier was conceptualised as a 440-450 cm 5 seater like a BMW X1 or a Tucson, I bet, it would have managed to double it's sales.

Next disaster from Mr Bose was Gravitas, which would have been DOA. The marketing team salvaged it this time too by rebadging it as Safari in the last minute.

Mahindra's design teams were mediocre with hit or miss designs, but their marketing team is pathetic, who don't know to market a reasonably good product, like the TUV300 or XUV300 or the Alturas. Now with Pratap Bose and Mahindra's marketing team joining hands, I wish Mr Anand Mahindra some very good luck!

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Originally Posted by Geta (Post 5105380)

I am very surprised at the heaps of praise Pratap Bose has been receiving in this forum in general and this thread in particular.

All I can say is, the man knows how to build a brand on himself.
Just to give an idea about the image he has built, here is a conversation I saw on an FB group:
person A : Mahindra cars have lot of niggles, I wouldn't buy XUV700
person B : Don't worry, Pratap Bose has joined, he will fix everything
I am curious to see the 'visible' changes he is going to bring in to the future cars at Mahindra as personally I feel all the good designs we see at Tata motors is primarily because of the talented team they have.

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Originally Posted by Guna (Post 5105565)

All I can say is, the man knows how to build a brand on himself.

Yes. He has marketed himself more successfully than any of the cars he has designed, unfortunately.

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Just to give an idea about the image he has built, here is a conversation I saw on an FB group:
person A : Mahindra cars have lot of niggles, I wouldn't buy XUV700
person B : Don't worry, Pratap Bose has joined, he will fix everything

The person B might be a follower of this thread to give Bose such an exalted status. Somebody whose 5 seater 20 lac SUV sales has still not crossed XUV500's monthly sales during its peak of popularity and whose 7 seater SUV has to be rebadged into something else before launch, will 'fix' an almost ready second generation version of a highly successful crossover, is laughable.

It is like the openers scoring a double hundred and a tail ender gets to score the winning runs and gets the man of the match award

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Originally Posted by Geta (Post 5105622)

Yes. He has marketed himself more successfully than any of the cars he has designed, unfortunately.

The person B might be a follower of this thread to give Bose such an exalted status. Somebody whose 5 seater 20 lac SUV sales has still not crossed XUV500's monthly sales during its peak of popularity and whose 7 seater SUV has to be rebadged into something else before launch, will 'fix' an almost ready second generation version of a highly successful crossover, is laughable.

It is like the openers scoring a double hundred and a tail ender gets to score the winning runs and gets the man of the match award

Pratap Bose is not perfect, but then is the world out there. It's difficult to get everything from everyone. I wish he could have integrated a better & bigger touchscreen infotainment system than a Mazda-esque design that's fallen short (read smaller) of competition standards. Then the boot in Safari is barely anything to write about. The light coloured upholstery is definitely to bedazzling to be soiled (remember Pakeezah's famous dialogue).

But, the competition is perfect because it gives assurance of reliability, & nothing more - till few years ago market leader never offered powerful engines in quest of reliability, advanced infotainment & entire premise of ownership can be described as stressfree (instead of exciting as few would prefer). For many these premium brands are the beater ones when they cannot take out Germans.

Indians too are to blame as they are happy riding a tin can with 100 bhp, but not a Tata/ Mahindra producing 150 bhp. Imported brands always weigh heavy on our minds & we are happy to pay premium than supporting homegrown brands. We are happy to buy a lower variant of Innova than a lower variant of Safari or Xuv & spruce those up, yet saving money by not buying bare bones Innova at higher price point.

Could not resist re-posting this (had earlier posted on XUV700 thread) seeing this dedicated thread. I think M&M really needs Prathap Bose! They make fine products but the aesthetics are all screwed up by trying to over-design. They have a quirky 90s impression of Indian customer aesthetic preferences - where being able to talk (boast) about a product or a design - for example “this SUV is inspired by a Snow Leopard” with friends at a social gathering is more important than how it looks and feels in real life.

Today’s customers are exposed to global products and in this segment (XUV700) have probably travelled the globe and seen places like Italy where one is exposed to the level of importance every manufacturer pays to what impression and emotion the product invokes at a personal level, leaving aside what others think of it. This is where Tata Motors have excelled with products like the Harrier. The Harrier has a consistency, a personality that is flamboyant yet proportional. Elegant yet edgy. M&M has to step out of the 90s living room thinking and into the 20s world of aesthetic sophistication the Indian customer is evolving rapidly through.

Other than the Thar (which is unspoiled by the design cowboys at M&M, due to the need to stick to the roots and also the diktat from top to take some strong inspiration from the Wrangler), all others M&M products look like they are trying too hard to become a conversation piece in the living room. They are not studying the customer, their tastes and personalities deep enough and are not unified by a simple underlying design theme. This means the products end up hap-hazard, too many ideas being tried in the same product, random cuts and creases from trying too hard to impress and designs that neither make a great first impression nor retain appeal through their life cycle.

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Originally Posted by CARDEEP (Post 5105891)

I am not discounting any of Mr Bose's good work. I might give him a rating of 65% compared to the general mood in the thread which seems many people give him a rating of about 85%. I just wanted to register my thoughts so that they don't go unheard and the other side gets some representation too. In the end it doesn't matter to any of us if it is a 65% or 85%, and our lives will go on as usual. But just some reality check.

Personally, I fear Mr Bose might cut down the AWD variants in many of Mahindra's models, if his statements on Twitter are anything to go by. I wish I am proved wrong.

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Originally Posted by Geta (Post 5105380)

was Gravitas, which would have been DOA. The marketing team salvaged it this time too by rebadging it as Safari in the last minute.

Everyone buying the Safari knows it's a 7 seater Harrier. The name probably got it some headlines but the car sells because people like it. All else aside, the Harrier is an aesthetically good design. If we didn't have the occasional lemon post, I'd actually suggest the Harrier to everyone with the budget.

This thread has taken a very interesting turn of events. Pratap Bose is apparently being criticised for things that aren't within his control like the engineering and features of the car. While I do agree with most points of where Tata has not performed as one would hope, I see no reason for that hatred to be put upon the Design head instead of the CEO.

AFAIK, it is the CEO and the R&D team who takes the decisions on what features to provide and how to go about the future strategy of the company and improve its line up. Pratap Bose held the position as the design head only. Facets like niggles during production, a lack of an AT or sunroof would not concern his role at Tata.

That said, I do admit that sometimes he definitely has gone overboard in terms of social media (e.g the Gravitas to Safari renaming episode). I don't really see a problem with his work as such. IMO having him, Mahindra should really be able to improve upon their future design language and come out with beautiful cars, atleast that would be my expectation. But then again, Mahindra also bought arguably the best design house in world and still didn't seek their help:confused: