[GTO]

Since so many people are considering the V-Cross and the Thar, just want to add that the V-Cross is quite impractical too. Heck, I'll say of the two, the Thar is probably easier to live with. The V-Cross is too long (doesn't even fit in Mod Aditya's parking spot), has a h-e-a-v-y steering at slow speeds and bumpy ride quality (leaf springs). You'll also have major social stigma as all your friends & relatives will think you are in the delivery / construction business and when you need to service it, there will be just 1 dealer in your city.

I would rather buy a Thar / SUV / Crossover over the V-Cross. Pickup trucks aren't everyone's cup of tea.

[cool_dube]

Originally Posted by jkrishnakj

The dealer told me that he’ll be expecting 15-20% cancellations and the date can be advanced

Quite possible, maybe more I'd say, as many folks come out of their "spur of the moment" delirium and reality hits, being given more time to think rationally. I have a hunch that most delivery dates would advance significantly within a month or so.

Originally Posted by GTO

A matured Mahindra / Tata product is better than a fresh one. The more you wait, the better the car gets.

I thought that applied more to Tata than M&M. Moreover, isn't the new Thar a much better sorted out product by M&M standards? I say this going by the minimal niggles listed in the official review. But then, again, long term ownership is a different ballgame altogether compared to a few days of "review ownership".

Originally Posted by GTO

the V-Cross is quite impractical too. Heck, I'll say of the two, the Thar is probably easier to live with

Completely agree! While the Thar is impractical by "normal" standards, a pickup truck takes that level of impracticality to a notch higher

I guess we will have much better clarity on quality levels of the new Thar once deliveries commence and owners have some decent clicks on those odo's. For some reason, I am inclined to believe that the Thar 2.0 is going to break the "new launch == beta version" image of M&M! Fingers crossed

[vkochar]

So here is an update regarding the delivery .

I am in the first batch of promised delivery. My dealer said there has been a 3-4 week delay. The ones promised delivery first week November has been delayed to end november.

[ph03n!x]

Is Akash Minda the only guy who got this Thar on time? Ain't there any other deliveries yet?

I do not have any concerns about QC - they fixed the suspension issue of the XUV3OO before deliveries started (and recalled any that slipped through). Marazzo has been niggle-free too. If at all, the Thar will be a Release Candidate (if not the final product).

I'm certainly not taking delivery of a 2020 car on Dec 31st. Heck, even if it's 20th, I'm not - not unless M&M gives a fat 5-digit discount, which is unlikely. And I'll probably end up resetting the clock which mean June '21 - which is closer to the XUV launch, which I intend to check out too

[hellraizer]

Originally Posted by techfreak

Ha ha Even my dealer says there will be a quite a few cancellations due to the undue n un-explained delay from Mahindra.

I am sure lot of us would be in same boat here and out of TBHP fraternity. Mahindra surely has got it all wrong and going to earn lot of bad reputation and loss of business on this episode.

Originally Posted by justwheels

+1

I am sure the boat is going to fill up very soon with the delivery fiasco that Mahindra has created with Thar.

This is Jawa all over again for Mahindra. A lead time of 22-24 weeks is anything but laughable. Not a single soul will wait this long to buy anything at all, let alone a car and that too a Thar. I am one of those who booked a Jawa and waited for more than 6 months and eventually settled for the Interceptor. I can't be happier.

Mahindra created the hype, but they can't live it. As said by many of them, M&M is giving way too much time for the head to rule over the heart. This is going to result in a lot of cancelations.

Originally Posted by jkrishnakj

Hi HellRaiser - My delivery date is towards end Jan too. The dealer told me that he’ll be expecting 15-20% cancellations and the date can be advanced. I didn’t believe so many bookings will be cancelled, but after reading your post , I guess there may be a lot thinking the way you did.

Congrats for the Harrier. I’m sure the Thar will continue to lure you.

(Ps: I won’t complain of Bangalore bookings being cancelled. Selfishly, it helps with my early delivery. )

One shouldn't be surprised to hear cancelations of more than 50%. The hype got everyone to the showroom, the initial crowd and the gazillion videos made sure everyone booked one, but the long wait will ensure, the very same people cancel their bookings and look for fresher pasture.

If I have my urges 2-3 years from now, I will definitely consider buying a used one.

There's so much for every other OEM to learn from the Korean cousins. The month they launch, their dispatch numbers are in the 1000s and you can already see those cars on the road. This makes a lot of difference and keeps the memory refreshed like RAM

This long wait and delay will be a blessing in disguise for most of the folks though

[jkrishnakj]

Couldn’t agree more with you on the Korean cousins.

Well, even the Baleno from the Nexa showrooms were seen in plenty on the roads despite a long wait time when it was launched.

M&M perhaps may have some gaping holes in their souring / procurement / supply chain sides that will need fixes.

[84.monsoon]

The advantage the Koreans have is their level of vertical integration and in-house capability. The engines, transmissions, suspension etc. are all Hyundai designed and made by Hyundai in-house. This gives them far greater supply chain control in uncertain times such as the current. They are able to prioritise products and markets that are strategic and allocate all capacity to these must win areas.

On the other hand, Mahindra is using transmissions from Aisin, suspensions from ARC, and a host of other externally sourced sub-systems. When push comes to shove and there is a major disruption, these suppliers cannot be expected to toe the line of the OEM when it comes to prioritisation and expediting. This is the reason Covid has severely affected manufacturers like Mahindra who rely heavily on external supply partnerships vis-a-vis Hyundai-Kia, who are more vertically integrated and self-sufficient.

[vkochar]

Originally Posted by 84.monsoon

The advantage the Koreans have is their level of vertical integration and in-house capability. The engines, transmissions, suspension etc. are all Hyundai designed and made by Hyundai in-house. This gives them far greater supply chain control in uncertain times such as the current. They are able to prioritise products and markets that are strategic and allocate all capacity to these must win areas.

On the other hand, Mahindra is using transmissions from Aisin, suspensions from ARC, and a host of other externally sourced sub-systems. When push comes to shove and there is a major disruption, these suppliers cannot be expected to toe the line of the OEM when it comes to prioritisation and expediting. This is the reason Covid has severely affected manufacturers like Mahindra who rely heavily on external supply partnerships vis-a-vis Hyundai-Kia, who are more vertically integrated and self-sufficient.

Spot on - Was informed this afternoon when I got the call regarding delay that the overwhelming response and the added COVID restrictions has caused the delay which M&M is trying best to overcome.

Let's not bash M&M on this.

[ph03n!x]

Originally Posted by vkochar

...M&M is trying best to overcome.

Let's not bash M&M on this.

But why not? They designed and built the product, and had 1.5 months to assess how it's being received, and another month before they planned deliveries. What measures did they take? Did they -

• Manufacture and transport say, 2500 to 3000 Thars in these 2.5 months - which means each dealer would have had 5 to 6 Thars to deliver on 1st November? (All media cars are August made - let's assume this is a 100 Thars. Showroom cars/ TD cars are September made - let's assume this is 1,500 Thars in about 500 showrooms - on a higher side)
• Did they limit bookings to what they can deliver in 2 to 3 months, when they realised the order book is far exceeding capacities? (If they were only able to make 1600 Thars between August and September against an expected capacity of 2500 per month why did they go on an order taking rampage? What happened to their October capacity?)
• Did they proactively communicate to those who put their money down? (I had to keep asking my sales advisor for answers - and when I wrote to M&M, who looped me back to the dealer who suddenly had answers that changed from Dec 3rd delivery to Dec 31st for an Oct 3rd booking)

Why shouldn't I be pissed-off at them? I'm not expecting anything that's not been done in the automotive world. Or anything that's not common-sense.

• Had they made an Ad saying bookings are closed (hint to Mahindra, it's been done before!) and they'll take more after they deliver existing orders - instead of continuing their Ad rampage to this day, asking everyone to book a Thar, I'd have been more understanding.
• Had they written to me about the status of my order, mentioning about the delay - opening communication - after this nice and curt email, especially when my delivery timeline is changing from 8 weeks to 12 weeks, I'd have been more understanding -

Hi,

Congratulations on booking THAR LX D AT 4WD 4S CT NAP BLK. We'll get in touch with you shortly for delivery details. Meanwhile check out some great accessories auto.mahindra.com/suv/thar


Regards,
Mahindra Dealer World.

If they didn't have the wherewithal to convert bookings to deliveries, they should have acted accordingly. Or made course corrections in the 2.5 months they had.

Earning frustrations is not going to work for the brand in the long run, especially when situations like these have been encountered in the past by M&M themselves as well as their contemporaries. No manufacturer in their right sense of mind will continue to pile bookings when cars to dealership are not enroute yet, at least for the initial batch of bookings.

[hareshjethwani]

The reviewer in the below video mentions that a few drops of water seeped through the joint on the roof after a wash. Hope this is a one off else it's going to be a serious downer !

https://youtu.be/mOUU8IEFoWo

[neil.jericho]

The home minister and I dropped by the nearest Mahindra dealer (Vayalat Mahindra) for a quick look at the Thar. They only have a diesel manual version for a test drive and one diesel manual for display. Both are in black, which is an excellent colour for the Thar.

The sales rep (Prince) who dealt with us was a real gem and I was thoroughly impressed by his knowledge of not just the Thar but he also knew the length, breadth and other specifications of all its competition as well. I usually prefer to act like I dont know too much about the cars I check, just to evaluate how well the sales people know their product and if they make any outlandish claims. I would say that he is the most enthusiastic and knowledgeable automobile sales guy that I have ever interacted with. Ask for him if you ever drop into the showroom.

The waiting period for the hard top versions is now 4 months. The dealership has around 400 bookings (!!!!!) as of now. Most people are booking the hardtops for their practicality and the people booking the soft top are mostly movie stars and photographers. The most number of bookings are for the diesel manual, followed by the petrol automatic, followed by the diesel automatic. The petrol automatic Thar is being booked by city slickers with low annual running (which sounds a lot like me!). Quite a lot of existing Thar owners are understandably upgrading to the new Thar. The dark colour choices are interesting because they are different and for states like Kerala, where white is the default option, customers may be happier if Mahindra offered more choices. The automatic test drive cars should come in this week. They are going to be Mahindra test drive cars that rotate between dealerships, so the time in each showroom will be limited to a couple of weeks. Overall, I quite liked the Thar though I didnt even try to get into the back seat. Lets see how the test drive experience goes, it will be a world apart from our Honda Jazz CVT which turned 5 this year.

Originally Posted by iamjoelj

Anyone else with any update on their Thar deliveries for this month? My sales advisor(Mahindra Kochi) says they haven't received any cars yet.

The sales guy at Vayalat said that deliveries are expected to start on the 15th of November.

[F1 Freak]

When the new Mahindra Thar was launched, everybody was just amazed.
It was no more the barebones impractical vehicle which made the rear passengers puke due to the bench seats. It was a proper vehicle which anybody could daily drive and do a road trip comfortable with a passenger. It came loaded with tech and now was a lot safer due to the chassis linked roll cage.

But what took everyone aback, was the pricing. It was just fabulous at a starting price of 9.8 L. As it was bound to happen, just about everybody rushed to book the Thar, It was kind of a new definition for the word "VFM". The number of bookings that racked up were simply mind blowing.

But what Mahindra forgot is that launching a good product doesn't finish their job. What you also have to do is prepared for the production of the vehicle to supply the demand of the vehicle that they themselves too hugely hyped. Needless to say, they have been terrible at this.

Many customer who booked around the price reveal were promised November deliveries, and now what has Mahindra got to say about that? Some are being told Mid December while some more Mid JANUARY 2021, yes you read that correct.

How terribly mismanaged and underprepared you have to be that you are doing this amount of delay?

I have previously posted about the numerous niggles with the pre production version of Thar.https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-...ml#post4901476 (Mahindra Thar Review : First Drive)

Well, the only thing I would like to say to Mahindra is that you are our own Indian brand, please make us proud. And you are definitely not doing it with these kind of troubles.

I am also attaching the tweet of 1 of my friend who is facing the problem.https://twitter.com/OrthoKP/status/1...788731392?s=20

[jkrishnakj]

Originally Posted by 84.monsoon

The advantage the Koreans have is their level of vertical integration and in-house capability.

On the other hand, Mahindra is using transmissions from Aisin, suspensions from ARC, and a host of other externally sourced sub-systems.

Exactly the reason I wrote in my previous post about a possible gaping hole in their Sourcing / Vendor Approval process / supply chain. Mahindra chose to stay focussed on their core capabilities and decided to develop vendors and its their strategy when it must have come to 'Make' Vs 'Buy' the components. So, its not wrong to expect they having done the right diligence when planning capacity. Their Procurement functions hopefully are wearing the right hats now - i.e. the business Hat. Revenue ( or the loss of it ) Vs costs ( or the relevance at this high demand stage)

Originally Posted by vkochar

Spot on - Was informed this afternoon when I got the call regarding delay that the overwhelming response and the added COVID restrictions has caused the delay which M&M is trying best to overcome.

Let's not bash M&M on this.

Two things at play here.
a) It took me a lot of follow up with the Dealer to even get an email acknowledgement about my booking status. Even when i booked my M800, i remember getting an email, an sms from the OEM about my booking and its details. All that the dealer tells me is that he has sent me a receipt
b) Before the launch, their call centre was quite active - checking in with details etc. Post booking, they seem to have gone dormant. The least we can expect is a transparent communique to those who booked

Originally Posted by ph03n!x

But why not? They designed and built the product, and had 1.5 months to assess how it's being received, and another month before they planned deliveries. What measures did they take? Did they -

Earning frustrations is not going to work for the brand in the long run, especially when situations like these have been encountered in the past by M&M themselves as well as their contemporaries. No manufacturer in their right sense of mind will continue to pile bookings when cars to dealership are not enroute yet, at least for the initial batch of bookings.

Exactly right Ph03n!x. Looks like they have a lot of catching up to do. 'Capacity Planning' should have been a vital parameter during pre-launch/launch and post launch scenarios and the current scenario is exposing their planning prowess.

[justwheels]

I guess the frustration even deepens when Mahindra has not been able to even honour the start date of delivery. I am abssolutely fine if I am told that since I booked on the 10th Oct, there were XX people who are ahead of me and with YY capacity, it will take this much time. Atleast I can see the line moving and I know the company is producing as per planned capacity.

Having screwed up the 1st Nov delivery itself means its not just constraint on supply chain, it is mismanagement or some major supplier goofing up. Atleast there should have been news that 20 or 50 Thars have been delivered since delivery started, but unfortunately there is radio silence. 3 to 4 weeks delay for day 1 delivery cannot be attributed to number of bookings, waiting period can be.

Nonetheless, armed with tbhp knowledge, I threw some words like POSO and EDCM to my SA to send me a screenshot of CPD which was earlier communicated to be 17th March. Now SA is also on radio silence.

[jkrishnakj]

And that precisely is the problem - Communication ! Or, the Lack of it.

The potential customers and the folks who booked is constantly looking at ways to be 'Engaged' with the car ( or jeep ? )and the brand. This aspect is what is missing big time. The silence post booking the car is definitely a bit deafening. I am hoping they group up and put plans to address this.