[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by himanshuchadha

The decision to buy OR not to buy a car should never be 'knee jerk'. I will still buy the ecosport. But if on a public forum such as this, you wish to tell everyone here that you are happy with the hike then I am afraid you do not understand the whole reason for such a forum to exist.

Not that simple. He's entitled to his standpoint, of course, but it is not that simple either.

I think it was in this thread that I mentioned that price at time of delivery was the normal, understood model of the new-car trade in my mother country, and had, at least in my lifetime, always been so. That is not to say that I like it, or that I think it altogether fair, but, had I ever bought a new car there (which I didn't) I would have understood that I ran that risk.

What is required is open-eyed, small-print-reading buying. Understand the risks we face. Or strike out the relevant clauses in the contracts before we sign them, which would be nice if we could get away with it, but I don't think that is going to happen.

Ford (or any other company) are not going to open up their costings to us. We all know that the current foreign exchange situation is exceptional, with changes of very large percentages. It is to be hoped that Ford have, indeed, seriously and genuinely, been forced to raise prices.

Don't let me sound as if I am entirely defending Ford: extending delivery times and price rises at the launch of a new product which should be a major seller is a double-whammy kick in the teeth to buyers. So far as customer loyalty is concerned, a marketing disaster. If I were Ford, I'd swallow some loss and impose price rises only on new orders from a pre-announced date.

[arunphilip]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

Now if you were in Bangalore, I'd say stick with the EcoSport.

Originally Posted by Sheel

I believe Suhaas says so because of the famed potholed rich & cratered condition of Bangalore's road which we hear often on the forums.

Off-topic: I resent the statement that Bangalore has bad roads. You have to realize that BBMP are merely making it easier for us to access our dropping groundwater table.

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

What is required is open-eyed, small-print-reading buying. Understand the risks we face.

Fully agree. Reading and comprehending the fine-print is essential. A car purchase is always exciting, especially when its something like the EcoSport that has had us BHPians champing at the bit for months. But that should never detract us from our due diligence, given the amount of our money on the line.

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[Jude300]

The steep price hike in my opinion is not something that has come due to the depreciation of the rupee. It is a well-planned strategy of the company to do so. They have learnt a few lessons from the launch of the All New Fiesta where the exorbitant price shocked the market and thus became a sales dud even though the car by itself was excellent.

This time Ford didn't want to do the same mistake and thus had planned to price it low so that the first impressions of the car on the price front was "Value for Money" car. This VFM term was also well publicised and in fact caught the attention of the buyers. They must have planned for this hike before the official launce in June 26 and would have scheduled this hike after a target sales figure (say 15000 vehicles). This worked and they have received a huge welcome which is visible from the number of bookings. Now that they have the customers to buy into the Ecosport, it's their time to play the cards.

Many may still argue that a price hike was inevitable and that other auto makers have also done that. But for a car in this segment, no other company had increased their price to this extent. It would have been justifiable if the hike was around Rs.10K - Rs.20K across variants.

What did Ford do wrong here?
1. Throwing in a initial price tag that surprised the market but failing to hold on to the price not even for six months (in fact the hike has come in just over two months). I personally was expecting this hike for deliveries starting in 2014. Well again, this seems to have been pre-planned.

2. Failing largely on the deliveries. The deliveries started very late and were not in significant numbers. The worst of all is the lack of transparency in the booking process and the malpractices of the dealerships.

3. I would not blame Ford for going for more exports to take advantage of the profit. Companies work for profit generation and it is fine. But then, since the exports have had a bearing on the deliveries in the local market, Ford should have given more time before hiking the price in the local market. This would have boosted the confidence in the company.

4. Even if they were compelled to hike the price, they should have done it in the justifiable range of Rs.10 - Rs.20K. As a finance guy myself, I dont think any hike beyond this is justifiable. This is what most of the other manufactures have done though they have higher level of imported equipment in their cars. The hike is not just to compensate the Rupee impact but to exploit the customers.

What went wrong for the buyers?

Most of the Ecosport buyers have made a hop from either hatchbacks & sedans to this mini SUV especially because of the pricing (me too in there). This is true because, if not this case, Ecosport would not have recorded this amount of bookings. Thus for this segment of buyers, it was already a stretched budget. They would not have thought of Ecosport as an option if the current price list was given to them when they booked. Now with the hike it is going to hurt the buyer more especially when there is a long waiting period and also because of the arrogant behaviour of the dealerships. I personally can vouch for this. I have been following up with the sales person for the last three days for the revised price list and she has not sent it till now. This has been the case whenever is call her to ask for the updates.

Ford is sure going to register fewer bookings for Ecosport in the future as this segment will not be there to buy this car. In the mean time anyway Ford has itself stopped taking bookings. So when bookings start again, there wont be any rush for the bookings.

Is Ecosport still good?

YES!!!! It's a big YES. My opinions about the Ecosport is not going to change because of the hike in price. It is still a good car. It has fabulous features and has great looks. Thus the only question I should be asking myself is, Whether I can afford to buy it / not? Now since I have waited for almost two months and dreamt about this car a lot I plan to stick to the booking though it is going to be a bit above my affordability. Like the quote "Love your job, not the company as you might not know when the company might stop loving you", I just love this car may be not the company / dealer.

[himanshuchadha]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Not that simple. He's entitled to his standpoint, of course, but it is not that simple either.

I think it was in this thread that I mentioned that price at time of delivery was the normal, understood model of the new-car trade in my mother country, and had, at least in my lifetime, always been so. That is not to say that I like it, or that I think it altogether fair, but, had I ever bought a new car there (which I didn't) I would have understood that I ran that risk.

What is required is open-eyed, small-print-reading buying. Understand the risks we face. Or strike out the relevant clauses in the contracts before we sign them, which would be nice if we could get away with it, but I don't think that is going to happen.

Ford (or any other company) are not going to open up their costings to us. We all know that the current foreign exchange situation is exceptional, with changes of very large percentages. It is to be hoped that Ford have, indeed, seriously and genuinely, been forced to raise prices.

Don't let me sound as if I am entirely defending Ford: extending delivery times and price rises at the launch of a new product which should be a major seller is a double-whammy kick in the teeth to buyers. So far as customer loyalty is concerned, a marketing disaster. If I were Ford, I'd swallow some loss and impose price rises only on new orders from a pre-announced date.

My issue is not legal! Legally what Ford decides is final. I speak about Karma. Fine reading is done when you mistrust. I trusted Ford with my Pre-Booking; didn't wait for them to announce prices and booked the vehicle. Expected the vehicle to be delivered in about 2 months (which was claimed).

Ford doesn't do what I hope nor will it do what you suggest. So let this remain as it is. By the way, ford did get back to me - my waiting period has suddenly decreased to 15 days. I jokingly reminded the customer service person that Ford probably had stocked vehicles and were only waiting for the price to be increased.

I also feel terrible when people show off their over-smartness which basically should never be needed in a rational society. If we as a forum do not stand up to malpractices then who would?

[sansvk]

Originally Posted by himanshuchadha

I jokingly reminded the customer service person that Ford probably had stocked vehicles and were only waiting for the price to be increased.

Its not a joke but a reality, Ford at their end would have surely have stocked vehicles. Added to that, once the dealers got a sniff of a price hike, they themselves would have gone slow on the deliveries to earn that extra buck.

I completely agree with one of the posts above mentioning about transparency or rather the lack of it. Despite talking and marketing of products that are technologically advanced, I find it funny why they cant manage the process right from booking to manufacturing and delivery using ERP. Its like taking two steps forward and three back. Its just not with Ford but all manufacturers.

[arunphilip]

Originally Posted by sansvk

Despite talking and marketing of products that are technologically advanced, I find it funny why they cant manage the process right from booking to manufacturing and delivery using ERP. Its like taking two steps forward and three back. Its just not with Ford but all manufacturers.

Good point. I often wonder why is it that I can track orders on online websites (take India's own Flipkart as an example) in excrutiating detail for even a Rs. 100 order; but why can't auto manufacturers do likewise for a million rupee car?

Ideally, the moment a car is booked, its status should be viewable on an online portal to the person who has booked it - e.g. car built, paint shop, QA, shipping, with dealer, delivered. Post delivery, this can then segue into a service history portal & and for updates/recalls.

The post-delivery parts of it exist in some forms:

• Hyundai's customer care site that allows you to view a high-level service history
• Ford's Sync page for Sync updates
• Ford's Field Service Action page for recalls

If they could create and integrate all of this, it will earn them some appreciation & generate a 'wow!' factor.

Obviously, they will have to balance the cost of such an effort against the benefits (if any), beyond impressing techophiles.

[ruchirtnt]

I was saved by a day! miraculous

I got the delivery on 5th night and SA told me that rates are revised from 6th september

I am looking forward for the following accessories:

1. Engine guard
2. Cross bar
3. slimline windshield guard
4. illuminated scuff plates
5. sun film
6. Spare wheel cover
7. pedal set
8. DRL (if available)

[revmaxx]

Another aspect of the long wait list is the number of secondary and tertiary dealerships of the main dealer. The allotment is only through the main dealer. Say you are x in a branch dealership, your actual booking number will be xx or xxx in the main dealer list. The dealership rarely disclose this fact. I think Ford under estimated the response to ecosport. Cant blame them really after the fiesta fiasco. This price hike is a mix of dollar rate and earning a little more when the demand is boiling.

[rajneeesh]

Around two weeks after the launch, Ford came out with ads in most national newspapers announcing that they had got 20000/30000 ( I may be wrong) bookings in 13 days( may be off by a couple of days, this happened almost 2 months back).

If they could boast about the stupendous response, they could have very well announced that they would be raising the prices and all cars booked now onwards will be at the new rates.[/COLOR]

However, despite their inability to cope with the demand, they kept accepting bookings. Perhaps it was a way of rewarding dealers who had supported them when the chips were down ( decentralised booking process).

At the time of launch Ford India had built up n inventory of 4000-5000 cars. Moreover most companies hedge against currency fluctuations and I believe Ford India would also have done the same. if Ford got 40000 bookings the booking amount itself adds up to INR 200 crores, that too interest
The way Ford has gone about it leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

[bageherath]

I got my Ecosport delivered today...tdci titanium black with revised prices :(

[sameerg001]

Originally Posted by bageherath

I got my Ecosport delivered today...tdci titanium black with revised prices :(

Sir, enjoy the car, nothing to be sad about. Its an awesome piece of machinery, enjoy it to fullest.

Look at positive side, ford may hike prices in future again

[TheARUN]

What Ford could have done is told buyers that they would be forfeiting the booking amount and would have to pay the on road price while taking delivery. That way they would have got 50,000 per Ecosport and also not have to raise prices

[RS_DEL]

Originally Posted by TheARUN

What Ford could have done is told buyers that they would be forfeiting the booking amount and would have to pay the on road price while taking delivery. That way they would have got 50,000 per Ecosport and also not have to raise prices

A booking amount is a deposit.

Forfeiting that?

Do try to think of the consequences, especially those under the IPC, in case a customer making good on the booking is told his booking amount is being forfeited!!

[kiranvakati]

Originally Posted by ZENith

It has been 1 week since I took delivery of my ecosport, I felt that the suspensions is really good (takes all potholes happily without cringing). I test drove duster as well (twice) and think if ecosport suspension is not better than duster, then it is not worse either.

I dont know whether the tyre pressure was high or not. It was bumpy, i checked with the sales guy on tyre pressure and he mentioned it as 35. You can think Im biased coz i own a duster but the other 2 friends felt the same.

When it comes to duster, if tyre pressure is more than 30, you will feel the hit. May be 35 was not right for eco-sport and TD vehicle might have been on higher than recommended pressure. I just posted mine and my friends view.

[Mallikarjun]

Originally Posted by bageherath

I got my Ecosport delivered today...tdci titanium black with revised prices :(

When did you book and which dealer was it? Please share. Will be useful for others to assess their wait time