[amit]

Originally Posted by Sahil

Also confirmed that one company picked up almost all of the cars and all the customers bookings were given back, which explains why they canceled mine.

Are you saying that Honda cancelled bookings of all customers to ink the 100 car deal with some company?! Looks like the company told Honda that they will pick up 100 cars or nothing and Honda decided to sell all of them so to achieve that they decided to cancel all customer bookings. Thats bloody unprofessional! This doesn't give a good impression of Honda and it's business policies to prospective customers. And no one here has anything to say about this? I wonder what would have happened if the company in question was GM, Ford, Fiat or Tata.

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by amit

Thats bloody unprofessional! This doesn't give a good impression of Honda and it's business policies to prospective customers. And no one here has anything to say about this? I wonder what would have happened if the company in question was GM, Ford, Fiat or Tata.

Amit, this isnt the first time you have voiced this statement. But no one seems to care. After all, it is the hallowed 'H' we are talking about! All hail!

[Sahil]

Originally Posted by amit

Are you saying that Honda cancelled bookings of all customers to ink the 100 car deal with some company?! Looks like the company told Honda that they will pick up 100 cars or nothing and Honda decided to sell all of them so to achieve that they decided to cancel all customer bookings. Thats bloody unprofessional! This doesn't give a good impression of Honda and it's business policies to prospective customers. And no one here has anything to say about this? I wonder what would have happened if the company in question was GM, Ford, Fiat or Tata.

Unprofessional is an understatement.

IMO it was a preplanned marketing gimmick. 100 cars were probably already finalized by the travel company that bought it, moreover travel companies are eligible for EPCG so honda doesn't have to bare the burden of paying the duty. Whereas if it's sold to customers Honda would have to pay most of the duty.
They decided to give out press releases, got a lot of media attention as this was an offer that's one of it's kind. And then decided to disclose SOLD OUT until further notice !
A smart idea nonetheless unethical to the core!

[romeomidhun]

Originally Posted by amit

Are you saying that Honda cancelled bookings of all customers to ink the 100 car deal with some company?! Looks like the company told Honda that they will pick up 100 cars or nothing and Honda decided to sell all of them so to achieve that they decided to cancel all customer bookings. Thats bloody unprofessional! This doesn't give a good impression of Honda and it's business policies to prospective customers. And no one here has anything to say about this? I wonder what would have happened if the company in question was GM, Ford, Fiat or Tata.

Rightly said, Amit. Many are blind praisers of Honda.

[StarScream]

Originally Posted by amit

Are you saying that Honda cancelled bookings of all customers to ink the 100 car deal with some company?! Looks like the company told Honda that they will pick up 100 cars or nothing and Honda decided to sell all of them so to achieve that they decided to cancel all customer bookings. Thats bloody unprofessional! This doesn't give a good impression of Honda and it's business policies to prospective customers.

And to top it all, they had the gall to put out a statement saying they were doing this to popularize hybrid technology among Indian customers. Then after they sold the cars to this one company, they put out another one saying the whole thing had been a grand success and Indian customers (plural) are now ready to adopt this wonderful technology.

[harry10]

IMO Honda has played very smartly here. Raised the offer and got all media and public attention when pre planned move was to sell it to the company to save duty and enhance profit and then stating sold out so consumers will wait for another lot to come and hence make more profit and clear all the stock before Jan 09!
Isn't this the classic case of killing 'two birds with one stone'

[HappyWheels]

... and add to all this, the money that has been paid as down-payment that is lying with the dealers. A lot of cash, eh?

[d3mon]

Man, I love honda cars, but of late this kind of behavior by honda dealers and honda itself scares me.
Indian people are the worst consumers ever. Even after paying through their noses for the honda badge (we all know hondas are overpriced) we get this kind of treatment.

And we still hold honda in high regards as a car manufacturer !!!

[Ym-enjn]

Originally Posted by csentil

Ym-enjn, just based on a sample size of 3-4 in Tbhp you can't extrapolate that no one's got the car. Not every car owner is a member of tbhp.

Buddy, the size might be small but one can't underestimate the information on T-bhp. Believe me if even one CivicH gets delivered we will get information sooner or later.

Originally Posted by Sahil

They decided to give out press releases, got a lot of media attention as this was an offer that's one of it's kind. And then decided to disclose SOLD OUT until further notice !
A smart idea nonetheless unethical to the core!

One can also view it as a good way to discontinue a flop model. They couldn't have planned any better. A newly launched model not even one year old closed in such a way that all media and all their customers feeling proud that people are dying to buy Honda.

@Immortalz As long as you don't go spouting nonsense in every thread with a Civic in it, I shall shut up.

Ohh, it was fun.. "Never mind criticism, if its untrue disregard it, if its unfair stay calm, if its ignorant smile, if its justified learn from it"... But do good practice with your car, we are going to settle this when we meet. Looser pays for dinner.

[d3mon]

Originally Posted by GTO

Sid, I am the kind of a guy who will run for a test even when a new LPG variant of the 800 is launched.

Really ?

Wonder how do the sales guys respond when you turn up ?

'Here comes the madman again, hey you, get the keys to the latest test car and make sure it has no more than a liter of fuel in it!!!'

Ofcourse, no offence meant!

[harry10]

Originally Posted by HappyWheels

... and add to all this, the money that has been paid as down-payment that is lying with the dealers. A lot of cash, eh?

Absolutely right!

Originally Posted by d3mon

Man, I love honda cars, but of late this kind of behavior by honda dealers and honda itself scares me.
Indian people are the worst consumers ever. Even after paying through their noses for the honda badge (we all know hondas are overpriced) we get this kind of treatment.

And we still hold honda in high regards as a car manufacturer !!!

Thats the problem my friend. Indian consumers are too much brand consious than Quality or VFM conscious. We will buy a Merc not even knowing how it performs and if it meets our need but because of status symbol we should have a Merc.
I would have loved to see if the same has been done by a Tata or Ford or even Hyundai how much people in the media and on T-bhp itself would have cried about it! Isn't it time to get above all this and see the true picture?

[ImmortalZ]

Originally Posted by Ym-enjn

Ohh, it was fun.. "Never mind criticism, if its untrue disregard it, if its unfair stay calm, if its ignorant smile, if its justified learn from it"... But do good practice with your car, we are going to settle this when we meet. Looser pays for dinner.

I'll pay for dinner to see the look on your face really

But considering you are in Jaipur and me down here in TVM, it might be a while. And I can't guarantee my car will be stock then.

[rangaraj]

No more Civic Hybrid imports this fiscal: Honda- Automobiles-Auto-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times

No more Civic Hybrid imports this fiscal: Honda
24 Nov 2008, 1430 hrs IST, PTI

NEW DELHI: Japanese auto major Honda, which recently slashed price of its Civic Hybrid by about Rs 8 lakh for a limited period, will not import
the car further this fiscal as its allotment for India has exhausted.

The company's subsidiary, Honda Siel Cars India had received an overwhelming response to its limited-period price cut offer from November 10-17, selling about 235 units during the week against 60 units since its launch in June.

"What we had planned to sell for the entire fiscal were achieved during the week-long price cut offer. We had placed a limited order with Honda Motor Co Japan and for this fiscal we will not be importing any further Civic Hybrid," a senior company official said.

HSCI had launched the Civic Hybrid, the first of such type of vehicle in India priced at Rs 21.5 lakh in June. In November, it announced a price-cut and reduced the price to Rs 13.36 lakh for a limited period.

Asked if the company would be hike the price of the car next fiscal, considering the fact that it has decided to increase price of most of its products between Rs 10,000 and Rs 1.5 lakh by next year, the official said it is possible.

"We will not be surprised if the Civic Hybrid comes at a higher price next fiscal considering the circumstances. The rupee has depreciated a lot and we are under lot of pressure on imports," the official said.

Citing depreciating rupee, which has depreciated by over 20 per cent since April, as a main reason for concern, HSCI has decided to hike the price of its models.

Its sedan Civic could be dearer by Rs 10,000-20,000 and Accord by up to Rs 50,000, while sports utility vehicle CRV by Rs 1.5 lakh come January next year.

The official, however, said the company's best selling sedan City may not see an immediate hike in prices at it has about 5,000 orders to be delivered, which could extend up to January.

[GTO - Touring]

Translated : We realise that we can sell the Hybrid for a higher price and will do just that. Too bad we didn't stick up to our promise of supposedly providing wider access to green technology.

What a bunch of idiots. I am sure & hope that this has cost them a good amount of PR.

[sukrit7]

My friend claims his neighbour's bought a civic hybrid. I'm going to ask him to get a few pictures