[Spitfire]

Originally Posted by Lalvaz

Gosh I wish I could plonk 8 lacs for a Jazz!

If you could it will certainly not cost 8 lakhs

[autocarcr]

You may call me biased (see my OTHER posts about Fiat vs Honda) but seeing that the thread starter itself stated it out in loud letters for you: HONDA is STINGY- just because the yen is more powerful now, they uproot the customers with their non-VFM cars and atrocious prices and now are REFUSING to pass on benefits to the customers? No wonder car buyers are so blinded by their sense of brand image and dont stop to see what cheats they are! ITs proof enough from the above news.

[akj53]

As pointed out by many others, the duty reduction is meant for end customers to revive demand and not to be pocketed by greedy manufacturers.

Customer resistance is already building up against Honda. It has already outpriced itself on CRV (0 sales) and on Accord V6 (perhaps Vasudeva can get the June sales figures of V6, maybe single digit). If only Skoda can sort out its service issues, Superb petrol will outsell Accord by a big margin.

With the introduction of i20 Diesel and 1.4 Automatic, Punto and Jazz, this segment of premium hatchbacks has hotted up. Real winner will be decided by public in next 6 months. And again if Skoda improves itself and plonks a better engine in Fabia, well it may become the joker in the pack.

[McLaren Rulez]

Well I've already said it a million times on the Honda Jazz sales thread but I just hate seeing these sort of threads so I'll post what I've said again.

Honda is a corporation/company/firm. The aim of all such operations, without exception, is to make PROFITS! Honda are doing exactly that. You really think other manufacturers, even BMW, are running charities that make motoring affordable for us Indians? Yeah right!! The bottom line is simple. They need more sales. A discount boosts volumes and gives an overall profit to that same manufacturer. So don't for a moment think that BMW and the rest are on our side while Honda is the greedy bad guy in this situation.

Originally Posted by akj53

Customer resistance is already building up against Honda. It has already outpriced itself on CRV (0 sales) and on Accord V6 (perhaps Vasudeva can get the June sales figures of V6, maybe single digit). If only Skoda can sort out its service issues, Superb petrol will outsell Accord by a big margin.

With the introduction of i20 Diesel and 1.4 Automatic, Punto and Jazz, this segment of premium hatchbacks has hotted up. Real winner will be decided by public in next 6 months. And again if Skoda improves itself and plonks a better engine in Fabia, well it may become the joker in the pack.

Now, let's say for a moment that you're right and Honda is on the verge of a catastrophic loss of sales. That would make Honda drop prices automatically. So why haven't they done it yet? Because they are still doing remarkably well. The Civic and Jazz are great sellers. The Accord isn't doing too badly (the V6 is slow but not the regular Accord). So as much as many would love to see "greedy ol' Honda" in deep trouble, reality is that they are doing just fine.

[joecherian]

Think Honda top team went through TBHP and then decided to cut prices.

Ford, Honda cut car prices by up to Rs 6,000- Automobiles-Auto-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times

[McLaren Rulez]

Well I'll be!! Moments after I claim they're doing just fine, Honda makes me look really silly

But I still stand by the first part of my post regarding the overall perception of Honda irrespective of the price cut here.

[WasavaTyres]

Originally Posted by geeash

But now after budget has cut excise duties why cant they pass down the benifit to poor customers.

poor customers buying 7 lakh plus cars

[akj53]

As reported by JoeCherian earlier, Honda finally sees sense:

NEW DELHI: Cars over 2000cc saw a minor drop in prices following Rs 5000 concession the government gave on excise duty in the Budget. Companies

like Honda, Ford, General Motors and Hindustan Motors-Mitsubishi passed on the benefit to the consumers, though the amount passed appears negligible considering their high sticker price.

Honda said its luxury sedan Accord and SUV CR-V would now be cheaper by Rs 5000 with immediate effect. The starting ex-showroom Delhi price of the Accord will now be Rs 17.67 lakh while the CR-V entry model will now cost Rs 22.87 lakh. Ford also reduced prices, slashing the price of its Endeavour SUV by Rs 6000 across variants, whose base model will now cost Rs 15.01 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

"The additional duty reduction has been a welcome step taken by the government, though the reduction is limited only to large cars," Ford India V-P (sales) Tim Tucker said.

HM-Mitsubishi combine also cut the price of Pajero, Outlander and Montero models by Rs 6000. The Pajero will now cost Rs 20.64 lakh, Outlander Rs 20.69 lakh and Montero Rs 41.88 lakh. "With the government announcing a reduction in the excise duty, on some of our vehicles in the relevant segment, we are passing on the entire benefit to our customers," R Santhanam, MD of Hindustan Motors.

General Motors also slashed the price of its Tavera multi-utility by Rs 5000.

[muralisk]

I completely agree with McLaren Rulez - that any company's aim is to make profits at a healthy margins. That's the bottom line against which the top management is measured. Now, how you do it is specific to each company. Some might go after volumes and some might target a specific segment and look for top and bottom line numbers. This is pure business.

Am sure that we can now close this thread as Honda has also followed the suite on passing on the excise duty benefit to their customers (probably we can count them on our fingers) and probably they aren't any greedy now.

[FlyingSpur]

Originally Posted by WasavaTyres

poor customers buying 7 lakh plus cars

Since the 6 grand doesn't really make a difference to you, why don't you write me a cheque for the same the next time you buy a car. Or better still, donate it to a good cause.

[akj53]

Originally Posted by muralisk

I completely agree with McLaren Rulez - that any company's aim is to make profits at a healthy margins. That's the bottom line against which the top management is measured. Now, how you do it is specific to each company. Some might go after volumes and some might target a specific segment and look for top and bottom line numbers. This is pure business.

Yes profit should be made but with some decency and doing ethical and legal business.

People should also appreciate that customer is the paymaster for manufacturers. People have mentioned that companies are responsible to their owners and their shareholders. Great, but what about responsibility to their paymasters - the customer, without which the company will not exist.

[srishiva]

Hope Honda reduces the prices across all segments to help people buy the cars they are so obsessed about.

[tanwaramit]

OT: Has Mahindra passed the benefits of 5k reduction ?

[gpa]

It is a fine line between interests of the manufacturers and that of customers. Ultimately, Honda has yielded to those of the customer.

[McLaren Rulez]

Originally Posted by akj53

Yes profit should be made but with some decency and doing ethical and legal business.

And what aspect of Honda's operations do you find indecent, unethical or illegal? Charging high prices is clearly not any of the above.