Quote:
Originally Posted by tsk1979 Certain ongoing discussions in the Nano thread revealed another angle!
Its not just tolerance.
Some people feel, that since the vehicle they are buying is low cost, its perfectly acceptable for the quality and reliability to be poor, and since we get what we pay for, people who complain about issues are "whiners" .
So reviving this discussion.
Is this not tolerance.
How many people actually feel that when they buy a great VFM vehicle, its perfectly okay to have sub par reliability?
If there are lots who feel that way, then I shudder, because at a talk where a leading manager of a very big auto company told his part suppliers the very same thing.
"Quality is secondary, make sure that the car is big, comfortable and cheap, thats what the customer wants." |
The tolerance aspect with respect to the nano could be understood because the main purpose of the visionary of this car, Mr Ratan Tata had in mind was to provide an average indian family comprising of 2 adults and 2 kids to move on 4 wheels instead of 2, while keeping the running cost of the vehicle on par with that of a two wheeler, He didn't have a luxury car in mind. His basic concept was to provide 4 wheels with seats, which I believe he has achieved to a great extent. With greater number of features, price will increase proportionally with the diesel, electric versions of the nano in the pipeline in the future.
Given the success of the indica, I'm just optimistic about the fact that the nano should be reliable in the long term, IMHO it's too early to judge that just yet.
It's the A.S.S that tata needs to work on and thats the factor that shouldn't be tolerated by us, By all means we have to agree the GP is a great machine,(given its success throughout the world) but if there's one reason that the general public wouldn't go in for the car is the headache that the tata-fiat A.S.S. So until they get their act together, they are still going to take a beating in terms of sales relatively
Because at the end of the day, after our homes, the car is among our biggest investments, we would like to have trouble free ownership and not see it in the service station every second day.
And as far as VFM is concerned, I strongly believe the average indian buyer is waking up. We are ready to pay money provided its worth the amount.
A simple example being the i20, we have to agree that it's a premium hatch, but it's still a runaway success. a couple of reasons being it's got good quality interiors, and overall feel good factor about it, decent FE supported by Hyundai's excellent A.S.S the only negative being the underpowered engine, which people ignore because if it's used for city purposes, it travels anywhere between 40-100kmph so I'm guessing they can live with that.
Whereas you take the Honda Jazz, I agree, a great product, everything about it is great, but the main negative, It's way too overpriced, ask Honda to bring it down by about 50k-1lakh(i'm not sure how practical it is for them to do that) even if it means resorting to cost cutting by removing a couple of features but then see how its gives the competition a run for its money.
The people who want the features would pay the premium or for the enthusiasts like us would get our ICE, alloys and other modifications go after market for a better price.
Point I'm trying to make is, We don't mind spending cash if its worth the product. Another example to prove my point is the i10 is just a few 1000 units short of now maruti's flagship product the alto, why? because even though its slightly more expensive, its more VFM than a basic alto.
This is also 1 reason i see GM doing well in the near future, because they offer the 3years cashless ownership experience, This is a great offer provided "no conditions apply" besides the accidental damages etc. because the indian consumer is looking for a trouble free experience, and if given that, I don't see why we wouldn't pay a premium or try a brand like GM which has gone bankrupt in the US
everything said and done, I agree we are tolerant to a great extent, but it's not because we're "kunjoos" or we don't want to spend money. I think its just that we don't want to take the hassle of fighting for our rights because "the car is working fine, i can reach college/office on time,when it stalls, we'll see the general attitude being, who'll fight and till what level for a small niggle.we believe it's not worth the effort, time and money, that's the attitude that needs to change"
but the question is, HOW???