[manasmahajan]

Deletion of this electrically foldable ORVMs feature was a deal breaker for me. Would've been ok if only the auto fold feature was removed but I confirmed that the entire electric folding has been removed.
Had booked a Taigun GT+ TSI on 8th Jan and I've cancelled the booking and booked a Tata Harrier XZA+ DT which I should get delivered in a weeks time!

Originally Posted by Ays7

Is this confirmed? So we can still get the ORVM's folded at a push of a button on a driver side's door or panel? Just like it is in the Vento? That may still be acceptable. I was picturing having to fold both the mirrors manually by rolling down the windows. If that were the case, I would be seriously bummed at shelling out close to 22 big ones and missing out.

Poor planning by Skoda all around. I would have pushed back the launch date of Slavia till supply chains got better, instead of cutting down features on Kushaq that too after a price hike. Clearly that is wishful thinking.

No that's not the case! Electrically foldable ORVMs feature has been removed completely from Kushaq and Taigun. You'll have to manually fold the mirrors.

[varkey]

Had sent a note to Zac Hollis the other day expressing my disappointment and received this response today. Had shared a link to this thread as well.

[Ays7]

It is still sad, removal of this feature completely. Even Electrically foldable ORVM's like in a Polo or Vento would have worked. But to make them manually foldable, even in a top variant is a deal breaker for me at least.

While this feature may not impact driving, it does change the driving experience and is convenient and is hard to go back to a car that does not have it once you are used to it. I had set my mind on Kushaq, thought it handled well, and was not really worried about lack of other features such as panoramic sunroof, or reverse camera with dynamic guidelines or 360 degree camera and its more cross-overish stance rather than SUV stance and its poor roof liner. However, as someone said earlier, lack of this feature was one that was the last straw.

When one buys a car, driving and handling is one of the aspects, and cabin experience and family preferences would also play a big role in selection of a car. Justifying this lack of even Electrically foldable ORVM's in a car that costs north of 21 big ones is a strict no no.

I will still hope that things improve in a couple of months and Skoda sees some sense and reverses this decision, otherwise it is back to Creta or Seltos for me.

Originally Posted by varkey

Had sent a note to Zac Hollis the other day expressing my disappointment and received this response today. Had shared a link to this thread as well.

Attachment 2264004

Well his response says it al, doesn't it. I am really hoping Skoda does not mess up their India strategy, but launching Slavia in midst of a chip shortage, seems like a poor call, especially when you are deleting features from a car that presumably cost higher than what Slavia would cost. I am no engineer, so I really do not know whether this chip shortage reason is genuine or is just a reason behind cost-cutting, as a few on this thread have pointed out, but this really goes down to poor planning, that is all.

[sid2017]

Originally Posted by CeeBeeR

Most of the people, including me, who have cancelled are okay with the loss of auto fold mirrors because that is more of a stylistic feature and we can live without it, but not the entire power mirrors component.

As I have replied to your earlier post , I had done the PDI and decided to continue with the Kushaq booking even though I had the option to cancel the booking.

I do not have much understanding of how electrically fold-able ORVM feature works mechanically or electrically(whether it actually uses a chip or not). If this feature really was deleted due to chip shortage then I feel Skoda is not to be blamed here in keeping the production running and the buyer who are ok with this feature deletion should continue with their booking.
Even if they have done it as part of cost-cutting, its their prerogative and they will bear the brunt of force of the market in either re-introducing the feature or getting their sale numbers reduced. But, Skoda should have been upfront about this feature deletion to customers and should not have tried to hide this under the carpet.

I feel Kushaq is really a good vehicle and solves the need of urban commuter with small family who wants small and powerful car.

I see very few other options to go for also due to following reasons:
1) Big Size although wonderful in their unique offering(Harrier, XUV700). Also there is insane waiting period for XUV700.
2) Creta, Seltos are very good cars and quite close to Kushaq in driving characteristics. I just can not buy Seltos due to its abysmal GNCAP rating. As Creta shares the same platform, I was also skeptical about its build quality. Also not to forget about 9-12 months waiting period. For me, safety is non-negotiable vehicle characteristic , more than any other feature. This is strictly under the assumption that Kushaq will prove to be at-least 4-star GNCAP rated vehicle(just going by VW group history, Kushaq may or may not be safer than seltos/creta in reality).
3) I just could not get myself to like Jeep Compass Petrol Automatic due to its lethargic gearbox no matter how wonderful the rest of the car is.

Anyways, as I had sold my car before this news broke out, I was in hurry to buy a car. Frankly my old car did not have this feature and maybe it will not affect me much as I can continue with my old driving habits of folding ORVMs manually.
I just penned my thoughts as I feel that Electrically fold-able feature may or may not be deal breaking feature for each individual.

In my opinion , this is the worst time for car buyers. There are feature deletions, insane waiting periods, aggressive price hikes due to inflation or opportunism.If anyone is not in hurry to buy a new car, probably the best decision is to wait until this chip shortage crisis plays out and then buy a new car.

[shancz]

Originally Posted by venkyhere

- I am unable to absorb the criticality of this electric fold/unfold feature. That's where my "what's the big deal" bias is coming from.

- Apologies, once again.

- You are right, it isn't a critical feature at all.
But a very useful convenience that makes life easier like the power windows.
We aren't debating the criticality of it but rather its removal from a premium car in its segment which is supposed to have better features than competition not missing something as basic(relatively) as this.

And you just don't expect it in a Skoda/VW.
They would have their reasons and expect the feedback but being transparent and offering a swap or a reduced sticker price would make sense since the system isn't installed why pay its cost ?

- No need to apologise, if you are following the forum rules you are free to express your views

I would still love them to actually track the buyers who turned away due to this feature. And hopefully share with us.

[Nithesh_M]

I honestly don't see what the big deal is with electrically folding mirrors. I paid 15 big ones for a Creta S here in KA due to higher road tax and i live in a tier 2 city. The Creta S doesn't get electrically folding mirrors either. Except for once when my mirror hit a parked scooter on a narrow lane I've never felt the need to keep mirrors folded. I park my car with them open too. I've traversed Bengaluru roads and traffic no issues. Its not a deal breaker for me personally. Not defending Skoda, they need to really think hard why they are even bothering with 2.0 here if they cannot meet customer demands.

[neeraj0272]

Originally Posted by varkey

Had sent a note to Zac Hollis the other day expressing my disappointment and received this response today. Had shared a link to this thread as well.

Attachment 2264004

Are we to believe that world's biggest car manufacturer is not able to afford to procure what must be some very basic tech chips for their 20L product but meanwhile all the other product manufacturers (for example 10k android phones/microwave or 30k dishwasher/washing machine/air conditioners or a myriad of such products) can happily procure such chips and sell their products in abundant supply?
What stops them to outbid for such chips? Except for car manufacturers we do not see any other product category bemoaning shortage of chips?

[sid2017]

Also, I request to mods to change the name of this thread from
"Skoda Kushaq MY'22 loses electric folding mirrors"
to
"Volkswagen Taigun/Skoda Kushaq MY'22 loses electric folding mirrors"

[Akshay6988]

Originally Posted by Nithesh_M

I honestly don't see what the big deal is with electrically folding mirrors. I paid 15 big ones for a Creta S here in KA due to higher road tax and i live in a tier 2 city. The Creta S doesn't get electrically folding mirrors either. Except for once when my mirror hit a parked scooter on a narrow lane I've never felt the need to keep mirrors folded. I park my car with them open too. I've traversed Bengaluru roads and traffic no issues. Its not a deal breaker for me personally. Not defending Skoda, they need to really think hard why they are even bothering with 2.0 here if they cannot meet customer demands.

Creta's top models get these electrically foldable and adjustable ORVMs The issue here is Skoda giving manually folding mirrors like a 4 lakh ₹ Alto in a car like Kushaq which costs 21 lakh ₹ ! And they're hiding this cost cutting by giving reason of chip shortage, while not passing on the benefits to the buyer. At the end of the days it is a personal choice on what features one feels are essential. If someone wants to pay more to get a lesser car, well then it's a free market, no one's going to stop that person

[Silverfire]

Originally Posted by varkey

Had sent a note to Zac Hollis the other day expressing my disappointment and received this response today. Had shared a link to this thread as well.

Attachment 2264004

Poor planning and arrogance. As others have mentioned:
1. If all the other manufacturers can deliver their cars with these features, why can’t Škoda-vw
2 assuming there is a good reason e.g the specific part they have designed cannot be procured, poor anticipation and PR handling. They should definitely have a price discount/voucher in exchange for the feature deletion, or offer it as a future retrofit once parts are available. This would win them customer goodwill and trust, instead of the current backlash.

Customers will vote with their wallets and with strong competitors from M&M, Tata, Hyundai and Kia, luckily we have good options to take our business elsewhere.

[gopi_rm]

This is really bad and what is worse is hiding the feature deletion from customers and also not passing on the cost benefit to customers. Alternatively Skoda/VW should have informed customers, offered service vouchers as complement and offered the retrofit whenever the chip is available. They can simply build all the required parts such as wiring loom, mirrors with motors (may be disconnected to allow manual folding), switches and the configured the ECU without the folding feature. Once the chip is available, service centre could retrofit the chip module and activate the feature via SW update. This is how you earn customer satisfaction and not by hiding something.
Power folding mirrors are useful in many situations such as navigating narrow streets, parking on narrow roads and in many basement parking with narrow slots.

[fhdowntheline]

I have an extreme ( but useful) suggestion. Let them ensure that they have the electronics for Safetty and Engine/ Transmission. Give us fully analog cockpits and a basic functioning car but spare us some cash in the process! Consumers can do with price relief across the spectrum.

[SchumiFan]

Mods, can we not lock this thread for a while until the MY'22 cars are out in the open. There seems to be a confusion as to whether the mirrors can be adjusted electrically while needing to be folded by hand or it's just that they don't auto fold on lock/unlock but do at the touch of a button.

The latter is a minor inconvenience but no biggie issue while the former will feel silly especially in a big, expensive car.

[PaddleShifter]

Some posts are off the track here. While it was posted very early in the thread that “electrically foldable mirrors” are gone, the discussion continues to happen around auto fold mirrors.

The auto fold feature can be added in the after market safely without cutting wires by putting in a relay. No issues.

Having used the electrically foldable ORVM feature now, I find it to be a must have feature. Whenever I had to manoeuvre my Punto in a tight spot, I would roll down the windows, remove seat belt and pull front passenger side mirror to close it manually. Sometimes, generous drivers of other cars have done it for me as well while we try to safely cross without scraching each other’s cars. I need not do it anymore in this manner.

Lastly, I wonder where do people live where they never have had to fold mirrors while driving. I have to do it at all places I have lived so far in the last 10 years, sometimes daily as well.

[Jangra]

Skoda Kushaq is fantastic, but their executives with decision making power are not. Omission of window roll-up & down with remote key, then messing with number of airbags in the style variant, and now this. Not cool.
You may not need it in your daily drives, but it should be there. Its like having a security alarm at home, you don't find it useful until you do.