[kiku007]

It seems the Jimny has become a victim of it's own pre-launch hype.

[shibujp]

Why is the Jimny even compared to the 3 door Thar beats me. A fair comparison will be with the 5 door Thar or if particular with the ScorpioN.

The three door Thar is a 2 seater with 4 seats and an badly sorted ride. Personally I think that for the cash asked , Mahindra should have given a more sorted ride. The five door Jimny widens the user base that is looking for a 4x4 but don't pick the Thar because it's a Mahindra, a two door and has a lousy ride. When Mahindra brings out the 5 door Thar then price comparisons make sense.

And for Mahindra's sake i hope they don't get sucked into price competition with the Jimny. The Thar is a significantly larger product requiring much more resources to produce. Trying to undercut the Jimny will be an extremely foolish endeavour resulting is dilution of the quality and positioning of the brand. The Thar is the Thar and the Jimny is the Jimny. Like the Wrangler, the G wagen and the Ford Bronco.

https://youtu.be/QBM6cS_dRns

Is the Jimny overpriced. Maybe. But then cars are generally overpriced. I think BMWs and Mercs are wildly overpriced. But they have record sales. If the market is ready to pay who are we to tell a business not to cash in.

Drive on,
Shibu

[jackofsome]

Originally Posted by ExtremePocca

I don't see why anyone would buy this car at this price. I get that it's a hardcore offroader but it is so barebones. The THAR is better in every single aspect; better engines, better transmissions, (A 4 Speed Automatic Gearbox? Seriously Maruti?) better looks, better suspension and bigger dimensions. The THAR is a no brainer if the Jimny is priced this badly.

I just don't see the Jimny being as capable a car on-road and off-road as the THAR. It's a real shame that a car made by the company that put India on 4 wheels falls so short of my expectations. Go Tata, go Mahindra, go Hyundai, go Maruti, go everyone. Give us a car worth our time and money.

On the most part disagree, better looks? No i don't find the Thar better looking than the Jimny. Yes the Jimny would benefit from a 2 inch lift and some good ol Goodriches but then the Thars are almost always modified to enhance the looks as well. More importantly the Jimny looks original, not like a copy paste job. And if its only about bigger the better, think again, the space management inside the Thar is mediocre at best.
Oh the bonus? The Jimny rides much better than the Thar even with solid axles front and back, it even corners better than the Thar. And lets not talk about capabilities of the Jimny, if you know people with Gypsies up in the hills you will hear enough stories of the Thar getting towed by them. So no the Thar isn't more capable off the road than the Jimny. And to top it all, I am sure Jimny has more features as well.

The reliability you talked about is from the engine standpoint, what about the other quality issues and failures galore and other horror stories of the Thar? A car is not just the engine and the gearbox, its a sum of all the parts. Surely i hoped for a better priced Jimny and Maruti has yet again become greedy. So yes to me the Jimny is overpriced by a Lakh sure, but in today's date which car is not?

So except for the arrow straight highways where the Thar excels with its more powerful engine and a stance to massage people's false egos, there is no way a 2 door Thar is a better overall car 'as a 4X4' than Jimny.
This could definitely change once the 5 door Thar is launched though.

PS- I do not own any Maruti, and have not yet booked the Jimny and will only book if everything is in place after a test drive. I currently drive a Ford.

[padmrajravi]

The Jimny will be a hit. The extra two doors and Suzuki's reliability record will invalidate everything else that Thar has for Suzuki's target customers. The Jimny story will be similar to Fortuner story. Hated by majority of TeamBHP for being over priced, but very successful in the real world.

This is a car that has huge waiting periods all over the world. Suzuki does not care about the price sensitive customers here. They anyway are not able to produce enough to meet the demand.

[4x4addict]

Originally Posted by padmrajravi

I think Jimny will be a hit.

Can yo define "hit"? Sales numbers? What do you think will monthly sales numbers in India from next year?

The hated 50 plus lakh Fortuner sells over 1000 pieces a month. I doubt Jimny will sell more than 300 a month after the hype.

It is an excellent but niche vehicle and only for those who can afford to plonk down over 15 lakh for a recreational second vehicle.

[Himalayan_Ice]

I've seen a lot of posts denigrating people who had booked and now are cancelling basis the price reveal. That set includes me, so I feel that a little justification might be in order.

• The car is by near universal opinion, priced 1 to 1.5 lacs above what would be accepted reasonable. Please tax those 1 to 1.5 lacs, and see what the figure becomes.

• Those very figures push the car from the 10 - 15 to the 15 - 20 lac price category. Which, given the interiors, power figures and gearbox setup, it does not deserve to be in.

• Why do 95% of 4x4 buyers buy them? Is there a justified use case? Absolutely not. They buy them because a 4x4 is seen as inherently "hardy". A characteristic everyone appreciates given our roads.

• Which means the "capability" factor of a 4x4 is lost on 98% (or should I say 99%?) of us. Axle? Differential? Transfer case? I honestly don't know, and with my job and other hobbies I really don't have time to figure either.

• All that this set of people know, is that the car is "majboot" or strong and dependable. So premium pricing basis capability is foolhardy.

• Looks. People definitely buy for looks. And the primary reason Jimny was able to garner so much attention beyond the enthusiast circle was because it looks like it does.

• Plus it was smaller than a typical off-roader. While it might mean added capability for the enthusiast, for the general buyer it screamed "accessibility".

• Now here's the deal. The majority buyer does not really care about off-roading capability. They care about dependability (read sturdiness), power, looks and interior comfort.

• Unfortunately, while the Jimny would have addressed two, it would have faltered on the others.

• And keeping all this in consideration, comes the pricing.

• THIS is where a sub-15 lac pricing (on-road Gurgaon) for the top spec model would have made sense. Simply because the car is overall "small" (engine, size) and has spartan kit.

Honestly I don't care how much MSIL have had to spend on developing the car, how much they import, how much x-material or y-material costs or even if it's priced so high in the UK / US or wherever it is that I don't live.

I care about how much I am getting for my money's worth.

And for my use case scenario (and dare I say the majority use case scenario) it wasn't much to begin with, but at this pricing, it is horrible horrible value.

Any sane business owner knows that you have to factor in acquisition costs when it comes to a new service or product category. There on, you build use case scenarios, build a value proposition and THEN start making money.

That's what M&M did with the Thar pricing (it's another story that I absolutely do not agree with the majority use case scenario the Thar brand has built up). And hence have a resounding success on their hands.

For those who are asking people who do not agree with the pricing for "such a capable product" to go look elsewhere, we will and we are.

However, please understand this one thing. Gyms don't run because of bodybuilders. They run because of people who sign up and come occasionally (or never show up).

If the meatheads in the gyms try to browbeat the people who are coming in to have a look, there won't be enough money to buy even a squat rack.

So it makes all the sense in the world to keep your bodies buff, your talk welcoming and your attitude inclusive.

Fuelling your passion depends on it.

[Lalvaz]

I agree with the popular sentiment on this thread that Suzuki seems to have priced this way higher than expected. Suzuki wants desperately to have premium pricing for their products but somehow their product quality is just not premium enough to warrant such atrocious pricing.

I'm an existing Suzuki customer and I love their service network and the very easy availability of spare parts and their process driven culture, where even a common man is treated with reasonable respect and his concerns are addressed, but at the same time, there is no denying that the build quality leave a lot to be desired. I so wish that Suzuki fixed these problems and I know they're very capable of doing so, cos they do produce safer cars for the international markets from Indian factories.

I hope someone senior in Suzuki is taking note of the fact that Indians want better quality, else they won't be willing to pay a premium only for the Suzuki badge.

[Ays7]

I agree, that the prices seem to be slightly on the higher side. But so what? One has to stop looking at this as your typical MSIL product. There were enough indications throughout that this product will be priced at a premium and it is.

For people comparing it with Sonet or Venue or even Nexon, Maruti has made it clear that this car is not for you. It is for people who exclusively want a 4*4. It cannot be compared to Creta or Grand Vitara or other cars as well. Also people thinking that there will be mass cancellations and this will somehow compel Maruti to reduce prices, this will not be the case. Maruti has given enough indications that they are not chasing volumes with this car, they want to keep a premium tag on this. Comparisions with Thar are warranted, but for apples to apples comparison, we will need to see prices of a five door Thar.

Overall, I think MSIL will succeed with this car. It may not be for me, but there are plenty who will dig the quirky looks and buy the car just for that. As I said, it doesn't look like Maruti is looking to do serious volumes with this car. It has allocated 66% of 1,00,000 units for Domestic Indian sales, which is 5K a month, which for MSIL is easily achievable.

[Venkatesh]

Press Release

NEXA launches the true blue off-roader Jimny.

[padmrajravi]

Originally Posted by 4x4addict

Can yo define "hit"? Sales numbers? What do you think will monthly sales numbers in India from next year?

The hated 50 plus lakh fortune sells over 1000 pieces a month. I doubt Jimny will sell more than 300 a month after the hype.

I think it will take sales from Thar and all compact SUVs - Nexon, Brezza, Venue etc and will have a production backlog. The numbers will be limited by what Suzuki can supply. If there are no production constraints, I think it can do about 3K per month. That's almost 10 times difference between our estimates. One of us is terribly wrong

[hybridpetrol]

There is every chance that Jimny sells more than Thar in the coming months.
Mahindra has hit production constraints and have long waiting periods. But Maruti can produce any number of copies as per the bookings.
Moreover Maruti has presence everywhere in small towns, compared to Mahindra.
So from sales point of view Maruti can sell more much easier though none of us like the price.

Another view is that, those who waited for Jimny from childhood might very well get it at few lakhs higher than what they originally expected, instead of letting their long cherished dream go down the drain.

[murlidar]

Originally Posted by 4x4addict

So, my choices now are get the Jimny or wait for the 5-Door Thar .

The thar 5 door which everyone seems to be talking about seems to be many months away. See link. Even after that who knows how long is the waiting period and at what price? That too may launch. May is the keyword.
https://www.livemint.com/auto-news/m...167926107.html

[pjbiju]

Originally Posted by jackofsome

On the most part disagree, better looks? No i don't find the Thar better looking than the Jimny. ...
And if its only about bigger the better, think again, the space management inside the Thar is mediocre at best.
...

Perfectly put. Agree with all your points. Both the cars have classic looks and since Mahindra did not fiddle around much with the looks of the Thar (most of their original designs are hideous except for the XUV 700 - my personal opinion), people went for the Thar (there was no other alternative then). I took a test drive of the Thar and was quite appalled by the interior fit and finish especially the rear seats. Giving it almost no luggage space did not help it. It is essentially a two seater. Have not seen the Jimny in person yet. Will try to take a test drive soon before I form my opinion. In terms of space, the 3 door Gurkha beats everything hands down. I had taken a short test drive of the same.

Look at the number of Thars on resale. A lot of people bought them and did not eventually like it for one reason or the other. It definitely is an attractive car, but for a lot of people the attraction does not outlast the pain caused by other drawbacks.

If you look at the car market today, almost every car is overpriced. Decent hatchbacks like Swift, Baleno, Punch, Tiago etc. cost 9 to 11.xx lakh rupees on road for the top end automatic versions.

Even if the Jimny was priced lower by a lakh or more, I do not think it would have drawn more people towards it than the Thar. People who want to use it primarily in the city/short highway trips may come away disappointed with the ride quality (going by the reports) and that it is a 4 seater.

[Phaetonw12]

I am a bit disappointed with the pricing of the Jimmy, but when was the last time a car was priced to be VFM? This is a decent price, but the biggest competition would be a used Thar which is flooding the market.

I still think it's a brilliant offroader.

[RoadFiend]

With the language of it's cover page ad in The Economic Times, Maruti is signaling Himalayan aspirations.

Ironically, it's brag about driving on icy mountain trail is equalled by the frosty reception to it's pricing here

Clearly, all marketing efforts so far have highlighted the improbable reaches of icy mountains, mountainous river crossings and treacherous hillside roads. An attempt at creating a new uncharted lifestyle narrative. And a well rounded rhino 🦏