[mayuresh]

Got to know about Mobius Motors thanks to this ted talk, which I found very intriguing

https://www.ted.com/talks/joel_jacks...ica_for_africa

Also saw their website: https://mobiusmotors.com/pages/about-mobius

As the talk claims (aruond 2:35) , can a durable, rugged and affordable SUV be built for a price that is "half that of a 5 yr old SUV", by dropping some of the "non essential" features? Do we indeed pay so much for the comfort features?

Which SUVs available in India does this remind of - rugged, durable and low cost, may be lacking some of the advanced features? And how do these models compare with Mobius II in terms of cost and performance?

While in relative terms one may see India as more advanced economy, many of the issues in Africa, related to infrastructure, limited purchasing power apply to large portions of India, too. Is there a room for a similar effort like Mobius in India? Or do some of the existing products already achieve this?

[Tapish]

The base version of the Mobius costs around INR 8 lakh. I think the entire bunch of Bolero/ Maxx/ 207 etc is in a similar range. Also since Tata/ Mahindra have better R&D, my vote would go to them instead of Mobius. It does look like a rugged vehicle though

[greenhorn]

Originally Posted by Tapish

The base version of the Mobius costs around INR 8 lakh. I think the entire bunch of Bolero/ Maxx/ 207 etc is in a similar range. Also since Tata/ Mahindra have better R&D, my vote would go to them instead of Mobius. It does look like a rugged vehicle though

If you look at the pricing by the local Mahindra franchise, prices are roughly twice that,
https://www.xylonmotors.com/index.ph.../bolero_double
So for the locals, I guess it's good value, just like our locally assembled Indian vehicles

[Tapish]

The prices are about 30% higher as of now at the base trims. Maybe if Mahindra starts assembly in Africa, they will go down to about the same levels.
However I dont agree that the Mobius is similar to locally assembled Indian Vehicles. Like I said earlier, the R&D that goes behind the local vehicles is way higher than Mobius. In value terms, that should result in more rugged vehicles. I have seen Boleros with 2L+ on their odos. I'm not sure Mobius will be able to do that.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by mayuresh

As the talk claims (aruond 2:35) , can a durable, rugged and affordable SUV be built for a price that is "half that of a 5 yr old SUV", by dropping some of the "non essential" features?

You could, and a company from China (with its immense low-cost manufacturing strength) can do it for even lesser.

But that's just the cost of parts. All the big car manufacturers average anywhere between 3 - 10% net profit, so you can tell that R&D costs, compliance (emissions & safety), legal, HR etc. take up a whole lot of money.

Not to forget, Mobius' SUV looks like an outdated box.

Which SUVs available in India does this remind of - rugged, durable and low cost, may be lacking some of the advanced features?

The Mobius isn't even launched yet. The real question should be, can the Mobius match any of our homegrown UVs in terms of actual on-road performance & durability? Let's not get carried away by fancy presentations by CEOs.

Originally Posted by greenhorn

If you look at the pricing by the local Mahindra franchise, prices are roughly twice that

But the Mahindra is imported there, and will thus suffer additional costs.

[greenhorn]

Originally Posted by Tapish

However I dont agree that the Mobius is similar to locally assembled Indian Vehicles.

Originally Posted by GTO

But the Mahindra is imported there, and will thus suffer additional costs.

My objective of comparing the mobius to our local UV's was to highlight the price differential w.r.t CBU units. And their original statement that the mobius is half the price of the competition in kenya, which still holds true, because the mahindras are priced at a premium because they are imported

Originally Posted by Tapish

I have seen Boleros with 2L+ on their odos. I'm not sure Mobius will be able to do that.

I suspect at least the engine will manage - Seems to be Sourced from Toyota - though they dont explicitly say it, an older news article says that they use off the shelf parts, that they have a tie up with Toyota, and Toyota has an engine which appears very similar to the one the mobius has (the 2ZR FE, used on the corolla)

[katchkamalesh]

Originally Posted by GTO

The Mobius isn't even launched yet. The real question should be, can the Mobius match any of our homegrown UVs in terms of actual on-road performance & durability? Let's not get carried away by fancy presentations by CEOs.

My friend is an ex-employee of Mobius and part of this forum as well. He feels that the senior management is a bit too ambitious and in the battle to purse the quality and reliability targets, they lose out on the precious time. They have spent alot of time on just testing the vehicle. They have never been able to meet their launch targets.

Africa primarily relies on used imports, especially from Japan, and the taxes on new cars (imports) is astronomical. Even thou a couple of OEMs have recently invested in setting up new plants in Africa, they are not likely to achieve economies of scale to justify investments from their suppliers to manufacture parts locally. As long as the percentage of local sourcing remains low, the price of the vehicle is going to be high.