Team-BHP - Review: 1st-gen Ford Figo (2010)

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Originally Posted by joe1980 (Post 1718446)

What does it mean when we say "rolling off the assembly lines"? Does it mean that the cars will be available in the dealerships for purchase?

Guys, forgive me for the dumb question!

What this means is that production of Figo has begun. Ford'll build up stock levels before start of dispatches to dealers accross the country. Production will be @ 75 cars per day initially (it'll ramp up in a a few weeks to up to 150 units per day).
Ford should begin dispatches once stock levels are around 750-800 units ie. by 16th Feb. Sales will begin a few days after that, say around 20-21 Feb (4-5 days of transit time to north India).
Demonstrators (Test drive cars) will arrive at dealerships earlier.

Quote:

Originally Posted by erohit (Post 1719568)

Wow, finally it is here, almost. I too expect it to start at 3.5 Lakh, with agressive pricing across all its variants.

Look forward to hearing from bogusgenius on whether the car has indeed arrived at dealerships.

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Hatchback segment is now like a battlefield for the companies. And the new fighters (like beat, figo) are definitely long lasting warriors with their overall packaging and pricing. I feel so good to witness the sudden change in the Indian automobile industry and to see all the good players to join the indian hatchback market and targeting the volume driven segment. Bring it on.

Bingo! Maruti's days of controlling 90% of the small car market are long gone. Newer brands have already made an impact, good news is there are a lot more on the way. Such a fiercely competitive environment will only result in a better deal for the customer. In terms of product as well as price. Consider the Beats value equation at the current price!

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Toyota must be cursing itself to join this segment so late with forthcoming Etios. Better late than never.

Well, I hope Toyota goes through another delay and comes back with a "proper" car. I liked the design of the Etios, but it looked way too basic (especially on the insides). Some members were even drawing a parallel to the Logan. Therein lies Toyota's biggest challenge. They've massively cut costs to avoid doing a "Honda Jazz". In the bargain, the end product feels cheap. This kind of a car could change its brand perception in a bad way. Today, Toyota (and Honda) are known to offer premium quality at a premium price. Their products are accepted as "well worth the premium" over cheaper competitors. The success of the Honda City & Toyota Innova is proof enough.

However, the i20 is as premium a hatch as they come. And the VW Polo, except for that 3 cylinder 1.2 petrol, will score high on the "feel good" factor. How does Toyota launch an Etios that retains Toyota's brand value, the "feel good / premium" factor, at a price at which customers will bite!!

I'm lovin' it :). Exciting times ahead.

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Originally Posted by bogusgenius (Post 1719530)

Ford dealer in Pune called my friend and told to come over on 8th to see the car and book. Prices start at ~3.5 lakhs.

To me the starting price could be same as i10 dlite i.e. 3.3 Lakh which is something Ford has openly targetted as far as i could remeber from there press releases when their CEO came in india.

Looking at the feature strip down ford has done, i am sure they want this car to land in selling segment and by pricing closer to this 'Figo' can counter the volume of both Hyundai and Chevy.

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Originally Posted by anumod (Post 1725696)

Today morning got a call from Ford dealership Hyderabad and they said that Figo will be there in the display from 18th Feb. When I asked about pricing the answer was "above 4 lac". It surprised me. I was expecting it to be below 3.5. Let's see.

Above 4 lacs will be too much for the base model, a wrong pricing by Ford can ruin the prospects of good sales figures.

Hope Ford is not trying to do Jazz here.:)

Today morning I went to pay for the EW for my Fiesta.

I also had a small chat with my sales executive. In between, I also asked him few questions about the Figo.

As per him:
1. Figo will be priced between 3.5 L (Petrol Base) to 5.5 L (Diesel Top). He seems to be confident about the price.
2. The sales executives have already completed their sales training in Kolkata itself. FORD brought the cars here for the training.
3. He seems to be knowing most of the things about the car, and hence started to inform me about those. But as always, I know better than him and he can't help. After all, we are Team-BHPians. :)
4. In terms of drivability, they are directly comparing Figo with i10 (for petrol) & Swift DDiS (for diesel). According to him, Figo is better than the above 2 in this parameter. FORD infact hired i10 & Swift DDIS to do comparo for their sales executive.
5. Figo has changed gear ratio. So the car will be able to comfortably pull 5 passengers (with AC on) from 30 kmph in 5th gear.
6. They are expecting display car in a week or 2, and TD cars 1 more week later.
5. He promised to give me a TD within few days of cars' availability. clap:

N.B. As per my dealings with him, I can say that he is very professional and does always try to talk sense. He will not say anything if he does not know. My Fiesta buying process was too good specially because of him.

If you have any questions that can be answered by a sales executive, please let me know. I will try to get an answer from him.

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Originally Posted by shankar.balan (Post 1725809)

Just check the latest (Feb) issue of WHAT CAR?
they ve reported the pricing of Figo (On Road) to be ranging from 3.4 to 4.1 lacs.

but it does seem to be quite surprising if the Diesel version is available at 4.1

i wonder if anyone here can give us the most accurate info...

I don't think it is possible for FORD to sell Figo at such low on-road prices.

Which city are you considering to calculate the OTR?

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Originally Posted by shankar.balan (Post 1725809)

Figo on road between 3.4 - 4.1 ? Thats almost A-Star and Spark pricing. Noways, Ford can afford that. Competing cars are i10, Ritz, Beat, Swift, Vista, Punto. So pricing for Figo Petrol can slightly undercut i10s pricing and diesel can slightly undercut or be on par with Swift DDIS pricing.

I concur with info provided by Mayukhs salesman.