[undead]

Originally Posted by GTO

When Tata launched the Aria, the Pride 4x4 cost 17.5 lakhs Mumbai. It's for 15 lakhs today. At the time of launch, the base variant started at 14.75 lakhs. Today, the Aria has a variant starting at 9.95 lakhs.

Why couldn't the idiots in the marketing & product departments figure this out earlier? I feel awful that such a nice ride - and Tata's best car yet - failed due to bad decisions taken by a bunch of dimwits.

Exactly GTO , this was Tata's highest premium product and they failed due to some really bad decisions. This is where Mahindra succeeded in their XUV . They got their premium product right on marketing , after sales support and mainly pricing.

Both the cars are facing some reliability issues in terms with electronics. But Mahindra managed it very well , gave top priority to XUV owners . Looked forward to solve the problem as quickly as possible. Thats is the reason why XUV is still having good sales in our market . Tata should learn few things from Mahindra.

[Yeldo]

Originally Posted by undead

I visited my family friend who has an Aria pleasure 4x2 to know more about the ARIA. So far he has clocked 40000+kms and NO issues at all, i was little surprised compared to the issues i saw in team-bhp . Just regular service. He spent Rs.70000 to change the bench seats of the middle row to Captain seats (Koyas) and having comfortable long journeys. He previously had an innova and clocked 1 lac kms and replaced with this Aria.

That some vehicles out of the initial lots have problems is an indication of inconsistent quality control. 40,000km with no major issues is a good thing anyway.

And on the Koyas seats, glad to hear that they're still in business! We people used to take our Ambassadors, Contessas and Sumos there to get interiors done up many years back.

But in modern cars, is it safe to have such retrofitment?

[GTO]

Originally Posted by undead

Exactly GTO , this was Tata's highest premium product and they failed due to some really bad decisions. This is where Mahindra succeeded in their XUV . They got their premium product right on marketing , after sales support and mainly pricing.

And design / body style.

No one wants to buy a van for 15 - 18 lakh rupees (unless your initials are "T" & "I"). Everyone wants a good 15 - 18 lakh SUV though.

The Aria's engineering in modern SUV clothes at the current pricing would be something else (no, I'm not talking about the Storme & its 20 year old body).

[chaudh2s]

Buying an aria is still a risky proposition even with the relaunch. Reason being, XUV because of it's higher sales and thus higher testing miles covered (by owners), may have become a little niggle free now. But, the aria with total units sold, being just a few thousands, and hence very less testing miles done, could or rather would surely spring some nasty surprises on it's owners (testers). I'd suggest people with relatively shallow pockets to maintain a distance, till a sufficient number of arias complete a few years of on road testing.

[humyum]

To sell the Aria firstly it should be tried and tested by the test team for lakhs of kilometers and until its 100% niggle free and built like a tank, the deliveries should not be started.

Tata should forgo some profits to regain the trust of the customer. Firstly, a 5 year 1.5 lakh warranty right from the sale. Gold AMC comes with the car as standard and huge advertising budgets with 'touching the heart' kind of adverts along with lot of promotional offers, India to Thailand trips, maybe an India to UK drive or a Vladivostok to Europe to Bandar Abass round trip with it being covered in all magazines or maybe a Mongol Rally team for the Aria from Hyde Park to Ullabattar. All this to get the reliability factor in place in the minds of the customer.

Secondly an Automatic Variant with an AMT and a 6 speed transmission to complete the line up.

I guess this should get the ball rolling in Tata's favor for sure

[lurker]

Originally Posted by humyum

To sell the Aria firstly it should be tried and tested by the test team for lakhs of kilometers and until its 100% niggle free and built like a tank, the deliveries should not be started.

Maybe Tata's problem doesn't lie in testing Aria for lakhs of kilometers. They did test it for 4 years and driven it to all parts of the country and beyond. Also in Scandinavia if I remember correct. Their problem is in productionising and ensuring OEM quality from vendors.

But things like this totally destroy customer confidence, like you buy a cheap chinese phone for 4000 bux and it even has 1 year warranty. Now something fails after 4 months and you claim warranty it goes back to the service centre for 4 months in warranty period and even after that they deliver a still faulty piece back to the customer, saying they rectified the complaint. By the time they deliver the piece back again, even warranty period is over and all you have is lemonade. This kind of thing totally destroys a brand from which you cannot come back.

[GetLife]

Originally Posted by GTO

Why couldn't the ... in the marketing & product departments figure this out earlier? ....

Talking of TML's effective customer targetting, many a times i wonder how does a SUMO fit into an advertisement which consists of Vista, Manza, Storme & Aria. But everytime I see a Sumo alongside amongst these other cars I only think of TML's marketing team's know-how of their target customers.
(No doubt Sumo is a capable vehicle, but hardly any personal use customers buy it)

[scarlet.fever]

Aria has been launched again :-

http://www.autocarindia.com/auto-new...kh-374687.aspx

[M35]

3 Years/100,000km warranty is good enough. If that can’t get people in to the showrooms, extension of which to 5 years won’t bring in any significant change.

The damage has already been done. There simply didn’t/doesn’t exist a market for a Tata Van/MUV, however premium it boasts of, in the north of say 14-15 L+, with the available space already saturated with the reliable and solid Toyota.


The key was to launch it against the likes of Xylos with a variant or two encroaching the Innova territory. Once the product gets accepted, could gradually eat in to Innova market with minor facelifts/ refreshes. Instead, got overambitious which not only produced a dud but probably one of the major reasons for the state Tata Motors is currently in.

[undead]

Originally Posted by chaudh2s

Buying an aria is still a risky proposition even with the relaunch. Reason being, XUV because of it's higher sales and thus higher testing miles covered (by owners), may have become a little niggle free now. But, the aria with total units sold, being just a few thousands, and hence very less testing miles done, could or rather would surely spring some nasty surprises on it's owners (testers). I'd suggest people with relatively shallow pockets to maintain a distance, till a sufficient number of arias complete a few years of on road testing.

This is the same reason why my decision to buy ARIA is being shifted almost to the XUV now. I showed the XUV to my family so that they could have a good base to decide on the Aria. I had so much interest in the ARIA than the XUV. Suddenly , the tides have shifted. All wanted the XUV without even seeing the ARIA. The main reasons were
1) Aria selling less than 100. XUV selling around 2500 per month. More vehicles means lesser risk on spares and services.
2) XUV looks more stylish than Aria.
3) XUV cheaper than ARIA.

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by undead

This is the same reason why my decision to buy ARIA is being shifted almost to the XUV now. I showed the XUV to my family so that they could have a good base to decide on the Aria. I had so much interest in the ARIA than the XUV. Suddenly , the tides have shifted. All wanted the XUV without even seeing the ARIA. The main reasons were
1) Aria selling less than 100. XUV selling around 2500 per month. More vehicles means lesser risk on spares and services.
2) XUV looks more stylish than Aria.
3) XUV cheaper than ARIA.

Along with the above 3 points mentioned by you,

The XUV being sold so much higher as compared to the Aria, niggles and problems are better known plus solved in the XUV so a better ownership altogether.

More fellow owners to talk and discuss than stand in a crowd alone (Sometimes it is good to be against the tide but...)

Anurag.

[scopriobharath]

I will buy the facelifted Aria IF and ONLY IF it comes with a dedicated relationship manager similar to XUV, who can assure me of the best service and speedy turaround.

Since Aria is the current flagship model for Tata, I dont think its too much to ask for a relationship manager. If XUV can succeed with the RM concept, so can Tata.

The bad mouthing about XUV is miniscule compared to the Aria.

[pamiboy]

Aria needs to be redesigned completely (at least a comprehensive exterior redesign). By which I do not mean changing headlights and bumpers. It is plain ugly and boring (It looked dated 5 years ago). Why would anyone desire to buy one (unless you are a taxi owner). Any premium car should create a good feeling for the owner. Then only it will sell well. For now good luck flogging the dead horse.

[chaudh2s]

My view is that, offerring a big warranty period (3-4-5 years-unlimited Km's) by tata is not coming out of confidence (of reliability) in their products, but out of desparation, so as to just get some sales numbers.
This is a trap they are laying for laymen to fall into.
A person stretches his budget by cutting down on his lifestyle, just to buy his dream vehicle. The new car smell, the new car feeling, clean interiors and the stuff. But, what happens is, the car frequently breaks down, visits ASS, they open everything up, spoil the interiors, parts become ill fitting, your office/family life suffers (due to frequent ASS visits). The whole purpose for which the car was bought in the first place, gets defeated.
So, my point is, even if they are offerring 10 years warranty, do not fall in the trap. And this applies to all unreliable products, be it from skoda, tata or whatever.

[rkg]

Originally Posted by chaudh2s

My view is that, offerring a big warranty period (3-4-5 years-unlimited Km's) by tata is not coming out of confidence (of reliability) in their products, but out of desparation, so as to just get some sales numbers.
This is a trap they are laying for laymen to fall into.
A person stretches his budget by cutting down on his lifestyle, just to buy his dream vehicle. The new car smell, the new car feeling, clean interiors and the stuff. But, what happens is, the car frequently breaks down, visits ASS, they open everything up, spoil the interiors, parts become ill fitting, your office/family life suffers (due to frequent ASS visits). The whole purpose for which the car was bought in the first place, gets defeated.
So, my point is, even if they are offerring 10 years warranty, do not fall in the trap. And this applies to all unreliable products, be it from skoda, tata or whatever.

ARIA is offered with 3 years/1 lakh KM warranty from the beginning. Not new. Hence could not be termed as gimmick.

ARIA did not sell because market perceived it not VFM.

If one compares the problems per se of ARIA with others( should be done percentile terms to account for sales), it is almost same. Only in case of ARIA they are more prominent/well publised for whatever reasons.

XUV basically lured customers with mouth watering initial price. Now XUV ex showroom price is more than ARIA.

That does not make XUV superior product.

I have test driven both, ARIA rides much better than XUV.