[geronimo]

Originally Posted by damager21

I would prefer waiting for the car to be launched before doing my booking. Does'nt make any sense for me to book the car without taking a test drive and not knowing the on road price.

I dont know if by doing this, Ford is trying to gauge the response for EcoSport so that they can jack up the price.

I agree. While a not too discerning buyer may base his decision on reviews from credible sources like tbhp, I just fail to fathom how can someone make a booking, that too with a cancellation fee, without even knowing the price!!

As a country and as consumers, we don't seem to value our own rights. How can we expect the companies to respect our rights in that case? And then people end up feeling wronged.

Imagine what would happen if Ford priced ecosport at 15+ lacs? People who've made non refundable bookings would 'feel' very wronged while Ford, in their defense, would say that they never said anything about the price.

Even the most successful of brands (like Apple, for instance) cannot get away with such malpractices in developed markets.

[balechaparka]

Originally Posted by damager21

I would prefer waiting for the car to be launched before doing my booking. Does'nt make any sense for me to book the car without taking a test drive and not knowing the on road price.

I dont know if by doing this, Ford is trying to gauge the response for EcoSport so that they can jack up the price.

Yes ,your decision is correct.

[zteg]

Originally Posted by damager21

I would prefer waiting for the car to be launched before doing my booking. Does'nt make any sense for me to book the car without taking a test drive and not knowing the on road price.
.

This is just a gamble . Assuming that you loved driving the vehicle and it is within your budget, You get your vehicle pretty soon since you pre-booked it. If you didnt like driving the car or it wasnt in the budget, all you lose is 1.5k.
People just have to choose between losing 1.5k or longer waiting period. Pre-booking is a trend. Everything from phones to books to movies to gaming consoles are pre-booked.

As you mentioned there has to be some management strategy behind this.

[lijodavis]

Got a call from ford thrissur dealer around 12 noon. They have started official booking. Gone to ford by 4pm and booked mars red titanium option diesel . Booking amount was 50k. My number is 15 on the list with 12 diesel, 2 ecoboost, 1 AT. They are saying delivery by this month end hopefully.

[damager21]

Originally Posted by zteg

This is just a gamble . Assuming that you loved driving the vehicle and it is within your budget, You get your vehicle pretty soon since you pre-booked it. If you didnt like driving the car or it wasnt in the budget, all you lose is 1.5k.
People just have to choose between losing 1.5k or longer waiting period. Pre-booking is a trend. Everything from phones to books to movies to gaming consoles are pre-booked.

As you mentioned there has to be some management strategy behind this.

The difference is you are booking something for which you will eventually spend 8-10 lakhs. Its my personal opinion but ideally people should see and drive the car before committing.

Originally Posted by lijodavis

Got a call from ford thrissur dealer around 12 noon. They have started official booking. Gone to ford by 4pm and booked mars red titanium option diesel . Booking amount was 50k. My number is 15 on the list with 12 diesel, 2 ecoboost, 1 AT. They are saying delivery by this month end hopefully.

Its interesting to know that people are not interested in 1.5L MT variant which could be cheaper than Ecoboost so there is already some success for Ford.

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by lijodavis

Got a call from ford thrissur dealer around 12 noon. They have started official booking. Gone to ford by 4pm and booked mars red titanium option diesel . Booking amount was 50k. My number is 15 on the list with 12 diesel, 2 ecoboost, 1 AT. They are saying delivery by this month end hopefully.

Great!! So an initial ownership report to be expected soon on TBHP. Good news. So I presume you know the OTR price now? Given that the bookings are officially open, I suppose the exact price is out too?

Congratulations to you & best wishes for the new buy.

[amtak]

Originally Posted by i74js

OT but could be very much interesting for Ford Ecosport buyers: The Linea T-jet has been relaunched and they have kept very agressive pricing:


Delhi Ex-showroom Prices

Linea T-jet Active : 7.6 Lakhs
Linea T-jet Dynamic : 8.4 Lakhs
Linea T-jet Emotion : 8.8 Lakhs

Will this not take away a good number of buyers from Ford, unless they price their machine really well- atleast the ecoboost?

Although Fiat makes very good cars, a person considering a Ford Machine will not consider a Fiat.

[kiku007]

Originally Posted by amtak

Although Fiat makes very good cars, a person considering a Ford Machine will not consider a Fiat.

As per Sales figures for the past couple of months/years the number of persons considering a FIAT itself is only handful

One of the criteria for these handful should be handling and dynamics;Ford and FIAT are fantastic benchmarks in that aspect. So a person considering a Ford machine could consider a FIAT if handling and dynamics are his priority.

[jayded]

Originally Posted by amtak

Although Fiat makes very good cars, a person considering a Ford Machine will not consider a Fiat.

Unless there is some unreasonable fanboism towards a brand, I wouldn't think a person looking at Ford will totally neglect a Fiat T-Jet. The USP of Ford and Fiat has a common "fun-to-drive" factor and with the "tank" image of the Fiat, it certainly needs a look at. In the current scenario, Fiat should be congratulated since they are bringing back the T-jet to do justice to the Linea's dynamic capabilities unlike Ford which is drifting a tad away from being a driver's dream when it comes to the engine department.

[Reinhard]

My gut feeling says the EcoSport won't loose customers to TJet. It might very much end up vice versa though. The primary reason for this is, EcoSport has already got that aura of excitement and anticipation about it. TJet on the other hand has to come out of the veil of the not so famous (number wise) Linea. So the EcoSport starts on front foot by a margin.

Also, this will be a total mismatch of likings. TJet is a powerful, top notch petrol sedan while the EcoSport is a funky fresh & young sporter. Both have totally different customer base IMHO. Even Duster won't touch Tjet's sales as much. TJet will always be an enthusiasts car. For those who'll mostly walk into FIAT Cafe with their mind already fixed and a cheque in their pocket.

[sunilg33]

Its raining calls from Ford, got a call from Metro Ford-Bangalore announcing the opening of official bookings. Asked about possible price they asked me not to worry because they are going to price it below Duster. So according to them Ford is doing a favour to us by pricing it a bit less than duster

[floyd.bell]

Originally Posted by amtak

Although Fiat makes very good cars, a person considering a Ford Machine will not consider a Fiat.

Originally Posted by kiku007

As per Sales figures for the past couple of months/years the number of persons considering a FIAT itself is only handful

One of the criteria for these handful should be handling and dynamics;Ford and FIAT are fantastic benchmarks in that aspect. So a person considering a Ford machine could consider a FIAT if handling and dynamics are his priority.

On the contrary, the Ecosport reviews seem to indicate that this vehicle doesn't have the Ford DNA of its previous cars in terms of handling/dynamics due to light steering. So, an enthusiast with handling and dynamics as priorities ideally then shouldn't look at Ecosport at all. T-Jet is the ideal choice there.

[rlvl]

Got a call today from the Ford showroom and I found the whole conversation a bit surreal. He would not part with the actual prices and expects me to virtually take a bet on the car. Worse,say I book Trend and later decide that it was way over my budget, I can't even downgrade to Ambiente without losing 3k and issuing a fresh booking. This is not a good trend :|

[zteg]

Went to Ford dealer to make a booking. The sales person showed the brochure. It is the same which was shared here. They also have got the color plates, but not the accessories list.
They are receiving 2 display vehicles this Sunday. They are allotted 100-105 cars for the first three months and these cars could be any variant, any color. So there are chances that the variant,color one books may not be in the lot received by the dealer. Maximum waiting period of 3 months is what he mentioned.

Didn't book today. They asked 2% for credit card payment and I didn't have my cheque book. Asked him to give me a quote for my 2007 Getz and In was disappointed with the quote. This put me off.

[84.monsoon]

Originally Posted by sunilg33

Its raining calls from Ford, got a call from Metro Ford-Bangalore announcing the opening of official bookings. Asked about possible price they asked me not to worry because they are going to price it below Duster. So according to them Ford is doing a favour to us by pricing it a bit less than duster

The dealer salesperson in Chennai says to expect the Diesel variants between 9 to 11 lacs on road. The Ecoboost Titanium is expected to be slightly pricier than the Diesel Titanium and the AT Petrol Titanum a little more. All three are expected to be pretty close in pricing, difference of 30K or so. He seemed to be very confident of the numbers.