[agbenny]

I noticed a surge in Bolero Sales? Any reason?

[ram_hyundai]

Srini,are you sure of what your relative told.In that case you mean to say that only lucky 600 people can buy a cedia.If i am not wrong cedia have already sold much more than that.Initially cedia sales were low because most of the people who bought Mitsubishi were going for diesel option in lancer.They were let down as cedia came in petrol.But now its slowly picking up with the introduction of LPG option and t-bhp.
ram

[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by im_srini

Hi guys, this is pure hearsay...

I have a relative who was working for HM at their plant outside Chennai. Apparently, the demand for the Cedia is non-existent and HM is running very small production runs of 30 to 40 cars each month to exhaust the kits they had imported initially. When he left HM about a year ago, he said they had around 600 kits in stock.

probably means that HM is clearing the stocks & getting out of the deal with mitsu.

[theMAG]

Originally Posted by ram_hyundai

But a diesel variant can be thought of with a good crdi engine for the beast.

Before they do that, they'll be well advised to break from HM

[reignofchaos]

Originally Posted by im_srini

Hi guys, this is pure hearsay...

I have a relative who was working for HM at their plant outside Chennai. Apparently, the demand for the Cedia is non-existent and HM is running very small production runs of 30 to 40 cars each month to exhaust the kits they had imported initially. When he left HM about a year ago, he said they had around 600 kits in stock.

And you think that they just sold 600 cars during the entire year? I see lathangi sell 2-3 a day these days. Also do you think HM would spend crores on advertising if they just wanted to sell 600 cars?

[lancer_rit]

Originally Posted by im_srini

Hi guys, this is pure hearsay...

I have a relative who was working for HM at their plant outside Chennai. Apparently, the demand for the Cedia is non-existent and HM is running very small production runs of 30 to 40 cars each month to exhaust the kits they had imported initially. When he left HM about a year ago, he said they had around 600 kits in stock.

I guess the key thing here is "a year ago". A year ago, you would see single digit Cedias in BLR if you drove for a full day. Now, it is quite different it seems.

[nkapoor777]

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

probably means that HM is clearing the stocks & getting out of the deal with mitsu.

Ameen!!

Can't wait for the day when we get some of the best driver-oriented cars from the Mitsu stable here in India and not worry about the pathetic HM service network.

[diabloo]

I don't think there is anything in the story. HM was and still is promoting Cedia since the day it was launched. I am seeing Cedia ads for past 3 years. In last few months they have changed the ad to highlight performance (as if Indian roads are race tracks ).

I think the best ad HM can come up with (which will boost Cedia sales) is to take out half page ads in newspapers, write 'Cedia' in top half of the page and write 'visit What Car section in team-bhp.com' in the bottom half.

Originally Posted by pooshnark

hi guys, mitsubishi all of a sudden is promoting the cedia so heavily that it makes one wonder if there is more to the story...

[sj_koova]

There are more cedias than before for sure. I did see two of them on the way to office today and one yesterday evening. 3 cedias in 24 hours is a rare view in Bangalore in fact.
I am sure in March there was a surge in sales.
Still not sure if this is for good or bad.

[Chat]

In my opinion, Mitsubishi is correcting its past mistake. Good product that Cedia is, suffered due to hardly any branding and HM's negative image in the market. Better late than never.

Also, Cedia would not be phased out. Instead, lancer could get replaced by new lancer. Question is where would Mitsu position it. Currently, Lancer is placed below Cedia. And we all new Lancer across the globe is a high end product compared to Cedia here. Perhaps, they would phase out current Lancer, slot Cedia there and bring new Lancer above that competing with Civics & Octavias.

That is also the equation with Pajero & soon to be launched Outlander.

[GTO]

Isn't it surprising how Mitsubishi had such a "premium" image back when the Lancer was launched, compared to its dismal status today? Building a brand is one thing....maintaining it is entirely another. HM still sells the Lancer, with a significant deterioration in quality, while Honda is busy preparing to launch the third generation of the City!

There is a reason that Toyota pulled the plug on the Qualis, even when its sales were at an all time high.

[im_srini]

Originally Posted by ram_hyundai

Srini,are you sure of what your relative told.In that case you mean to say that only lucky 600 people can buy a cedia.

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

And you think that they just sold 600 cars during the entire year? I see lathangi sell 2-3 a day these days. Also do you think HM would spend crores on advertising if they just wanted to sell 600 cars?

Hi Ram & ROC, you've raised valid points but as I'd mentioned, it was just hearsay. My "contact" is a distant relative & was part of the team that was handling "re-tinning" of the Cedia. As I understand it, all original panels & metal-work was imported, which was the reason the Cedia was priced so high at launch - HM simply did not have any other alternative.

They then began to scout for local vendors who could supply the panels, my relative was on the team that was assigned this task. The availability of local panels was why the price was dropped by around 1.5 lakhs, albeit many months after the launch. The reason he quit HM was that they were winding down their Cedia operations, in the Tiruvallur plant at least.

I have no clue as to how many Cedias HM has sold in the intervening months, nor have I personally counted the number of Cedia kits they have in stock. The thread originator, pooshnark, presented a question for which I thought I had a plausible answer, hence my post. I have nothing against HM, or the Cedia, I'm sure it's a good, if not great, car. To be very candid, the reason I'm not driving a Cedia right now is that my "inside" man dissuaded me from one getting one !

P.S. - Oks, to be really candid, one other reason for not getting the Cedia is that parking at home is kinda "restricted"

[vasudeva]

There is very little chance of outsiders knowing about the exact sales of cedia. HM's segment sales were 658 in 2/08 which included Ambassador, Lancer and Cedia.

[sbelekar]

Looks like Mitsubishi is making up for all the money that they spent on Advertisement in the month of March. They have increased Cedia prices by 9000 Rs. I dont think there is any new feature introduced to justify the price hike.

[sj_koova]

Originally Posted by sbelekar

Looks like Mitsubishi is making up for all the money that they spent on Advertisement in the month of March. They have increased Cedia prices by 9000 Rs. I dont think there is any new feature introduced to justify the price hike.

Yes their website shows 8.99L for cedia sports now. By the way the website also has a new look. What are they up to!