[hell_rider]

Originally Posted by w 12

May be Not many TBhpians were able to persuade aam janata not to by skodas this month !!

unfortunately we will never be able to have a number that tells us how many prospective Skoda customers Skoda lost due to TeamBhp's effort. I am inclined to believe that would be a higher number than one would assume. I, for one, have pointed a few people to the relevant thread here.

after all not all of the aam junta is part of this forum. though, i believe we are well on our way getting there.

[ms001]

At least in my office every single person who , plans to buy a car or needs any automobile related update browses through team-bhp , even if he is not a member of the forum.

The point is we make a huge impact on what goes on in the auto industry , believe it or not but thats the truth

[harishv]

Originally Posted by w 12

Skoda Auto India sells 737 units of Octavia & 212 units of Laura in June'09 *-*WheelsUnplugged Automobile Industry News

Interesting to see the name of the advertiser on the above mentioned site.

[devarshi84]

why dont we have the june sales thread yet?

[VahanPujari]

Originally Posted by devarshi84

why dont we have the june sales thread yet?

Because it takes time for SIAM to get data from MFRs & hence for Vasudeva to get data from SIAM

[VahanPujari]

Originally Posted by CarsPG

The S MT was approx Rs. 9.6 Lacs OTR, Pune so now it will sell for Rs. 8.1 Lacs!!!!!

No. For Pune, its 40K less

[CarsPG]

Originally Posted by VahanPujari

No. For Pune, its 40K less

Oh ok, thanks! Is the Rs. 1,50,000 discount city specific? Some one I know is planning to buy it and they are not being offered anywhere close to that !

[VahanPujari]

Originally Posted by CarsPG

Oh ok, thanks! Is the Rs. 1,50,000 discount city specific? Some one I know is planning to buy it and they are not being offered anywhere close to that !

I don't have exact details. But someone here on this thread suggested the offer is for select Corporates & one should speak to Corp Sales Manager of the dealer to know the exact details. 1.50 Lac seems to be for Civic.

[w 12]

Originally Posted by ms001

At least in my office every single person who , plans to buy a car or needs any automobile related update browses through team-bhp , even if he is not a member of the forum.

The point is we make a huge impact on what goes on in the auto industry , believe it or not but thats the truth

How many cars do people in your office buy every month ? 500 ? 5000? even then The number of car buyers in your office forms a minuscule percentage of the Indian market.

Huge impact? you saw that in Skoda becoming number one once again in June inspite of team bhp.

@ harishv : how does the ad matter? It is the official press release of skoda India & the sales numbers will remain same , Ads or No Ads.

[VahanPujari]

Originally Posted by w 12

How many cars do people in your office buy every month ? 500 ? 5000? even then The number of car buyers in your office forms a minuscule percentage of the Indian market.

Huge impact? you saw that in Skoda becoming number one once again in June inspite of team bhp.

W 12,

You're missing the Law of Averages or the Strength of "mass".

Its not MS001 alone & his office/ colleagues/ relatives/ friends. There are thousands of t-bhpians + add that multiplication of Thousands (if not Lacs) Guests or no. of views in a month + multiply with each of his office/ colleagues/ relatives/ friends etc. Word on the street is too strong a tool.

Also, check Skoda's last 5 months sales & compare it with same 5 months sale of previous year.

Originally Posted by w 12

@ harishv : how does the ad matter? It is the official press release of skoda India & the sales numbers will remain same , Ads or No Ads.

Actually, it matters a lot & has a huge impact. Check any newspaper or magazine which runs an automobile supplement. Check the article & its positive tone & then check the advertisements displayed in the same supplement. I know this as I was associated with it sometime back. For such a supplement, the media canvasses for the ad from a MFR & when MFR obliges with an ad, more often than not the ad spend comes with a clause to release some article/ favourable news for the MFR mostly on the same page/ supplement.

Having said that, the effect of positive or negative word of mouth does not come overnight with huge changes. It happens subtly, slowly but surely & when it happens like that, its difficult to reverse it as reversal will also take longer time & much higher efforts.

[w 12]

Originally Posted by GTO

I certainly do not appreciate the sarcasm in that statement. But since you brought it up, let's ponder over this :

1. If Skoda is able to increase their volumes, excellent. However, I would advise them not to celebrate just yet. Any new launch - in this case the facelift Laura + new engines - enjoys an initial surge. We'll know the real story only after 3 - 6 months. Out of curiousity, how has the Fabia done?

2. Skoda's after-sales is a BIG problem, it is a nuisance and one of the biggest turn-offs for potential customers. This is a fact and there aren't any two sides to it.

3. Never under estimate the power of an owner driven community, or user generated content. Speak to any management gurus, they'll only be too happy to tell you more about it. Our role is strictly to highlight the facts, separate the good from the bad organisations. 2.0 lakh views of a thread where a company has blatantly cheated customers is enough to make a difference between "what is" and "could have been". It is the end customer + user who makes for the word on the street, whether good or bad, and in India, reputation / word of mouth is EVERYTHING.

Well, facts remain facts , with or without "sarcasm" or "appreciation". I for one certainly do not post ,expecting any "appreciation" here.

1. True for all new launches . Lets certainly wait & watch. But in June for which data is available, Skoda claims they are no.1

2. May be. But still quite a few people used their own hard earned money to buy these cars in June. May be they saw a +ve which others couldn't.

3. There are similar threads on horror stories, lemons & shoddy service with most of the major brands here. , including Tata, Honda , Mahindra , Ford., BMW etc. If that did not have any impact on sales figures of those manufacturers , will it be any different for Skoda? As you rightly said +ve "word of mouth" might be working for Skoda as well., converting so many "could have been"s to "what is" in June.

[CarsPG]

Originally Posted by VahanPujari

I don't have exact details. But someone here on this thread suggested the offer is for select Corporates & one should speak to Corp Sales Manager of the dealer to know the exact details. 1.50 Lac seems to be for Civic.

Thanks . I read earlier on this thread that City is being offered at a discount of Rs. 150,000! He is already talking to the corporate sales manager and they denied that such a big discount was on offer and hence my confusion.

Originally Posted by w 12

Well, facts remain facts , with or without "sarcasm" or "appreciation". I for one certainly do not post ,expecting any "appreciation" here.

1. True for all new launches . Lets certainly wait & watch. But in June for which data is available, Skoda claims they are no.1

2. May be. But still quite a few people used their own hard earned money to buy these cars in June. May be they saw a +ve which others couldn't.

3. There are similar threads on horror stories, lemons & shoddy service with most of the major brands here. , including Tata, Honda , Mahindra , Ford., BMW etc. If that did not have any impact on sales figures of those manufacturers , will it be any different for Skoda? As you rightly said +ve "word of mouth" might be working for Skoda as well., converting so many "could have been"s to "what is" in June.

Not sure what impact it has made on others but I know it made me cancel a test drive for the old Laura. I was very tempted with the big discounts they were offering but after reading the threads on this forum decided against it!

[sidwadia]

Originally Posted by CarsPG

Not sure what impact it has made on others but I know it made me cancel a test drive for the old Laura. I was very tempted with the big discounts they were offering but after reading the threads on this forum decided against it!

+1 to that.

Just a small live example, I was in the market to buy a diesel car and Skoda was top of the mind. But guess what, I bought an Altis (despite the huge discount on the old la*ra) and have driven a petrol car 7500+ kms within 2.5 months of ownership. Sure, the petrol Vs Huge Diesel economy weighed on my mind, BUT after reading the responses of Skoda Auto on T-BHP......
PEACE OF MIND was suddenly an indespensible feature.

Besides, W12 : its not just about current numbers alone..... Its also about the love of Indians towards Diesel cars (for their huge cost advantage & torque) and the lack of options/superior products. Why doesnt the Skoda Petrol do well ??? Coz u have a Honda & Toyota option.

Let Honda/Toyota come out with their Diesel versions and then lets see the impact of the surging negative word of mouth Skoda has been accumulating over the years! No predictions or insinuations .... Just simple deductive logic.

Lemme tell you, I love Skoda cars coz they inspire "SAFETY" & "STURDINESS". Had i not read/heard of the story on T-BHP, with my eyes shut I would have bought one. But its not the cars dude.... Its the A$$ and overall cost of maintenence thats discourages you.

Cheers

[GTO]

I for one certainly do not post ,expecting any "appreciation" here.

Neither do we come here to read posts, expecting any "sarcasm".

Some pertinent questions relevant to our discussion:

1. Have the Fabia sales increased substantially? If they have, excellent. If not (which I suspect), it is safe to assume that buyer confidence in Skoda hasn't gone any higher than it was. Merely a case of new launches. Hold those celebrations just yet, every new launch - even a San Storm - has a surge in demand at the time of introduction. One month doesn't make a champion, it's the 6 - 12 months performance that counts. Do search within the forum to look up Skoda's performance for the last 1 year. And, of course, we look forward to gauging their performance for the year to come.

2. Is Skoda's aftersales a problem? No doubt on that. Do Indians care about the after-sales? You bet. Does a premium product deserve premium service? I think so. Take this from a guy who would have bought the new Superb if it weren't for the shoddy after-sales. It's the word on the street now. Even outside of our forum, you'll see other magazines + tv shows bring up concern over their aftersales. On a lighter note, you don't need no Team-BHP to inform users of Skoda's terrible aftersales. I'd say Skoda and their dealers are doing a fantastic job of the same already.

If one seriously believes that Skoda's after-sales is not costing them a substantial loss of sales, one needs a reality check.

There are similar threads on horror stories, lemons & shoddy service with most of the major brands here. , including Tata, Honda , Mahindra , Ford., BMW etc. If that did not have any impact on sales figures of those manufacturers , will it be any different for Skoda?

Umm, we need to realise that it's not possible for each manufacturer to please EACH customer. Therefore, it's important to gauge the number of complaints by cars sold. Skoda complaints on this forum outnumber that for any other manufacturer. All the more important when you consider their miniscule 1% market share.

As you rightly said +ve "word of mouth" might be working for Skoda as well., converting so many "could have been"s to "what is" in June.

Forget me, even Skoda's own top management will disagree with you here. And yes, I have met with them so consider this statement as being "straight from the horses mouth". They realise that the "what is" 700 cars "could have been" 1,400 cars. If not more.

Last but not the least, if you care to read up mine & Navin's posts in the Skoda thread, we are NOT here to lower Skoda's sales. We'd only be too happy to see them grow. STRICTLY subject to them improving their aftersales and bringing customer satisfaction up to acceptable levels. Until they continue to cheat, we will continue to spread the awareness.

[vasudeva]

June 2009 sales figures are not yet available. Should be available in the next 1-3 days though.