[akj53]

Originally Posted by VahanPujari

If this trend is really happening, its immensly good for the customers as Honda will then be forced to give equipments (like SX4 forced it to start giving ABS/Airbags/ Steering mounted controls etc)

If the reports on the coming refresh models of Honda are to be believed, Civic is merely a cosmetic upgrade and City will have few 'goodies' like alloys or Fog lamps but at a hefty price increase. So I dont think that Honda India have learnt any thing.

[vasudeva]

Originally Posted by VahanPujari

If this trend is really happening, its immensly good for the customers as Honda will then be forced to give equipments (like SX4 forced it to start giving ABS/Airbags/ Steering mounted controls etc)

Ideally they should, but perhaps Honda has now got a PSU culture or people at the helm who are not conversant with maths. 1-3 mths of decline in Civic (or any car) is possible, but to keep on seeing successive declines for more than 2 years and doing nothing effective on pricing or marketing.

[VahanPujari]

Originally Posted by akj53

If the reports on the coming refresh models of Honda are to be believed, Civic is merely a cosmetic upgrade and City will have few 'goodies' like alloys or Fog lamps but at a hefty price increase. So I dont think that Honda India have learnt any thing.

Originally Posted by vasudeva

Ideally they should, but perhaps Honda has now got a PSU culture or people at the helm who are not conversant with maths. 1-3 mths of decline in Civic (or any car) is possible, but to keep on seeing successive declines for more than 2 years and doing nothing effective on pricing or marketing.

May be Honda is waiting to see if its impacting ANHC sales which is its flagship car. If it does, there is no way it can ignore this trend & bound to react if it wants to retain/ maintain its top of the table position.

[Berj79]

Originally Posted by Sahil

Just goes to show that only good service back up does not make the car a winner, especially in the luxury segment. If you compare car for car the superb is far more equipped and feels a whole segment above the Accord.
That being said there is no excuse for Skoda's management issues, they are unacceptable. However in terms of spares and service the difference is not as large as one feels, the new Accord spares are not considered cheap by any means although they would be cheaper than the Superb's. Skoda now has service intervals of 15k kms whereas Honda is at 5k kms hence the costs are relative to the frequency, this has narrowed the gaps on service cost differences.

The superb is an awesome car, hands down i feel you cant compare the car to the accord, the accord feels soo outdated in features compare to superb, i feel u can compare the superb to the Merc E class & the bmw 5 series, if i had a choice between accord or superb i would have also gambled & got the superb, the black one is just to die for

[oss]

I think we are going seriously OT now, but still can't avoid this one

In the current edition of ACI there is a comparison between Acord & Superb, and they have also rated Superb above Acord. This is from a magazine which normally finds reasons to support Honda product, and that means something telling on the product quality of Superb.

Oflate i am realising it is not just the comments on Fiat that evokes furious responses, but even the Honda related ones too.

Honda v/s Fiat, that's a lethal one, ofcourse

[ACM]

Originally Posted by oss

I think we are going seriously OT now, but still can't avoid this one

In the current edition of ACI there is a comparison between Acord & Superb, and they have also rated Superb above Acord. This is from a magazine which normally finds reasons to support Honda product, and that means something telling on the product quality of Superb.

Oflate i am realising it is not just the comments on Fiat that evokes furious responses, but even the Honda related ones too.

Honda v/s Fiat, that's a lethal one, ofcourse

ACI has been known to be biased in favour of BOTH Honda & Skoda so this report should be quite unbiased in that aspect as two wrongs to make a right at times.

[amit]

Originally Posted by oss

In the current edition of ACI there is a comparison between Acord & Superb, and they have also rated Superb above Acord. This is from a magazine which normally finds reasons to support Honda product, and that means something telling on the product quality of Superb.

Biased or not, the fact is that as a product the Superb is better then Accord. When I say product it means the car, features, technology, price and everything else that combines together to form a product. Having said that, if I had to buy one of these cars today, I would buy the Accord.

It's only in After sales service that Skoda takes a beating but then Skoda would lose in after sales service even if it was competing with itself!

[oss]

Originally Posted by amit

Biased or not, the fact is that as a product the Superb is better then Accord. When I say product it means the car, features, technology, price and everything else that combines together to form a product. Having said that, if I had to buy one of these cars today, I would buy the Accord.

It's only in After sales service that Skoda takes a beating but then Skoda would lose in after sales service even if it was competing with itself!

Come to think of it, Honda makes its margin upfront by pricing its products higher. Skoda is trying to make its margin by overpricing the spares.

The products being equally good with Skoda having a slight edge, if they fix the dealership issues, they can beat Honda - ofcourse the reputation that Honda has built in the last 7-8 yrs will make it difficult for Skoda to overcome, but eventually they should be able to do it.

If they do achieve this, that will atleast get Honda to price its products sensibly and offer better features in their cars.

[amit]

Originally Posted by oss

The products being equally good with Skoda having a slight edge, if they fix the dealership issues, they can beat Honda - ofcourse the reputation that Honda has built in the last 7-8 yrs will make it difficult for Skoda to overcome, but eventually they should be able to do it.

I don't think Honda's good image is a hinderance to Skoda's sales. Despite their notorious reputation for service, the Superb has outsold the Accord. Just think if this is what Skoda can do with pathetic service and super expensive spares, then what they could do to Accord if they sort out their problems.

[aviral2122]

phew Skoda again managed to beat the Honda hands down again in D segment,
Accord sold 229 cars while Superb managed 276 cars.
Civic sold some 231 cars against Skoda combined figures of 627 cars (Octavia Indian and european together), I think it outdid Toyota in this segment well.
absolutely adore the Superb 2009.

[akj53]

Originally Posted by aviral2122

phew Skoda again managed to beat the Honda hands down again in D segment,
Accord sold 229 cars while Superb managed 276 cars.
Civic sold some 231 cars against Skoda combined figures of 627 cars (Octavia Indian and european together), I think it outdid Toyota in this segment well.
absolutely adore the Superb 2009.

And in few days we will learn that Altis has outsold Octavia + Laura combined.

But sadly now Toyota seems to be thinking of milking the customers dry, a-la-Honda by raising the prices of Altis, Innova & Fortuner

Increased deamnd and production means lower costs, so rather than giving more goodies they are planning a price hike. Is Toyota India planning to negate its parent company's losses by squeezing Indian customers.

'Jab maal bikne laga to dimag chadh gaye'
All are equally bad. Greedy bunch of manufacturers.

Originally Posted by vasudeva

Ideally they should, but perhaps Honda has now got a PSU culture or people at the helm who are not conversant with maths. 1-3 mths of decline in Civic (or any car) is possible, but to keep on seeing successive declines for more than 2 years and doing nothing effective on pricing or marketing.

What is reason of decline of sale figures of civic (though V Variant with added features was launched in June'07 & ANHC was launched in end Sept'08)?

[vasudeva]

Originally Posted by nissan

What is reason of decline of sale figures of civic (though V Variant with added features was launched in June'07 & ANHC was launched in end Sept'08)?

Could be customers prefer compromise over quality. That is why it so serious.

[krish3]

Vasudeva- When will last month's figures come in?

[vasudeva]

Originally Posted by krish3

Vasudeva- When will last month's figures come in?

Likely in the next 4-6 hours to 3/4 days. Edit: most likely on 8.9.2009.