[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by Sawyer

Perhaps even Tata doesn't realise this; else they would be marketing the hell out of this without falling into the cheap car trap of the Nano - so it needs to be cleverly done.

For last 15 years - I feel TML's marketing department is bankrolled by MSIL.

I hope certainly that things change on this front. But I won't put my money on it at least as of now. They still seem unbelievably complacent & lethargic.

[krishnakarthik1]

Originally Posted by JediKnight

Hexa is one good looking vehicle. But there is no denying its minivan silhouette.

Sir, hexa is huge in real. Not a van and noway a minivan silhouette!

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by krishnakarthik1

Sir, hexa is huge in real. Not a van and noway a minivan silhouette!

In American nomenclature, Minivan = MPV / people-carrier. Don't worry, Minivan != Omni/Eeco .

Even the legendary VW bus (produced as Tempo Matador in India for decades) falls into "Minivan" category by US standards.

[Torquedo]

Question to the Varicor 320/400 Experts here on the forum -

Does the engine give a tug (in any gear beyond the 1st two, haven't tried this on these 2 gears) when you are cruising in the 3,4,5th gears and you take your foot off the pedal, as if asking or reminding you to step on the gas ? This tug (jerks a bit) comes in 4-5 seconds after you remove your foot from the accelerator.

Thanks !!

[Abhishek_Garg]

I have XTA , but I have not felt the Tug . May be other owners of manual hexa variants can confirm

[Palio_2005]

Originally Posted by abhi7013

And that's why we see crystas and XUVs too to some extent gather more sales. Hope Hexa never enters the taxi segment.

I wonder why not? It would make an excellent people mover and we would see more Hexa's on the road. I don't think commercial segment of Innova has any impact on private sales.

[arulpeem]

Originally Posted by Torquedo

Question to the Varicor 320/400 Experts here on the forum -

Does the engine give a tug (in any gear beyond the 1st two, haven't tried this on these 2 gears) when you are cruising in the 3,4,5th gears and you take your foot off the pedal, as if asking or reminding you to step on the gas ? This tug (jerks a bit) comes in 4-5 seconds after you remove your foot from the accelerator.

Thanks !!

Yes it does, especially when you are very gentle on or off the throttle. But not 4 to 5 seconds, but within a couple of seconds...

[amit_mechengg]

Originally Posted by Torquedo

Question to the Varicor 320/400 Experts here on the forum -

Does the engine give a tug (in any gear beyond the 1st two, haven't tried this on these 2 gears) when you are cruising in the 3,4,5th gears and you take your foot off the pedal, as if asking or reminding you to step on the gas ? This tug (jerks a bit) comes in 4-5 seconds after you remove your foot from the accelerator.

Thanks !!

Yes even the storme does, its normal propeller shaft jerk that comes in a RWD car.

[abhi7013]

Originally Posted by Palio_2005

I wonder why not? It would make an excellent people mover and we would see more Hexa's on the road. I don't think commercial segment of Innova has any impact on private sales.

Yes, a valid point. And it is in fact a testimony to the reliability and ruggedness of a car. However, the indian mentality is quite different. As it is, tata are suffering from its public image of being 'taxi motors' as someone said. Irrespective of the fact that even swifts, XUVs, innovas, etc too are more on road than indica.
And that is also a reason why tata doesn't want to open registrations for yellow boards when it comes to Hexa. Not sure how true this information is, but if true, its a good move according to me.

[Sawyer]

I don't know if any maker bans sale to the taxi trade - there is no reason to and many reasons to be happy about it for both sales as well as endorsement of reliability and usability.

Coming to Hexa, there is so much excitement over the Compass that I cannot understand it. People will pay Rs 5-6 lakhs more for a car that has less space for passengers and luggage compared to Hexa? Whose only advantage is being a little less long?

In the next 12 months, if Hexa has lower sales at these prices than Compass, the entire marketing department of Tata Motors will have lost the right to keep their jobs.

[Hickstead]

Originally Posted by Sawyer

Coming to Hexa, there is so much excitement over the Compass that I cannot understand it. People will pay Rs 5-6 lakhs more for a car that has less space for passengers and luggage compared to Hexa? Whose only advantage is being a little less long?
.

Exactly !
People want a less long SUVish cabin as first priority and ready to pay premium for it. Success of Creta is a solid evidence for that. I think only Hyundai understood this market demand.
Unfortunately people are not excited for a bigger cabin in the form of VFM product like Hexa.
Now TATA need one more new SUV in between Nexon & Hexa, as a 5 seater.

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by Sawyer

I don't know if any maker bans sale to the taxi trade - there is no reason to and many reasons to be happy about it for both sales as well as endorsement of reliability and usability.

Coming to Hexa, there is so much excitement over the Compass that I cannot understand it. People will pay Rs 5-6 lakhs more for a car that has less space for passengers and luggage compared to Hexa? Whose only advantage is being a little less long?

In the next 12 months, if Hexa has lower sales at these prices than Compass, the entire marketing department of Tata Motors will have lost the right to keep their jobs.

There are other things going FOR the Compass. Realistically while these 2 are compared, they are not exactly vehicles from the same segment. The HEXA is a sort of a large amoeba with a bit undefined shape that is spilling out of standard boundaries of segments of cars. Its got everything in the fields for SUV, MPV, family car, off roader, Luxury, economy. So it is ending up competing with various different products.

1. BRAND. Tata brand still does not command the aspirational value as a "JEEP". In a still young immature market where majority of the customers may not even know that JEEP as a brand is owned by a joint venture between Fiat-Chrysler. The brand is what will matter.

2. SIZE. For daily commutes, the HEXA is a bit large. I know it sounds stupid but for someone who drives through the city to office daily - an optimum size of the vehicle is smaller than that of the HEXA or Innova.

3. DYNAMICS. The Compass will have a good power to weight ratio & dynamics compared to the HEXA. Not that the HEXA will perform poorly but the Compass might turn out to be a more "fun to drive" vehicle for the enthusiast.

4. Economics. Many of us - including me - are saying why spend the 5 lakh more for nothing visibly better. The point is - do I have the 5L more? I'm saying the earlier line because i DON'T. If I had 20 lakhs, it would be a different ball game perhaps. Afterall its a market where we take loan to upgrade from a motorcycle to a car. What when there is surplus money?

The market works very interestingly. Its never as simple as "how much leather & steel do I get for the money I spent".

It would have been so much better if Tata had done something about the Safari Storme. So much better...HEXA could have had a happy life. Lack of any well defined & sold "SUV" in the line-up means the HEXA has to pull all of the sales from all segments.

Such a disaster that a huge business like TML could not quickly react & bring the HEXA and updated Safari in proper times from each other.

The Compass if I'm not mistaken is based on the Jeep Renegade sold in EU and the Americas. That platform is a capable but small & mainly urban one. Not exactly for harsh conditions like us. I'm not saying the Compass is not a capable vehicle at all. I like it too.

I hope TML did a good market study to evaluate whether THEIR large premium MPV will sell or not . They have put practically all their eggs in this basket.
It will be a good idea for them to stop trying to cross sell the HEXA as a pure SUV. Nobody will care about the credentials. Looks will be what dictates what the customer thinks.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

The HEXA is a sort of a large amoeba with a bit undefined shape that is spilling out of standard boundaries of segments of cars.

This is the primary issue. It's an MPV as far as the market is concerned.

If the "Safari" Storme had the same interior quality and features as that of Hexa at the same prices, it would have whipped all these compact SUVs, including Compass. Moreover, it would have killed the XUV 5OO market!

When TATA decided to throw in everything they have, they decided to pick up the Innova segment as against the legendary Safari. Storme got very little as against Aria. When Aria flopped, Hexa got a lot of attention - as a second take on that same concept. Wheras the brand Safari has been slowly laid to rest.

With the new upcoming SUV - I hope they make it look like one (akin to what Safari was, for its time), brand it a Safari and give it a brilliant value proposition. Times will change.

As far as brand value is concerned- I for one, consider the brand "TATA Safari" much bigger than the brand TATA Motors, Hyundai, MSIL, Renault etc. I wouldn't blame TATA Motors marketing if the Hexa doesn't sell, but I surely feel sad that they didn't realize the potential of the Safari brand.

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

This is the primary issue. It's an MPV as far as the market is concerned.

If the "Safari" Storme had the same interior quality and features as that of Hexa at the same prices, it would have whipped all these compact SUVs, including Compass. Moreover, it would have killed the XUV 5OO market!

When TATA decided to throw in everything they have, they decided to pick up the Innova segment as against the legendary Safari. Storme got very little as against Aria. When Aria flopped, Hexa got a lot of attention - as a second take on that same concept. Wheras the brand Safari has been slowly laid to rest.

With the new upcoming SUV - I hope they make it look like one (akin to what Safari was, for its time), brand it a Safari and give it a brilliant value proposition. Times will change.

As far as brand value is concerned- I for one, consider the brand "TATA Safari" much bigger than the brand TATA Motors, Hyundai, MSIL, Renault etc. I wouldn't blame TATA Motors marketing if the Hexa doesn't sell, but I surely feel sad that they didn't realize the potential of the Safari brand.

+1 to all your remarks.

The current marketing team surely sits on the hottest seat with longest thorns. They have to sell a "new" car to a bunch of people who are all going to argue starting with "Isn't it the Aria?". If the product fails - I hope it doesnt. For once the market should see the capability and the value. But if it does - the blame of the loss has to be equally shared by the design team for not bringing up a new body shell.

Safari - the ONE car that could demand a "legend" status like the Contessa. It should be a case study of how to make a # of something good in every business school around the world.

[pk_del]

This reminds me of Acura story.

No one was very familiar of brand Acura but they all knew Legend, Vigor, Integra and NSX. Also, Acura was first Japanese luxury marque in NA, even before Lexus.

And there is a saying "There were more Legends in Silicon Valley than BMW at one point of time". This was way back in 1995 - 1998 era.

Slowly and steadily Acura killed all these brands with two-three letter nomenclature RL, TL, RSX and what not. They are still struggling (Their SUV division is doing well).

As Crazy Driver pointed, hope TAMO realizes the potential of Safari and give the market the all new legendary safari in new avatar.

Why to go far, just look at resurrection of Enfield Bullet, Baleno, Brezza Vitara brands.

Old is the new "New" now.

-PK