[Slipstream11]

I called up the Mahindra customer service yet again to check on the proposed price increase and they confirmed it - possibly effective midnight tonight.

Not risking the price, I booked my Thar on the Mahindra website today, sans any accessories.

LX, Manual, Diesel, HT in Rockey Beige.

Step one - checked.

[amol4184]

Originally Posted by Slipstream11

Not risking the price, I booked my Thar on the Mahindra website today, sans any accessories.

LX, Manual, Diesel, HT in Rockey Beige.

Step one - checked.

Congratulations.
Proposed delivery date?

[84.monsoon]

It is confirmed - the prices going up tomorrow.

Last few hours to book on-line at current prices

I would estimate a hefty price hike on the top end variants - unless the quantum of hike is pretty significant, it is not worth the backlash that M&M will have to take from potential future customers and our over-active Auto-social-media!

https://www.autocarindia.com/car-new...ember-1-419298

[cool_dube]

Originally Posted by 84.monsoon

It is confirmed - the prices going up tomorrow

I believe this is uncalled for, and not expected from Mahindra. While I understand that they are not running a charity here, this only goes on to indicate that the unexpected demand made them greedy enough to hike the prices within 2 months of launch! They know that this news would only lead to a surge in bookings - how fair is it to get a flood of new bookings when they are struggling to meet the current backlog? Not done, Mahindra.

[Jaggu]

What a stupid thing to do, one they can't seem to get a grip on the production and delivery. Can't seem to have any idea on timelines to be provided to folks who have already paid for the vehicles. Then boast 6 months wait period. And now announce a price hike fiasco.

As rightly pointed by a friend, this is some smart EMM BEE YAA tactic to keep the news feeds boiling for starters. Also tell people who already paid up that they are getting a big favor "see we are giving you at the original price! now don't crib if we cannot give you any timelines".

I call this UTTER BULL! For all the great things that is portrayed in social media by the folks from the company, all these moves are just plain showbiz and not really a customer caring one. Sorry M&M I have lost respect for you guys. :thumbs down

[Slipstream11]

Originally Posted by amol4184

Congratulations.
Proposed delivery date?

Nothing yet.
I am elated with the Order Number as of now.
The chosen variant has a waiting period of 37 - 39 weeks as per the website.

[jkrishnakj]

Originally Posted by jkrishnakj

Oh really ! First, they underestimate demand , make people wait for long and now this ! I hope this isn’t true.

It’s been just 3 months since launch. And I’m not sure why the price should increase in the first place at all ?

With more than planned higher bookings already , they will have enough productivity , efficiency of machines and plants and with more volume based discounts from key suppliers. Wonder what’s the reason for a price increase. ?

Sorry to quote myself. I was quite peeved when the first news of the price raise came up. I firmly believe that the business environment doesn't call for a price increase at all, on the contrary actually !.

Like others have said, it may be a tactic to deter people from cancelling.

It sure does look like Mahindra's doing a huge favor to those who already booked, more like a Trade off of a wait time Vs a proposed increase.

And I only wonder how they are taking new bookings with so much of a backlog already running, what, with a wait time of 30+ weeks.

Like Jaggu rightly concluded, this action from them is a Big Thumbs down !

[vkochar]

Prices are going up Substantially.

Reason is simple. The THAR was launched with a introductory price. It saw massive success. The deliveries of the new Thar ( Revised prices ) will be 2021 perhaps pretty late in the year once they have completed all pending deliveries which are possibly 15000 +

They will justify it due to many factors.

The Vehicle is an absolute winner. I have not seen such interest. The more and more people see it they would want it.

It is a win win for M&M no matter what way they choose.

PS - we have just booked another THAR - we liked it so much.

[Torquedo]

This hike was always on the cards but this soon and with that kinda backlog is seriously nothing but a money minting exercise and as others have called out, further brings down the image of M&M as a group and I'm not talking about their JV blunders.

Moving on, sadder than the price hike is, removing the AX STD and AX variants bookings altogether, just goes to show that Mr Mahindra is only looking at selling variants with the highest profit margins and are least bothered having people with limited budget lay their hands on this beast. Shockingly, the brochure is unavailable on the website, so what gets deleted is not known to anyone any longer, I guess they have learnt something from the Ford JV. Delete features anyways the product shall sell with that kinda backlog.

I'm not on social platforms but if any of our esteemed fellow BHPian can tag Anand Mahindra, that shall be great.

Wait for a year or year and a half, I'm looking at Thar breaching the 20L mark.

To sum it, this is nothing but simply GREED and I have no clue how Mr Mahindra operates and request him to stop these media stunts as if he was some kinda philanthropist.

[comfortablynumb]

Originally Posted by cool_dube

I believe this is uncalled for, and not expected from Mahindra. While I understand that they are not running a charity here, this only goes on to indicate that the unexpected demand made them greedy enough to hike the prices within 2 months of launch! They know that this news would only lead to a surge in bookings - how fair is it to get a flood of new bookings when they are struggling to meet the current backlog? Not done, Mahindra.

True, must be some sort of a record, and not a good one at that. People might have understood, if not condoned such a move if Mahindra had the sort of reputation for consistency in Quality that Toyota has. Maybe the 4 star GNCAP rating plaudits have gone to their head, leading to this overconfidence. I foresee it backfiring on them badly, with a steep dip in fresh bookings, once the initial hoopla dies down.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Introductory prices being hiked are a reality with modern car launches. If anyone has a doubt, below are a couple of recent examples -

1. Hyundai Creta was launched in March 2020. Prices hiked by up to Rs. 62,000 by Oct 2020. No protection for existing bookings.
2. MG Gloster was launched on 8th October. Prices hiked Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 1 lakh by 5th November. First 2000 bookings protected against hike.
3. Kia Seltos was launched in August 2019. Prices hike by 35000 in Jan 2020. No protection for existing bookings.

There are also other infamous examples of 2nd generation Maruti Swift, Ford Ecosport etc where customers saw multiple price hikes while they were still in the queue. The major difference - they weren't protected from the hike. As companies would generally like to re-iterate, the prices prevalent at the time of delivery is applicable.

Probably - Mahindra (and other smaller players) is an exception here, by offering price protection to a large queue of existing customers and also providing a couple of extra days for those interested to jump in the queue! I don't see how that is bad?

Why would a customer who cancels be bothered about a price hike anyways? It's not like he is going to cancel and rebook the next day. And what if Mahindra had increased the prices for all in queue as well (like other companies generally do!), would the customers shift to alternate options? There are no options, is there? They could have hiked for everyone and really gotten away with only a few cancellations! They didn't.

Those who took a leap of faith in the last 1.5 months will get a cheaper car, while those who were willing to wait will end up paying a higher price next year. If you haven't jumped in the queue till now, probably you are waiting for the initial niggles to be sorted and wont jump in anytime soon anyways!

[yd_gli]

The price hike is a pretty gutsy move by Mahindra in the current economic scenario. Especially, when one considers that the huge demand for the Thar may just be due to the pent up demand with die-hard fans who have been waiting forever on the new model to launch. The demand may not last past the 20k sales number and the price hike may up denting that number.

What peeved me the most that on my visit to the Mahindra dealer at Sus, Pune last Sunday, they seemed least interested in selling me the car. No AT test drives available, no effort in trying to have me drive the MT to get a feel of the car. No test drives at home. Salesman had nothing to say about the car and stood there observing us as if we were wasting his time. If they think that Thar is a cash cow like the XUV500 and will continue to sell in the thousands for years to come then they are in for a rude awakening. The car is beautiful but its a niche market and the overall size + two door + 16L tag mean that it will never be a vehicle for the masses.

[84.monsoon]

Quoting from the statement issued by M&M: 'The New Thar Pricing will be Revised with Effective from December 1, 2020 for Fresh Bookings. Price Protection to those booked already will be matched with discounts on ex-showroom and slight variations on RTO Road Tax and Insurance to be bearable by individuals without any deviations. Time available for those who have plans on Booking their New Thar to avail on older Introductory Price is till November 30, 2020. Any Changes on existing Booking will be considered as Fresh Order from the date of Change. New Prices shall be updated shortly! Thank you’.

Looks like they do not want any problems with the RTOs by offering lower ex-showroom prices to some customers and higher prices to others. So I think they will calculate a discount on the ex-showroom price to the extent of the price difference due to the hike. Make the customer pay road tax on the full new price. and then deduct the price difference form the final bill. So, let us say the top end Diesel AT HT price goes up Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 14.75 from 13.75. Taking the example of Tamil Nadu with a road tax rate of 15%, the existing booked customers would pay 14.75 plus 15% Road Tax minus the 1 lakh price difference i.e. 15.96 lakhs - this is higher than the 15.81 lakhs with existing pricing (13.75+15% Road tax). So the existing customers would still pay an extra 15K on account of increased road tax.

[justwheels]

The price hike move seems strange especially when they have an order book that big already.

But may be they were stuck with when to get rid of the introductory pricing. They clearly did not anticipate these many bookings, means if really the introductory pricing is cutting deep into margins, the profit margins will be limited on each Thar sold on this price. They also know that Thar will not hold these numbers for long and might settle around 1k to 1.5k later. So may be they want to cash on the initial rush.

But clearly, an already premium priced offroader, cannot afford an even higher price tag. And any increase for those with existing bookings is clearly rubbish.

On second thoughts, may be Mahindra does not want Thar to sell beyond a certain number. May be they want to rationalise the production capacity for more mass market models like new XUV 500 and Scorpio. Thar should not hamper those sales from production point of view.

Who knows, what's the story, but clearly, no offroader, 2 door Jeep costing 17 lacs has created so much news ever in the Indian automobile history.

[TAHR]

Mahindra confirming the higher prices with effect from tomorrow has stirred quite the hornet's nest. While I can understand the angst of fence-sitters at being forced to show their hand now, I don't think the company is doing anything unusual or unfair.

Introductory launch prices to test the waters, and raising the prices subsequently in the light of heavy demand, is a strategy straight out of the standard marketing playbook. It ensures you lock-in the confirmed bookings and make a killing out of the newer ones.

The product is super desirable, there is no real competition and there are hordes willing to wait and buy. What would any company do? In that context, even restricting the model line-up to only the higher price-points is justified (though I suspect Mahindra might play the safety tune here, post the crash-test ratings).

There's no point blaming the company - it's in the business of business not welfare, there's no point bad-mouthing the owner - he's just being a savvy businessman not a philanthropist (social media projections need to be consumed at your own risk).

I think what should be appreciated is that the existing buyers were not asked to cough up the complete extra amount but perhaps only the road tax component (all automobile companies have this catch-all phrase in their booking order that the prices prevailing at the time of delivery will need to be paid).

Sure, there will be a lot of resentment, but I doubt it will blow up as a PR disaster when there are so many more who want to own the new Thar at any cost.