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-   -   launch of a newer model in a short span (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/79837-launch-newer-model-short-span.html)

Hi Guys,
How does it feel to hear about a company launching a newer version of their existing model in a short span.I am talking about i10,VW Passat and to a lesser extent about Fiat.
i10 was launched,and within a year,they come out with the kappa engine.
VW comes out with a newer engine for its Passat.
And Fiat does some changes after the initial launch.
Don't the customers who have bought the earlier version feel cheated.
Why do the companies do like that?
1) was the earlier model not tested well?
2) did they want to launch a model and judge the people's response first?
3) Did they want to try out such models in India(as a launching or testing pad) before coming out with a better engine worldwide?
4) or did they want to finish off their existing produced engines before coming out with a better one?
Just imagine if i had bought a 22L car last month,and the company out out with a better engine (not model) .
Well,it happened to me with i10 ! i bought it,and next month comes the kappa engine,lol
Thanks for your response

Well about the launching of newer models/version,
One thing is sure, that within a (market dependant) span of time, the company needs to introduce spice in the existing models.
Few reasons to introduce new models/versions IMO:

1. Keep a range of customers attracted to the product
2. To give a VFM package as per requirement/acceptability of consumers
3. Offcourse the Petrol and Diesel options
4. Refinements done overtime, or better engines
5. Sport setups (!?)
6. To keep the product alive!

Out of these, when a model is launched, there are are some believable rumours and hints around, that some versions will be available soon enough. We have to watch out for these!
//Like we had E-i10, and E-nano news that have confirmed now//

It may not be so (at all!) that the products come untested to the customers. (they arent supposed to either :P )
Just that there can be different options available at the same time or just in short time after one is launched.
e.g:
i10 came with iRDE and then post one year came the Kappa
but, i20 came with Kappa 1.2 and 1.4 at same time!
It may be the other way round!

(It may be linked to some complex fundas of customer base growth, and product acceptance in the masses)

But the conclusion can be:
To attract and retain customers for their product!

care.

Ace.
P.S.
i10 is good ! iRDE or the Kappa!
BTW, you do check out the thread comparing the performance and FE of the two, right?
I own a Kappa.
Drive Safe.

Hi Ramesh, I agree with you on i10 and Passat. Can you elaborate on Fiat model changes?

I would say the myth of a particular model not being tested enough is quite untrue (some would say it's true for brands like Tatas, but I would still not claim that to be true). In the earlier days of just the Ambassadors and the Padminis, the markets were very simple. Today the markets have become (or been made) complex, with different target segments (different age groups, income brackets, product expectations, value perceptions etc) and companies try to identify themselves with one or more segments.

To give you an example, if the owner of a Mercedes Benz finds that the AC takes twenty seconds to chill, he may perceive it as a fault. A Maruti 800 owner might actually throw a party if his AC managed to cool in twenty seconds. The needs of different people are different, and so the car companies try and meet them all.

Most of the other reasons you have mentioned may be true at some point of time or another with many companies. They are all trying to find out that ideal mix of product and pricing that will give them a commanding market share. So you see a slew of new product launches happening within a short span of time.

Now to the question of feeling cheated, when you buy a car, you buy what's existing in that car. So if you bought an i10 with an older engine option, that's what you had paid for. If Hyundai launched the Kappa series next year, so what? They will keep changing the product mix every now and then. You paid for the i10 that you got, so forget about the Kappa. Or trade in your older car for a newer model.

If you decide to wait for all the innovation and renovation to end before you finalize your buying decision, you can forget about buying a car altogether. Or decide what suits you and purchase it now. Don't worry if it will be upgraded two months down the line.

I prefer car companies which keep updating their cars instead of selling the same car for decades just with minor grille and bumper jobs.



Even after the Launch of kappa engine in i10 the base variants continue with the old IRDE engine carried from the Santro. In your case you own a car which is in production so resale and spares wont be problem for long time to come.

If you feel cheated in this sense make sure to buy a Maruti car next time, i can bet the Ritz would still be at sale a decade later with most of things unchanged.

In case of Fiat Punto, A lot of buyers showed interest in more powerful diesel engine so they are coming up with the Punto sport. The buyers did not like the quality of plastics so Fiat went ahead and improved the plastic quality. I feel it was a smart move. Would you like to see the same car unchanged for many years to come.

A even smarter move would have been the recall of the previously sold cars to replace the improved bits. It would have improved the trust of buyers in the company.

Personally i do not like the pricing practices of Chevrolet in India. The pricing for their cars change just like Nokia phones, initially the cars are launched they are priced higher but they keep reducing the prices directly or through dealership discounts over the time as new car charm fades. The reason their cars do not fetch best resale in the market today.

The first point is a fantastic way to earn customer loyalty. I suggest that Fiat should seriously think about it. It boosts customer confidence like no other.

I too think that Chevy just continued with the flawed marketing strategy of Daewoo, the company they bought. Daewoo committed resale suicide by chopping off 1.3 lakhs of the Cielo, GM kind of did the same with the Spark. Along with the Aveo to a lesser extent.

This time around, though, I think the Beat has been priced well. They shouldn't really have to reduce prices or have ridiculous dealer discounts running on it.

I guess VW launched Passat with new TSI engine. May be they just cleared their old stock and due to BSIV they came with newer engine. lol:. Personally I feel like cheated when it's matter of 20 lakhs.

Rule of thumb: new launches invariably go through some configuration corrections during the initial timeframe after their launch, due to various reasons.

I would personally hold off on buying any brand new launches till a few months after their launch.

I own a 2006 P180 DTSi, a model which has seen more number of changes than any other (?) in recent times. It went through 3 cosmetic changes, added several modern features etc. When i bought the bike, i did a thorough comparison, and the bike won my heart. It still does, even after 4 years! I still find it beautiful, powerful and cheap to run, just the way i wanted it to be. The fact that a new version is available doesn't make the older one any worse! :thumbs up

Just emphasizing on a point i read in one of GTO's reviews- Make sure you buy the right car, the first time! The feeling of being cheated comes when you are not entirely satisfied with the product you already have!
As you might have read in the forum, Prof. Wilson (?) was right about science. iRDE has better driveability and mileage, although kappa has better outright power!
Rather than a smart move, for most companies - change is a desperate move to boost sales, or match up with competition. Most companies follow the practice of not fixing if it ain't broken. Please note that, the plastics + engine power (along with A.S.S) was a deal-beaker in an otherwise wonderful package. And sales haven't taken off as predicted. Hence, such a change would have been of top-priority to boost sales.

If the prices of the new cars are reduced, don't you think people will flock to buy them new instead of buying used? Whether it's a successful strategy or not, I don't think companies price their new products keeping in mind their resale value. Honda cars are not priced higher because they have better resale value. The resale value is determined by the quality of the car, quality of the after-sales service/support, more than the initial value of the car. If GM slashed the Spark prices, my guess is people who were previously considering buying a used Spark would now up their budgets a little and buy a new Spark.

Please remember, the resale value of a car does not add any moolah to the car manufacturers. It only benefits owners of the cars.

Few more reasons for upgrades later.
1. Market conditions change making you react. This I think is more apt in case of I20 which had introduced cheaper version to tide over the gap between i10 & 20 and to not let customers won over by Figo/Polo
2. Not to lose the early mover or not being late. In other words, win over customer you can with the current product. Take the case of Polo. If only they waited for till their diesel is also ready ( which for whatever reason is Dec), they would have lost considerable Petrol customers to Figo/I20??

The competition is spicing up every now and then! So it makes sense to introduce the new variant's to keep the customers binded towards the brand! And it's even more important for the new entrants(company's) as they have one more job to build a good brand reputation!

absolutely agree to that, all the companies does make come corrections during the initial launch time, which would come after the consumer feed back, their own experiences and complaints in their *** department.So the best way is to wait a couple of months to get the fair idea of product and its altered version.