[Harbir]

Originally Posted by princey

Oh, and looking at the sale figures of last two months...HM have done it again and launched another dud.

Are you sure? Doesn't sound right to me for the simple reason that the HM is only bringing in a handful of CBU units till CKD production starts and most dealers are quoting waiting lists extending to September.

I don't see that it is a dud if the sales numbers are low due to the limited number of CBU units being imported rather than due to a lack of demand.

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by daebis

oh forgot to mention it gave me an average of 10.1 through all the areas i mentioned , which am pretty ok with for now. my friend drove his like there is no tomorrow, says it movesssss like a bullet

Hey, how is your Pajero Sport doing? It the only one on the forum till date and a detailed ownership report from you is long awaited...bring it on mate....

[princey]

Originally Posted by Harbir

Are you sure? Doesn't sound right to me for the simple reason that the HM is only bringing in a handful of CBU units till CKD production starts and most dealers are quoting waiting lists extending to September.

I don't see that it is a dud if the sales numbers are low due to the limited number of CBU units being imported rather than due to a lack of demand.

Sorry. Not privy to dealers information concerning the long waiting lists.
But when the CKD production starts, will the PS price be rationalised ?

[m_upreti]

Originally Posted by princey

Sorry. Not privy to dealers information concerning the long waiting lists.
But when the CKD production starts, will the PS price be rationalised ?

Ideally yes, with loweer tax component, the price should rationalise with the local productin starting. If HM wants to give some sort of a competition to the Fortuner they will have to get their act together.

It is a beautiful vehicle but at this price there are doubts that it will be a bestseller where more established brands (read Toyota ) are already there.

[princey]

Went on a long test drive of both the PS and 2012 Fortuner. Best part of a saturday evening well spent. Drove mix of city and highway driving, more on the highway NH 71 about 30 kms. My two cents on comparing both the SUVs.

PS - Better interior build quality
Better ride and suspension at lower speeds
Better brakes
Better steering feel
More body roll
No rear camera

Fortuner - Better engine and acceleration
Better seats
Better stereo sound system
Excellent headlights
Better instrument cluster
Firmer ride at high speeds

In my humble opinion the Fortuner checks more boxes than the PS, and oh then there is the better price factor also.
Spoke in length to the PS dealer and the Northern Area Mgr of HM, the response is definately not along expected lines, rather poor sales. As loosely spoken by them, HM losing out to the Toyota more on the pricing front and less features on the PS.

[Ford5]

Originally Posted by princey

Spoke in length to the PS dealer and the Northern Area Mgr of HM, the response is definately not along expected lines, rather poor sales. As loosely spoken by them, HM losing out to the Toyota more on the pricing front and less features on the PS.

HM is in a deep trance and their wonderful marketing team was probably doing this or this while working out the pricing for the ps. And this has resulted in a 1000 less sales compared to the fortuner. In the following months the gap will get narrower and by the time Hm reduces the prices the toyota would have had another facelift!

[rrsteer]

Originally Posted by princey

In my humble opinion the Fortuner checks more boxes than the PS, and oh then there is the better price factor also.
Spoke in length to the PS dealer and the Northern Area Mgr of HM, the response is definately not along expected lines, rather poor sales. As loosely spoken by them, HM losing out to the Toyota more on the pricing front and less features on the PS.

I am sorry , but I feel you are just thrusting your opinion and giving weight to it by saying that you had a conversation with the HM manager.

I feel there is no reason why a HM manager will say that the response is not along expected lines. Atleast in Jalandhar, I have been given a delivery time frame of Diwali if I book a Pajero now. And somewhat similar is the scene in Chandigarh.

[princey]

Originally Posted by rrsteer

I am sorry , but I feel you are just thrusting your opinion and giving weight to it by saying that you had a conversation with the HM manager.

I feel there is no reason why a HM manager will say that the response is not along expected lines. Atleast in Jalandhar, I have been given a delivery time frame of Diwali if I book a Pajero now. And somewhat similar is the scene in Chandigarh.

Well, I'm sure you would agree everyone is free to air an opinion. And I'm just quoting what that man said but I suppose that's not what is lending weight to the arguement, but rather the sales figures are. Yes, have heard that is due to few units being imported and all that but lets see what holds weight once the CKD production starts in Sep.

[avimal]

Originally Posted by princey

Fortuner - Better engine and acceleration

how were the NVH levels to compare?

[prakashutosh]

So I test drove the Pajero Sport. At Excel motors at MOhan Co-Operative Industrial Estate on Mathura road. Here is my feedback

On The car
Great ride, it doesn't wallow like the scorpio and feels very well balanced
Acceleration is good however the pickup in lower gears is poor
Fully loaded with all the gizmos
Decent sound system as well
Spacious, but narrower than the fortuner and even the scorpio.
Great flexibility on the seating arrangements. Middle row seats slide.
Very little space in the boot with the third row up
Great front seats, seems like little fatigue will be felt during long drives

On Excel Motors
This is where the Pajero will lose out. Pathetic. The sales advisor knew nothing about the car. He did not know how to recline/ fold the seats. He knew nothing of the mechanicals. He did not even know the engine capacity. I asked him one question "Why should I pay more for this car over a fortuner?" I was met with a look of bafflment and bewilderment. The OTR price is listed as 28.20 Lac, which according to me and plenty of fellow bhpians is too high, given that you can get the fortuner for 25.xx OTR in the showroon next to the Mitsubishi one.

What pissed me off the most was that the test drive vehicle was actually a new vehicle which they were going to delive rto a customer the next day and had removed the speedometer wire so that it would not clock up mileage before delivery. This is criminal. Some poor sod will be driving a "new" pajero sport that has clocked some very abusive test drive miles on it.

It is things like this that make you lose confidence in an otherwise superb brand. I guess it has nothing to do with mitsubishi and completely to do with HM. The sad part is that things don;t appear to be looking up. I guess it is inevitable that Mitsubishi buy out HM stake in the JV and come in on their own. HM is a dead company. They have no products of their own other than the ambi....i fail to understand whic a technologically advanced company like Mitsubishi tied up with them in the first place.

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by princey

Spoke in length to the PS dealer and the Northern Area Mgr of HM, the response is definately not along expected lines, rather poor sales. As loosely spoken by them, HM losing out to the Toyota more on the pricing front and less features on the PS.

I partly agree with you that HM has gotten the pricing completely wrong but delivery timelines are still tight which means they have enough buyers, at least for the numbers imported so far.

Originally Posted by rrsteer

Atleast in Jalandhar, I have been given a delivery time frame of Diwali if I book a Pajero now. And somewhat similar is the scene in Chandigarh.

You are correct, in fact, the delivery timelines at Gurgaon too are 6 months from booking and this is yesterday's news. The reason for the delay that I was told was the low numbers of vehicles being imported due to production constraints at their home plant. Mitsubishi, India has been able to import about 200 vehicles thus far out of the forecasted 1000 is what I was told.

[nilanjanray]

Giving a customer vehicle for a TD is criminal - I agree. When buying my 2 vehicles, I was very specific about not messing around with my car. The Toyota folks were actually very assertive in saying that a customer vehicle is sacrosanct. The Maruti folks were not so surprised that a customer was worried about this, but were willing to comply with my request (the TBHP reference works wonders).

Btw, I am a Toyota SUV owner (so take it with a pinch of salt), but have been doing some reading for a while now regarding the various SUV brands. Everyone goes gaga over the Pajero/Montero Dakar wins - that Mitsubishi has very successfully marketed and leveraged (I am a marketer, so can admire their Dakar referencing like the Bush Iraq war/WMD repetition). Guess which category the wins were in? T1 - the heavily modified category. Even a Mini wins with heavy mods :-)

And guess who has the highest number of stock vehicle (T2 category) wins or placements?

Makes me glad that I opted for the big T.

[TheStig]

Hey mods! How about an official test drive and review AND a shootout with the Fortuner?

[princey]

Looking at the poor sales figures of may, the PS appears to have lost the plot.
Another excellent product knocked dead because of poor pricing.
Read somewhere that HM plans to kill the old Pajero to boost PS sales,
Which will only work if priced at the old Pajero mark.

[DevilsDoggie]

Great News! Pajero Sport has finally launched in India. But by looking at the price of it, seems way too much. This model is selling in Thailand since almost 4 years now, and the pricing is way below Fortuner. Funny, it's the other way around in pricing for India.

For Eg: The base model of Pajero Sport (2.5 Petrol version) cost THB 915,000 (INR 1,614,000). Whereas the Fortuner base model costs THB 1,400,000 (INR 2,470,000). I think Mitsubishi must get the pricing right for the Pajero, otherwise it is bound to loose out to Fortuner. Given the fact that Toyota spares and service is more reliable and value for money than Mitsubishi. I don't know why Mitsubishi has adopted a 'Step-son' policy for India, everything they launch here is outdated and way overpriced.

Wake up Mitsubishi!!