[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by msdivy

......It is bit unfair to blame the gift giver. Maybe they are limited by their budget or even may not understand the sport itself to build and maintain the required facilities.

Where did I say they should do any of that, or blamed anyone for anything? I just hoped people who are giving away stuff think about practicality from the receiver's perspective.

My opinion being they could give them the cash instead of a car first up, which the athlete can use for training-related expenses. BMW takes the same monetary cost, can advertise themselves widely as a 'supporter' of the athlete, and avoid the potential downsides/bad press brought on by any car-related issues in the future.

Surely a win-win for all concerned?

[ajayclicks]

And there are fresh developments on this. As per today's TOI:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/54968377.cms

However, it looks like Dipa and her family have made up their mind to return the car. From the same article above:

While appreciating the decision, Dipa said, "We never spoke of any road or lane for the BMW's movement. Along with road space and quality, service and maintenance of the car are also important issues here. We have made up our mind to give up this car."

[shankar.balan]

For BMW or anyone else, it is always preferable to give away a Product rather than cash.
For one thing the actual cost and the market price and the perceived value of the product, all have nice big deltas between them.
Secondly and probably more importantly for them, the Advertisement value and Publicity value outweigh most things else in terms of benefit.

The actual fact of the Athlete's gain and enjoyment are always going to be secondary - it is a big fat feel good gesture which is firmly rooted in commercial sense from the product manufacturers perspective.

[hserus]

She could exchange cars with fellow Olympian PV Sindhu

Datsun went and gave her a RediGo

I think they should have given her about a dozen so they could match bmw's gesture ..

http://m.thehindubusinessline.com/ne...cle9189302.ece

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

.....
The actual fact of the Athlete's gain and enjoyment are always going to be secondary - it is a big fat feel good gesture which is firmly rooted in commercial sense from the product manufacturers perspective.

That in a nutshell is everything that's wrong with sport in India. Nobody wants to give a hardworking athlete a helping hand on the way up, but all too willing to line up for a pound of flesh post facto.

[centaur]

Originally Posted by ajayclicks

While appreciating the decision, Dipa said, "We never spoke of any road or lane for the BMW's movement. Along with road space and quality, service and maintenance of the car are also important issues here. We have made up our mind to give up this car."

This is what I had mentioned in my earlier post in this thread. Unless she manages to get a lot of endorsements, it would be difficult for her to manage the upkeep of the car in terms of maintenance and service costs

[RSR]

Originally Posted by GTO

Bad press for BMW. Will make all those without a BMW dealer in their vicinity think twice (and rightly so). She should get a Creta, Tucson or Santa Fe (Hyundai dealer there in Agartala) . A far more reliable brand too.

Originally Posted by arunphilip

Imagine the press coup it would be for Hyundai if they were to present her with one: "Dipa Karmakar replaces BMW X1 with Hyundai Santa Fe".

Originally Posted by Vik0728

Totally arunphilip and the cherry on the cake for all of us here would be:

"As suggested on the TBHP Forum" !!

Not that Hyundai need any favours to sell their already superhit products, but this alone can put them right up there in the premium German class.

Well, she did end up buying a Hyundai with the money - an Elantra!

Star Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar has returned the BMW presented to her by Sachin Tendulkar after the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, and has bought a Hyundai Elantra with the Rs 25 lakh she received.

https://sports.ndtv.com/gymnastics/d...ew-car-1643245

BMW India only have themselves to blame! They've simply ignored the entire North-East till now.

As ye sow, so shall ye reap, BMW!

[dark.knight]

I've said it before and I'll say it again - brand endorsements/publicity give-away's do diddly squat to sales and publicity, applicable for vehicles much, much more. Many of these companies think that they're cashing in by supporting the "sporting icons" or "actors" by asking them to endorse the brand so that the company also appears more "Indian/patriotic". NOT necessary.

At the end of the day, a BMW is a BMW.. nothing can change that. It is a Bavarian automobile giant and India is in the bottom 5% in terms of sales contribution. Their key markets are Europe & North America and those two markets will remain the key drivers of sales forever.

I guess the company should've really thought logically in terms of whether service support is there or not in the hometown of the giftee which I suppose they would've been aware of but still went ahead with the gifting thinking that none can refuse a BMW and it'd be good publicity, that obviously went wrong.

The very fact that she bought a Hyundai Elantra tells us that surely, road quality nor the width of roads were the problem, it is almost as long/wide as the 3 Series and its also quite expensive to maintain (though nowhere close to BMW levels). The key reason is lack of service support and that's fine, understandable reason to warrant the change. Hyundai remains the only brand in India that is both an average-buyers brand with a huge service network, YET has a few luxury products in its lineup to please the same buyers moving up the ladder (Elantra, Tucson, Santa Fe). By luxury I do mean they feel truly premium in terms of looks and interiors, more so than competing peers and that may have been the reason why Dipa Karmakar chose it.