[the_skyliner]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

One of our fellow members is yet to see his TDS credit for a Porsche he bought many months ago so I won't be surprised if there are more skeletons in the closet.

It is likely that your friend will get the TDS credit sometime in future. It may take a long time but chances of recovery is decent because as per the bankruptcy rules, Govt. dues will be the first item to be recovered from whatever is left.

However, folks who paid booking amount can kiss their money goodbye as there is probably no chance of that coming back.

[Rahul Bhalgat]

So far, all my car buying experiences have been 'buying from stock with the dealer'. After reading such incidents, I think that it is always better to do so.

Originally Posted by Turbanator

There was some advertisement in the recent past where Audi was looking for a new dealership in Gurgaon, so there must be some development. Both of their showrooms were relatively empty for the past few months.

We shall look for such pointers and avoid bookings at such dealerships.

Originally Posted by captain.torque

As smartcat said in his post above, the Todds were indeed amateurs. The Choksis, Modi and Mallyas must be having a hearty laugh!

Though Nirav and Mallya have fled to escape jail, I don't think they will be living a happy life. No amount of money can bring peace of mind and happiness when the law is after you for right reasons. I guess they must be having sleepless nights; they are not going to be free all life.

[Sahil]

Got this cover up SMS in the morning. Copy pasting as received below:

We have been completely shocked at the slanderous and factually incorrect media reporting about the affairs of Zenica Group and its Directors, Mr. Rashpal Singh Todd and Mr. Mandhir Singh Todd. We have always conducted our business in a fair, legal and transparent manner. The asset base of the company is robust and there are sufficient securities with the lenders adequate to safeguard their financial exposure. The lenders have needlessly and with malafide intent staked false claims to malign us/our promoters. The coverage in the media is malicious rumour mongering and has been unfortunately made without making any endeavor to discover the correct facts. We are contemplating suitable legal action in the matter against the wrongdoers. We continue to be in business as before rendering the same level of services which have till date culminated in our developing a huge customer base which reposes complete faith in us. In the meantime our vendors, employees and associates should refrain from attaching any credibility to the factually incorrect and motivated media coverage regarding our conduct/affairs.

Yours faithfully,
Audi Gurgaon & Audi Delhi Central

[GTO]

Here's the full FIR, courtesy Deccan Herald:

[gkveda]

Originally Posted by Rahul Bhalgat

Though Nirav and Mallya have fled to escape jail, I don't think they will be living a happy life. No amount of money can bring peace of mind and happiness when the law is after you for right reasons. I guess they must be having sleepless nights; they are not going to be free all life.

This is for people like me and you. The above statement is NOT APPLICABLE for people whose daily business is cheating.

In my opinion, such people wont get sleep in the night if they do NOT create such case at least one in the day.

[//HB]

Originally Posted by Sahil

Got this cover up SMS in the morning. Copy pasting as received below:

Standard template mailer from their side, probably to each and every person / business they are associated with .... I have also seen this exact communication addressed to a business to whom they owe substantial monies.

Originally Posted by GTO

Here's the full FIR, courtesy Deccan Herald:

Thanks for the copy - interesting content !

[thecarguy]

We had unfortunately booked a car from the same dealership which was due for delivery on Friday(7th Sept). Will keep you guys updated on this.

[Turbanator]

So finally, they are out. I believe Porsche will also Issue a similar letter.

Received as a forward and it is in Papers as well.

https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/#

[mac187]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

So finally, they are out. I believe Porsche will also Issue a similar letter.

Received as a forward and it is in Papers as well.

While Audi has washed their hands off any future bookings placed to the said dealers. What about the ones which are awaiting delivery? How come they didn't address this critical part?

[gk1234]

This sounds bad, of course, but in the meantime, can we act in a way we don’t presume the allegations are true already? I mean, they are still allegations, right? And whatever happened to the cardinal rule of being “innocent until proven guilty”? I mean, sure, the dealerships have responded to the allegations in their own way, but to be fair, the reporting on this incident has been largely lop-sided, don’t you think? This might sound pedantic and rather deferential to semantics, but could we amend the thread title to include the word “alleged”, as appropriately? Let this forum not act judge, jury and executioner just yet. People reading this thread might convince themselves that all that is reported is true.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by mac187

While Audi has washed their hands off any future bookings placed to the said dealers. What about the ones which are awaiting delivery? How come they didn't address this critical part?

They won't address such things in Notice obviously and will take a call on a case to case basis. With Audi, advance amounts will be minimal in my opinion as most cars are arranged on a small advance but on Porsche, things might be very different. Let's see how it develops.

Originally Posted by gk1234

This sounds bad, of course, but in the meantime, can we act in a way we don’t presume the allegations are true already? People reading this thread might convince themselves that all that is reported is true.

Yes, but do you think Banks would have gone ahead with this if they had any other options? As long as they were servicing the loans, Banks would have kept mum but a stage comes when the interest portion becomes so high, that creates a default in the payment, remember Trade advance are not like home or Auto loans where we need to return the principal, one just needs to pay the interests on the amount used from the limit. So as long as the business is running, the liabilities are to extent of the interest But when something goes wrong, the whole principal becomes a bad debt.

And then Audi, they must be aware of internal things and if they have cancelled the Dealership it means something is seriously wrong, we don't even know the amount of hit VW Group is going to take from this. Every dealer has some credit line for the spares and with these Germans, this can be a large amount.

[quickdraw]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Porsche, things might be very different. Let's see how it develops.

I have a friend who is expecting delivery of his car this month and so far he has not been informed of any changes to it, it should go as scheduled. The really nice guys working at the dealership are a bit clueless about what will happen but I'm sure Porsche will take care of them. I'm unsure of Porsche's future in India considering there are no more diesel Cayannes and a decent minimum specced one starts at 1.5cr.

We just took delivery of a Cayman from the dealership last month and had no idea things were like this.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by quickdraw

I have a friend who is expecting delivery of his car this month and so far he has not been informed of any changes to it, it should go as scheduled. The really nice guys working at the dealership are a bit clueless about what will happen but I'm sure Porsche will take care of them. I'm unsure of Porsche's future in India considering there are no more diesel Cayannes and a decent minimum specced one starts at 1.5cr.

We just took delivery of a Cayman from the dealership last month and had no idea things were like this.

Congrats for the Cayman, it's a beautiful car and fun to drive. Do post some pictures. I am doubtful on the dispatches from Porsche unless they have made some cash & carry arrangements but this looks highly improbable as both the directors will be away. No one is going to approve dispatches to them. Hope your friend has not paid a large advance. Did he try speaking to someone at Porsche?

You are right about the Porsche's future. They will have to find a new Dealer in Delhi and given their product profile and prices, it will be hard to find.

[V.Narayan]

I wonder why this happened. Was it genuine malafide intent which it might be or was it yet another case of a SME business over borrowing to fund working capital and struggling with paying in advance to the OEM, high rents, low velocity of cash, GST sucking up working capital etc. I don't know the facts. Also, RBI has virtually closed all routes to re-finance in troubled situations making a business down turn even more difficult to manage for an SME. Then on the other hand may be the Todd's did cook the books.
‎

[Hayek]

It’s very easy in retail businesses for folks to cook the books by playing around with inventory - there have been several cases of fraud where even smart investors and lenders were cheated into paying for non existent or overvalued inventory. But for that to happen with low velocity, high value products like luxury cars seems incredible. How do you claim to have an inventory of 200 Audis when you have less than 30?