[prkothan]

Hi all,

I always feel Maruti cars are over priced atleast by 20% and they are not giving a world class cars. They always project dealer and service network rather than reliability and safety of engine.

I tried to identify what kind of cars the Suzuki offers to UK customer.

Wagon R:

India UK
1100 cc 1229 cc
64 BHP 80 BHP
14 inch tyres 12 inch tyres

etc..etc..full of discrimination.

Same story follows for Alto. For exact information check

http://www.suzuki4.co.uk


But I guess, Opel, Hyundai and Fiat (Palio) has given the same vehicles with same quality which has been running different countries.


Regards,
Prasanna

[hrag]

Sorry mods, couldn't resist this one!

How do I check (or guess) what FIAT offers here?

prkothan - what is your main focus? Quality and reliability? How does one gauge that from the spec sheet?

[prkothan]

My main focus, why not the manufacturer (maruti or GM or FIAT) give the same machine offered in UK. Best of my knowledge build quality of Palio/Sienna or Petra is same across countries because it is designed in name of Platform 178 which targeted for third world countries like India, Brazil, turkey, S.Africa etc.

I hate to see cars with 12 inch tyres...hmm thats why :-(

Regards,
Prasanna

[amitabh_kaushal]

:-) Why on the earth SUZUKI will give latest engine or technology to Maruti ? See they are selling wagon-R & swift under Suzuki brand name not on $hit Maruti name. What MUL offers us everytime ? clear lens changes new seat covers...new tail lamp...and advt says "surrender to new zen....fresh looking Alto.....Ha ha ha ha. What a company....who ask for 50K deposit for swift and make promise to deliver it 2-3 months. After a huge booking they start giving wrong answer to customer. We poor customer run between regional office and dealer and finally letter come in newspaper for SORRY. Wht is the nice way to say....and still no promise for date that within one-two month you will get the delivery. What a nice company who take things for granted and ppl still runs for those cheap cars and cheap company

[zaphod]

I have nothing but respect for the Palio family but I don't think it's even sold in Italy - it was made as a 'world car' and is aimed at developing countries - It's a big seller in Brazil - our adventure has 'made in Brazil' stamped virtually everywhere.
Has Fiat got it's new , innovative designs to India ?

And did fiat get ABS for the Palio, or airbags ?

Opel ? they continued to sell the old Astra even though a completely new from the ground up design had been introduced.
The Corsa's also too expensive fothe space it provides - besides being underpowered.

Hyundai ?
yes they have more horsepower but anyone who's driven an accent realises it doesn't work out in real life, not to mention pudding like suspensions. ANd even the Accent is old now.


Maruti isn't the only company who's the culprit - every company wants to sell the cheapest variant it can - it's the psyche of the Indian consumer.

And all cars are overpriced - what with sales tax and excise duties...You could pick up a 05 Mustang in the US for what a Corolla will cost you here.


As for safety you might have a point but reliability (ROFL) ???? My 9 year old esteem starts first thing in the morning in one crank - the fiat takes more time - and if you dont start it for a week, the battery drains out.

zaphod

[RX135]

Originally Posted by zaphod

And did fiat get ABS for the Palio, or airbags ?

Yes. In fact, they were among the first ones. GTX and Sienna had ABS AND airbags when launched. Unfortunately, market response was lukewarm and hence they seem to have dropped those even an optional goodies.

[zaphod]

Yes. In fact, they were among the first ones. GTX and Sienna had ABS AND airbags when launched. Unfortunately, market response was lukewarm and hence they seem to have dropped those even an optional goodies.

Ahh yes, I remember about ABS - not airbags though - anyway here i fall back to the mindset of the indian consumer where Rs matters more than anything.

[Buffetfan]

the UK proces are also highere...for eg an Alto retals for 5000 pounds in UK...thats Rs 5.6 lakh..do we have a market for an Alto in india that Costs upwards of Rs 5.5 lakh...I am sure it will do single digit sales

[sridhar24]

The manufacturers always offer the stripped down versions of their cars because for the majority of the Indian buyers money matters the most and the manufacturers can't help in anyway unless the mindset of buyers changes.

[turbo_lover]

And all cars are overpriced - what with sales tax and excise duties...You could pick up a 05 Mustang in the US for what a Corolla will cost you here.

haha! even lesser under 9 lakhs for a V6 Mustang..

anyways
the alto is highly priced because
it has much more features than the indian variants...
EBD , dual airbags bla bla ..and a 1.1 engine..
the inin customer dusnt look at all that these car makers give them what they need which is a cheap car which provides a cheap service .. Uk is a different market cant compare it with that of ours

[SMG]

Car makers are here to make some money and certainly not for a charity.
They are not that fools as the tone of the thread suggests, neither they are cheating Indian public with outdated designs and costly products.

They serve what people like or rather ask for. They sure do a careful market research before launching a new product.

Major component of car price is imposed taxes and duties and GOI is not under the Car maker's control.

If you want something hi tech then it has to come higher percentage of import component and that again jacks up the cost.

There are several other issues like Design / Patent / Copyright and royalties.

From PAL/Amby era we now have come to today's FORD/HONDA/TOYOTA days , situation is improving.

[BuRnT RuBbEr]

the present generation of people who are planning to buy a car are buying what they are being given, AND, everyone wants VFM.......so they buy the best buy in the category



the consumer can lay hands only on the products that are available to him.......if 800 is selling for 4 L....he will buy it if he needs it.

the problem in india is that cars are considered a status symbol....people want pomp and show in minimum amount of money

if u keep the standards to a higher level, the needfull will anyhow buy it, whether it costs 2 lac or 4........

and maruti is held responsible as it is major manufacturer in india....trends are set by maruti...and not cars like ford fusion.......

we cannot expect such cars to kick off when we are getting a bigger car for smaller price ( of course with an age-old engine and metal body..nothing else).......

the government should also decrease the levies, as i said earlier as well in some post....but they should do so only after the manufacturers launch better designs......why not give incentives like...car having ABS will be charged less levies, car having higher safety rating will attract lower levies.......WILL PROMOTE QUALITY AND SAFETY

we need to elect some team-bhpian as the FM for that purpose, what say Rudra sir

[satan_crazy]

Originally Posted by BuRnT RuBbEr

why not give incentives like...car having ABS will be charged less levies, car having higher safety rating will attract lower levies.......WILL PROMOTE QUALITY AND SAFETY

Great point Burnt Rubber. Don't know if such a thing will ever happen, though I wish it would.