[mrwalker]

Originally Posted by gomzi

Wow, shows that Team-BHP is also being actively monitored by traditional media.

Hmmm I think its more likely that Team-BHP is being closely monitored by the auto manufacturers, VW in this case, who are then feeding the media via their PR departments...

but Indian mass media, with a few honorable exceptions, are more news/ PR/ ad trading exchanges than the facts-research-analysis model followed by earlier newspapers.. Which has led to the growth of fora like Team-BHP for people who want the truth.. Which, strangely enough, are now feeding back into mass media... The world moves in strange ways!!

[StarVegabond]

Today's Times of India supplement carries an article on VW road-block advertisement / promotion plan. It says the budget is 40 Crore for India alone.

[mmmjgm]

Facts,

1) Skoda Auto is a VW group co.
2) It has failed (as part of a service organisation After sales service) and has its failures well documented.
3) Cars won't sell cos of the negative publicity, expensive spares. Good cars, well engineered, but electronics are never great, typically Czech.

Now what does VW do when it wants to sell its own badged cars ?

Spend 7 crores on front pages,
Does a great advertisement campaign on TV on the lines of Porsche.

Great ! nice advertisement, nearly over 20-22 crores well spent. ? right ?

Now each and every car we buy from the VW showrooms will naturally pay towards those advertisement and publicity expenses right ? You will need to agree, as each and every Passat/Jetta/Touareg we buy will eventually contribute towards that 22 crores of ad spend.

Why is VW doing it ? Doubt that much publicity will help in making people aware who is VW, which is well documented and the buying segment public is aware of that brand and its values and the company.

Now in a bid to distance itself from Skoda and its misgivings in the market, VW launches a mega campaign.

Great job not bad at all.

How stupid is it, that eventually to distance itself from Skoda, its own group co, the company spent a bomb and will recover it from car sales ?

Why didn't they realise that the Skoda brand is taking a beating ? Anyways the VW buyer will end up paying a bit towards those fancy advertisements.

Better approach is to be pro active in the service department and not have morons as service advisors. Just good house keeping.

Fact will remain, thanks to Tbhp, its easier to resolve a service issue at M&M than at Skoda despite its worldwide image, VW group parentage and great cars.

[Berj79]

Originally Posted by mmmjgm

Facts,

1) Skoda Auto is a VW group co.
2) It has failed (as part of a service organisation After sales service) and has its failures well documented.
3) Cars won't sell cos of the negative publicity, expensive spares. Good cars, well engineered, but electronics are never great, typically Czech.

Now what does VW do when it wants to sell its own badged cars ?

Spend 7 crores on front pages,
Does a great advertisement campaign on TV on the lines of Porsche.

Great ! nice advertisement, nearly over 20-22 crores well spent. ? right ?

Now each and every car we buy from the VW showrooms will naturally pay towards those advertisement and publicity expenses right ? You will need to agree, as each and every Passat/Jetta/Touareg we buy will eventually contribute towards that 22 crores of ad spend.

Why is VW doing it ? Doubt that much publicity will help in making people aware who is VW, which is well documented and the buying segment public is aware of that brand and its values and the company.

Now in a bid to distance itself from Skoda and its misgivings in the market, VW launches a mega campaign.

Great job not bad at all.

How stupid is it, that eventually to distance itself from Skoda, its own group co, the company spent a bomb and will recover it from car sales ?

Why didn't they realise that the Skoda brand is taking a beating ? Anyways the VW buyer will end up paying a bit towards those fancy advertisements.

Better approach is to be pro active in the service department and not have morons as service advisors. Just good house keeping.

Fact will remain, thanks to Tbhp, its easier to resolve a service issue at M&M than at Skoda despite its worldwide image, VW group parentage and great cars.

dunno if you know about this but VW bought porche recently even their ad belong to them now VW will offer better service then any german car company in india thats for sure,
They will offer better service then merc atleast, VW is a very well recognised brand around the world, they deserve respect..

cheers..

[njh]

Originally Posted by mmmjgm

Facts,

1) Skoda Auto is a VW group co.
2) It has failed (as part of a service organisation After sales service) and has its failures well documented.
3) Cars won't sell cos of the negative publicity, expensive spares. Good cars, well engineered, but electronics are never great, typically Czech.

Now what does VW do when it wants to sell its own badged cars ?

Spend 7 crores on front pages,
Does a great advertisement campaign on TV on the lines of Porsche.

Great ! nice advertisement, nearly over 20-22 crores well spent. ? right ?

Now each and every car we buy from the VW showrooms will naturally pay towards those advertisement and publicity expenses right ? You will need to agree, as each and every Passat/Jetta/Touareg we buy will eventually contribute towards that 22 crores of ad spend.

Why is VW doing it ? Doubt that much publicity will help in making people aware who is VW, which is well documented and the buying segment public is aware of that brand and its values and the company.

Now in a bid to distance itself from Skoda and its misgivings in the market, VW launches a mega campaign.

Great job not bad at all.

How stupid is it, that eventually to distance itself from Skoda, its own group co, the company spent a bomb and will recover it from car sales ?

Why didn't they realise that the Skoda brand is taking a beating ? Anyways the VW buyer will end up paying a bit towards those fancy advertisements.

Better approach is to be pro active in the service department and not have morons as service advisors. Just good house keeping.

Fact will remain, thanks to Tbhp, its easier to resolve a service issue at M&M than at Skoda despite its worldwide image, VW group parentage and great cars.

You may have your 'facts' right, Skoda may belong to VW, but Skoda is totally independent when it comes to policy making, sales, service etc. which has nothing to do with VW. VW does NOT dictate rules or policy.
People are not stupid to think that because Skoda screwed up in many aspects, that VW will do the same. And if there are people like that, then go buy a Maruti, or Hyundai, or whatever else exists in the market.

[Rahulkool]

Why it was not published in chennai edition ?

My daughter and son-in-law have VW Golf Pacific Edition hatchback in Melbourne. While reversing, only one lamp was lit at the rear. When my son-in-law enquired at the dealership, they informed that it was not a fault and all VW models come with only one reversing lamp at the rear and the other one being fog lamp. When I was there, I studied the bulky owner's manual several times but nowhere it was mentioned so. Some how, it looked odd to me to have only one each of reversing lamp and fog lamp at the rear in a VW car instead of a pair each as we have here. Could anybody kindly throw more 'light' on this?

[.anshuman]

@J.Ravi- Most Europeon cars have this kind of setup. Examples are Punto, First gen Ikon, Uno. I did not notice others though.

One side is reverse lamp, on other side its fog lamp.

Thanks, .anshuman, for enlightenment. My Fiat Linea is equipped with a pair of lamps each for reversing and fog lamps, thank god, I get plenty of illumination while reversing it.

[mmmjgm]

Originally Posted by njh

You may have your 'facts' right, Skoda may belong to VW, but Skoda is totally independent when it comes to policy making, sales, service etc. which has nothing to do with VW. VW does NOT dictate rules or policy.
People are not stupid to think that because Skoda screwed up in many aspects, that VW will do the same. And if there are people like that, then go buy a Maruti, or Hyundai, or whatever else exists in the market.

I agree that they are independent on the marketing side. However the engine design, gearbox and mechanicals are the same. I.e. same means there's no difference between the Jetta engine and the Laura engines. (1.9 PD) as well as the gear boxes.

Again even the software running on the systems (VAGCOM) is the same.
There's barely any difference if it is its in the branding and part nomenclature.

This is after verifying with the service stations. I had been evaluating the Laura Ambiente (bad after sales) & The Jetta Trendline.( too expensive).

Have also spoken to people who are auto component suppliers and they say stay away from a Skoda car, however with VW the parts are the same. The service is the differentiator. VW offers a 4 year warranty (add on 2 years) whereas skoda offers a 2 year warranty but no add on extended warranty.

Again, in India we do not have consolidation at a level where the parent company and the subsidiary are in the auto industry ( not cross holdings like GM & Fiat/Suzuki).

[theEnd]

Sure, in our minds Skoda might have failed due to poor after sales service, highlighted by a number of terrible experiences. However, Skoda sales are actually going through the roof (look at the data), driven by the new Laura and Superb.

[mmmjgm]

Originally Posted by theEnd

Sure, in our minds Skoda might have failed due to poor after sales service, highlighted by a number of terrible experiences. However, Skoda sales are actually going through the roof (look at the data), driven by the new Laura and Superb.

Well, if they (Skoda's dealers) can mess up Autocar India's long term Skoda, they can do anything.

[ACM]

Yep messing up the autocar long term superb interiors was something, how dumb can they be, but then it was more a case of ineffeciency that anything else.

Back to VW - the Beetle was to launch today, did not seem much of that in the papers.

The amount of Advt. spend that VW is doing with print will also buy them a lot of PR points and will get them good PR.

[siddhu_engg24]

Received this doc 2 minutes back...
Sorry, if It's already posted !

[sukiwa]

VW has done it again, this time for Polo. Today's ToI edition has Polo all over with a full page advt. on back page. I hope that this would be in all editions of ToI in India and not just in pune edition.