Team-BHP > The Indian Car Scene


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Old 3rd August 2009, 18:06   #16
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Originally Posted by Ramsagar View Post
My sickness:
Rush to office by picking up the CAB,ogle at every car that passes-by (My day starts here).As soon as I reach office log on to T-BHP.(Don't check my mails either....)Other IE has Google loading...but mine has T-Bhp getting loaded.
At times get kicking from my manager for doing a lame work or complete my work as fast as I could & smile within myself,cos all these are for the CARZ that I love to drive,and always say GIVE ME MORE...
Guess what will happen when T-Bhp is down for up-gradation or office ISP is down for the whole day.Seems like I'm addicted to the drugs provided by T-Bhp
I'm a passive reader of the all the interesting thread & can't measure my knowledge that I've acquired.
I'm dump stuck on to the forum for Day-In & Out and feel wired while logging out at the end of the day.
Purchase a car that you cant afford and keep shifting the gears & revving hard in your dreams...This poor guy doesn't know when it comes true.

Last but not the least:my better-half always feels that I'm more fetish towards cars than her.
Is this happening only to ME??? or all the members shares the blood:CARZ
I think this happens to everyone ram, because, i am a part of T BHP by seeing my friend get attached to the site like you. now i am stuck on to it. i have met few more who have the same syndrome.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sawyer View Post
I must say this - get a life, guys, it is only manufactured steel and glass at the end of the day! While it is no doubt a lot of fun, autos and driving them, there is a lot more to life than these tools of locomotion! If life in this body itself is impermanent, how much more are these objects that will fall into disuse and rust five to ten times in an average life span of a human body?!
good to see someone from the other faction. but can you tell me what is your viewpoint about T BHP. if its not a part of your life and if you think getting too much of it is bad (when you say - get a life; i can only directly relate to this) then do you see T BHP as a mere forum to exchange ideas? is it all that you get out from here?

Last edited by Rehaan : 4th August 2009 at 04:20. Reason: Posts merged. Please use the MULTIQUOTE button instead of making multiple consecutive posts in the same thread. Thanks.
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Old 3rd August 2009, 19:21   #17
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Originally Posted by toll gate View Post
Hi all, i am just 1 day old to Team BHP but i have been dumb struck to know how much this forum has influenced all the fellow members . ... ...
but still my curiosity fire is burning mount high. apart from the fact that all the members are car enthusiastic, what is the common binding factor that is igniting this passion in all? how much is team BHP influencing your life or how much has it influenced ones life already.? are few question thats still ringing loud in me.

---
Hi Toll Gate
Welcome to the forum and congratulations for being able to start a very interesting thread on your very second day.
However IMHO, the topic title " Being car enthusiastic, how helpful was Team BHP" is rather restrictive. After attributing TBHP to be "helpful" may qualify you to receive "creator of the most obvious understatement" award.

After reading the whole of your opening post though, it seems you would like to know a lot more, possibly:

1) What are the factors that attract people to the TBHP.
2) Why so many members of TBHP feel so much enthusiastic about the forum.
3) How does TBHP influence the life, habits and thoughts of its members.

These are my question too.

I have a hunch that if we try to answer these questions sincerely, we would know not only more about TBHP but also about ourselves. This type of self analysis would be very healthy for the forum and the individuals in the long term. Who knows, this may even help us to "improve" the forum by identifying defects.
Hoping to hear more about the above points from all the members.
Cheers.
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Old 3rd August 2009, 19:36   #18
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Originally Posted by toll gate View Post
good to see someone from the other faction. but can you tell me what is your viewpoint about T BHP. if its not a part of your life and if you think getting too much of it is bad (when you say - get a life; i can only directly relate to this) then do you see T BHP as a mere forum to exchange ideas? is it all that you get out from here?
I just wanted to put this subject in proper perspective, that is all. And too much of anything is bad, by definition. Scroll back to my comments about it being a buffet - remember that life has many more buffets to offer to lose oneself only in this one. I would certainly not do it at the cost of other relationships with people!
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Old 3rd August 2009, 21:46   #19
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Lol sawyer.. Manufactured steel and glass!! I'll remember that and tell myself its no big deal that I can't afford a Merc. Its just manufactured steel and glass aye?

But anyway, I'm sure there are tons of members who use TBhp for stuff like buying a car or finding a solution to a pressing problem rather than an activity for free time.
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Old 4th August 2009, 04:31   #20
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Well Toll_gate,

Its a hard one to define, but i think you've got some answers here.

I'll try to point you to a few existing threads that might help :

1) This is a more literal interpretation of "value" ie $$ in this thread
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/collec...-team-bhp.html

2) Proof that we are all nuts
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/collec...-bhp-when.html

Quote:
Originally Posted by pranavt View Post
... It's their love for cars which creates bonding with fellow car freaks...
3) An expansion on that "love for cars" that only Team-BHPians can understand!
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/collec...-bike-coz.html

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sawyer View Post
....I would certainly not do it at the cost of other relationships with people!
YIkes, i guess we have a thread for this one too
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/collec...-you-love.html


And a few more....

A bit of history (significant posts from the years that have been compiled into this thread) :
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/collec...bhp-story.html

Rudras thread about Team-BHP and the friendships born from it (back in 2005) :
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/collec...ttle-time.html

And Dippy's story (from 2005 as well) :
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/collec...-lifetime.html

cya
R
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Old 4th August 2009, 09:37   #21
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Originally Posted by petrol_head View Post
OT - Trust me, marketing professionals understand the whole concept of passion much better than most. Thats what drives the profession. Its not about recreating what is read in books, journals and manuals. Its an expression that translates to the final output. Passion is not an option, its an innate expression.
Marketing professionals understand passion alright, but not as enthusiast or car lovers. They understand car lovers as a market segment, somebody to target, so that they can position themself. They understand passion like a hunter understand his prey, but not being prey.

Name a car in India that is targeted for real enthusiast. There is none. Sure, the commercials claim certain cars are really for sporty enthusiast, but they are not. We car lovers generally find a car that comes close to our idea of driver's car and follow it. The OHC, Palio GTX & Baleno are such examples. I was driving around a 91BHP Baleno, calling it my Josh machine. Just 2 years prior to that I was driving a 225BHP Acura 3.2TL with clutchless manual gears as my homely family sedan. Which do you think was the real josh machine?

If the marketing guys in Indian car companies really understood passion as a car lover, they would have at least made one vehicle per company that would cater to the enthusiast without regards to the bottomline. They would have understood that car lovers can generate 10-100 times more goodwill about their brand than average car buying junta. Instead, they treat car lovers like a segment, do a sales projection, crunch the numbers, and they decide it does not justify the investment. In other words, no passion at all in that decision.
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Old 4th August 2009, 10:17   #22
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Originally Posted by profold View Post
Hi Toll Gate....
Hi profold, thanks for drooping by to acknowledge my thread. i am sure i have made a understatement but i am content to make atleast a statement on the 2nd day rather to wait for a year and make a big statement lol. on a serious note, you have list down question in a very precious manner, like you said, these question if well answered, can be of great use to everyone. will wait for your answers too

cheers, hope to see you(r, comments) again

Quote:
Originally Posted by McLaren Rulez View Post
Lol sawyer.. Manufactured steel and glass!! I'll remember that and tell myself its no big deal that I can't afford a Merc. Its just manufactured steel and glass aye?

But anyway, I'm sure there are tons of members who use TBhp for stuff like buying a car or finding a solution to a pressing problem rather than an activity for free time.
hahahaha, you rite, merc or gallardo are mere stell and glass, lol
thanks for passing by and you rite, there are loads of them who thinks T BHP is just a forum to find solution for their probs.

Last edited by Rehaan : 4th August 2009 at 19:47. Reason: Posts merged. Please use the MULTIQUOTE button instead of making multiple consecutive posts in the same thread. Thanks.
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Old 4th August 2009, 10:46   #23
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Josh vs Passion

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Originally Posted by Samurai View Post
Marketing professionals understand passion alright, but not as enthusiast or car lovers. They understand car lovers as a market segment, somebody to target, so that they can position themself. They understand passion like a hunter understand his prey, but not being prey.
Hi Samurai,

A marketing pro's passion is marketing, not cars or car lovers.

BTW even hunting is a passion, maybe a JOSH.

Regards,

Arka

PS - I think the CJ340 is your real JOSH machine, you have splashed it in your Avatar, know your mods section, signature line......every thought of yours .............PASSION
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Old 4th August 2009, 11:01   #24
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Originally Posted by Samurai View Post
Marketing professionals understand passion alright, but not as enthusiast or car lovers. They understand car lovers as a market segment, somebody to target, ...
...
....
Hi Samurai, i totally disagree with your comments, you are mix matching work and personal choice. i am passionate towards T BHP but that does not mean i expect my office management to say,"please spend your entire office time in learning and browsing T BHP?" can they.. this is exactly the scene with marketing professionals in Indian Car Companies too. i will give you one more example, A creator or a Mechanic working in maruti who is a die hard enthusiast of cars cannot go to his management and say "give me 5000 crores, i will make you a car that will target the car enthusiast." in my thoughts, at least a mechanic or creator can go and try telling this to the management and get promoted or get fired (otherwise, lol) but as a marketing guy, we can only wait for the final product and then think on how to launch and how to count the sales figures. please don't target the marketing professionals for the bad ideas and profitable ventures point of view of Indian car companies. we are just doing our job. just because we do our job well (the josh machine) does not mean, we don't know cars. we know it but we cant advertise our thoughts because we are paid to advertise and market what someone in the board room decides. so this does not mean we are not car enthusiast. we too have the same grudge like you or others but the best we could do is, contemplate, review it and mod it.

cheers
tool gate

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rehaan View Post
Well Toll_gate,

Its a hard one to define, but i think you've got some answers here.

I'll try to point you to a few existing threads that might help :
...
...
hi Rehaan, all the links were very informative (just had a glance, will sit on it in detail later), thanks

Last edited by Rehaan : 4th August 2009 at 19:48. Reason: Posts merged again. Also, please avoid quoting entire large posts...as it inconveniences small screen viewers. Thanks.
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Old 4th August 2009, 11:15   #25
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Originally Posted by Samurai View Post
Marketing professionals understand passion alright, but not as enthusiast or car lovers. They understand car lovers as a market segment, somebody to target, so that they can position themself. They understand passion like a hunter understand his prey, but not being prey.

Name a car in India that is targeted for real enthusiast. There is none. Sure, the commercials claim certain cars are really for sporty enthusiast, but they are not. We car lovers generally find a car that comes close to our idea of driver's car and follow it. The OHC, Palio GTX & Baleno are such examples. I was driving around a 91BHP Baleno, calling it my Josh machine. Just 2 years prior to that I was driving a 225BHP Acura 3.2TL with clutchless manual gears as my homely family sedan. Which do you think was the real josh machine?

If the marketing guys in Indian car companies really understood passion as a car lover, they would have at least made one vehicle per company that would cater to the enthusiast without regards to the bottomline. They would have understood that car lovers can generate 10-100 times more goodwill about their brand than average car buying junta. Instead, they treat car lovers like a segment, do a sales projection, crunch the numbers, and they decide it does not justify the investment. In other words, no passion at all in that decision.
Im quite bewildered... surprised even...
If I may take up this opportunity to clear something out, lets not confuse passion with profession and vice versa. PERIOD

Being an auto enthusiast has nothing to do with what profession you are engaged in. Now passion is a very subjective term that might or might not relate to your profession. Now. If I was marketing a car, YES, I would look at car lovers as a target segment, construct differentiated segment groups and target them as my audience.. But.. But.. does that mean I do not love cars or do not wish that someone made a true JOSH machine?

Trust me, I probably spend more time everyday in a workshop trying to fine tune my car or just trying to learn something new than most people would. Hence do not generalize, as it does not really translate to reality.

Infact if I were to go by your comments, the only true auto enthusiasts are those who work for car companies or auto magazines, since only they are the ones who have a profession that lets them follow their passion. Is that what you mean to say because that is exactly what it sounds like.

I am a brand consultant, Marketing is my passion. So are cars. Im more than happy that my line of work directly deals with what my innate needs are. The other interests (read as cars) get accomodated as well in the time that I manage to set apart. I respect every profession and I know for a fact that irrespective of what it is, he is involved in it because its where he wants to be. Now that would not restrict his line of thinking to viewing his passions differently.

So lets not confuse the whole issue. Marketers are probably more passionate than anyone can understand .. Why? Because it is one field where you dont learn from Books or journals, neither do you have a fixed protocol to follow where you would get an error message if you went wrong. Its about learning through observation and experience from DAY 1 and that cant be fed into someone. So please refrain from calling marketers as dis-passionate as that would really not attract any constructive opinions.
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Old 4th August 2009, 11:24   #26
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Originally Posted by toll gate View Post
(for example, in one meet where i was a part of, i noticed that even though the fellow members know each others name very well, they where absolutely fine in conversing with their user id name. this was very interesting). this is not soo common thing in other forum or other networking sites.
This is what makes TBHP different from any other forum.
Quote:
(now that made me again ask this question, what is the factor thats bringing in this passion in all the members, apart from being a car enthusiastic networking forum, is there something else that this forum imparts?
You need to spend some proper time here (without neglecting your work of course) to understand this.
Quote:
(also please educate me with how much team bhp has been a part of your life and how much has it influenced you, how much of learning have you towed along in your journey of being a part of it.?
Follow Rehaan’s reply. You’ll probably get the drift.
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Originally Posted by pranavt View Post
Marketing people will never understand this. Atleast most wont ... It's their love for cars which creates bonding with fellow car freaks. No powerpoint presentations, no fancy numbers. Just a love for driving or riding anything on wheels.
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Originally Posted by ImmortalZ View Post
pranav has it spot on. We like our cars and that's the most basic thing that binds us together. As for why we are comfortable with online IDs in real life, it is because you have come to associate a person to his ID on Team-BHP. On any other social networking site, your real name is there. But on here, it's our IDs that do the talking. It's pretty much the same on other forums, especially for games. When you get on TeamSpeak, you talk to the nicknames even if you know their real names.
Completely agree with these two comments.
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Originally Posted by lamborghini View Post
IMO, T-BHP isn't like any other forum, where people post stuff. Rather it is like a peer group in school, where all the people with common interests join, and take the time to learn from each other and contribute back, not only to T-BHP, but friends, relatives etc.
Quote:
Unlike some other international forums, people contribute, but there is no personal touch. Out here, the personal touch, along with the strict moderation, have made this forum much more than what it is.
There you go toll gate.
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Originally Posted by petrol_head View Post
OT - Trust me, marketing professionals understand the whole concept of passion much better than most. Thats what drives the profession. Its not about recreating what is read in books, journals and manuals. Its an expression that translates to the final output. Passion is not an option, its an innate expression.
Is that true? If it is then I’m yet to see the results on our automotive arena. As I see both you and toll gate are marketing consultants. And if you’re talking about the marketing professionals passion with car then I have to disagree here. I don’t see that passion in any automotive communication (Except a very few). Let’s not forget for most marketing professionals, an automotive account is just another account. One cannot just possibly pour passion for automotive communication if it’s not there in the first place.

I’m just assuming that you’re talking about passion for automotive communication. But if you’re not then please ignore my comments here.
Quote:
so this does not mean we are not car enthusiast.
Of course you are a car enthusiast. You’ve just discovered TBHP.
Quote:
Originally Posted by toll gate View Post
we know it but we cant advertise our thoughts because we are paid to advertise and market what someone in the board room decides.
I’d like to agree with you here. One of the biggest hindrance in automotive communication.
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Old 4th August 2009, 11:46   #27
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With all due respect to every other profession... Do you mean to say an engineer would design an ECU any differently if he was an auto enthusiast. Do you mean to say a fuel pump manufacturer would manufacture a pump any differently just because he is an auto enthusiast. Please... as a professional requirement you do what is needed. Lets not get it all confused. Professional requirements are different and thay cant determine how or what you wish to follow as a passion. But as a matter of fact an automobile account does give me that extra surge. NOS induction you may say

Just want to get one thing clear .. Im not saying all auto marketers are auto enthusiasts... im only trying to say ... auto enthusiasts can sure be marketers.
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Old 4th August 2009, 11:48   #28
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Originally Posted by Rudra Sen View Post
This is what makes TBHP different from any other forum.
You need to spend some proper time here (without neglecting your work of course) to understand this.
Follow Rehaan’s reply. You’ll probably get the drift.

Completely agree with these two comments.

There you go toll gate.
Is that true? If it is then I’m yet to see the results on our automotive arena. As I see both you and toll gate are marketing consultants. And if you’re talking about the marketing professionals passion with car then I have to disagree here. I don’t see that passion in any automotive communication (Except a very few). Let’s not forget for most marketing professionals, an automotive account is just another account. One cannot just possibly pour passion for automotive communication if it’s not there in the first place.

I’m just assuming that you’re talking about passion for automotive communication. But if you’re not then please ignore my comments here.
Of course you are a car enthusiast. You’ve just discovered TBHP.
I’d like to agree with you here. One of the biggest hindrance in automotive communication.
Hi Rudra Sen, thanks for your comments, as far as marketing professionals passion for automotive communication is concerned, one can communicate or conceptualize his/her idea only if a car company walks to us and gives us a dream car (targeting car enthusiast) and give us roughly 20% of the expected sales as marketing budget and not interfere with what we would like to do. you being from the same industry, do you think this is ever going to happen? i dont think so...

my whole point here is, marketing is my profession and i am passionate towards it. cars are my dream and i am passionate towards it too... now just because car companies want us to market their cars (underline on their cars) and especially want us to market it their way, does not mean marketing guys don't have passion towards car.
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Old 4th August 2009, 12:10   #29
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Originally Posted by toll gate View Post
Hi Samurai, i totally disagree with your comments, you are mix matching work and personal choice. i am passionate towards T BHP but that does not mean i expect my office management to say,"please spend your entire office time in learning and browsing T BHP?" can they.. this is exactly the scene with marketing professionals in Indian Car Companies too. i will give you one more example, A creator or a Mechanic working in maruti who is a die hard enthusiast of cars cannot go to his management and say "give me 5000 crores, i will make you a car that will target the car enthusiast."
That's exactly the trouble. Why is mixing passion and your job is so wrong? Exactly 12 years back my manager in TCS (current CEO of CMC Ltd) told me that Object Oriented Technology is a fad that will pass away soon, so don't be so passionate about working only in that area. Instead he wanted to me to fully focus on the next big thing, Y2K. I disagreed, which practically ended my career graph in TCS. Next year I joined a 3 people company where I decided what technology I will work on. You know, I followed my passion. I am still working in the same company, and I work on technologies that I am passionate about.

Quote:
Originally Posted by toll gate View Post
but as a marketing guy, we can only wait for the final product and then think on how to launch and how to count the sales figures. please don't target the marketing professionals for the bad ideas and profitable ventures point of view of Indian car companies. we are just doing our job.
That's a very limited description of a marketing guy. A marketing guy is also supposed to do product development, that involves studying the market, understand the need, conceptulize a model and brain storm with the engineering department to make a prototype. Just selling what the engineers make is not my definition of a marketing guy.

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Originally Posted by petrol_head View Post
Im quite bewildered... surprised even...
No wonder you are bewildered, you understood the exact opposite of my meaning.

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Originally Posted by petrol_head View Post
Infact if I were to go by your comments, the only true auto enthusiasts are those who work for car companies or auto magazines, since only they are the ones who have a profession that lets them follow their passion. Is that what you mean to say because that is exactly what it sounds like.
I was telling the opposite. I am saying that people who work in marketing department of car company have no passion towards cars. Is my English so bad that people are inferring the exact opposite meaning?

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Originally Posted by toll gate View Post
I am a brand consultant, Marketing is my passion. So are cars. Im more than happy that my line of work directly deals with what my innate needs are.
Are you in the business of marketing cars?

Quote:
Originally Posted by toll gate View Post
So lets not confuse the whole issue. Marketers are probably more passionate than anyone can understand ..

So please refrain from calling marketers as dis-passionate as that would really not attract any constructive opinions.
I absolutely agree marketing guys are passionate, in fact very passionate. But as Arka pointed out, they are passionate about selling, margins, market share, etc. They may be also very passionate about cars, stamp collection, rock climbing, etc. But I am talking about mismatch between passion and profession. If a person is very passionate about what he is selling, than just the process of selling, it would generate lot more synergy.

People like Steve Jobs & Bill Gates succeeded so much for so long, not only because they loved the selling, but also loved what they were selling.

We need that kind of people selling cars in India. People who not only sell for profit, but also cater to enthusiast. It is done in most developed countries, why not here?
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Old 4th August 2009, 12:20   #30
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I think there is a lot of confusion here because of some members' misinterpretation of what jackass was trying to say. Well, jackass is passionate about his profession as well as his hobby just like many others in this forum.

Samurai san's below statement has kindled some extra passion from our marketing consultants here.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Samurai View Post
Marketing professionals understand passion alright, but not as enthusiast or car lovers.
I hope that was not what you meant san. Because marketing professionals also have equal rights to be passionate about their cars/bikes. What makes them less passionate ?
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