[amoghchaphalkar]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

I believe it's probably due to this:

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...ing-money.html (N Chandrasekaran: Every Tata Car - except Indica - is losing money)

If there was ever an example of Penny Wise Pound Foolish, THIS is it!

[mrbaddy]

Originally Posted by GTO

If someone wants lesser features, he can always buy the lower variant .

With time, your products must IMPROVE, not take a step backward. And if this is indeed the philosophy that Tata wants to continue with, then in 4 years, we'll end up with a Hexa sans even air-conditioning. Yeah, I know that's an exaggeration, but you get the gist.

Indians now want VALUE, not necessarily the cheapest product. The customer has already shown Tata that they will pay good money for good products.

And by the way, it's not that Tata hasn't increased prices.

Can this thread be added to the Home page or atleast added as Hot Thread?

Atleast with that, Tata will take notice and take corrective actions and restore the features in coming months.

Prices were increased considerably. I bought Nexon XZ+ at 9,37,000 in Nov 2017, but it costs 9,83,320 now (ex-showroom Hyderabad). An increase of 46k which is not small within 11 months. I understand the price increase too as Nexon will still be undercutting Brezza by a bit and Ecosport by a lot.


Cutting down on one or two features from any car (which may not be used at all or very low usage) is understandable, but atleast that should be compensated with adding other features to the car. Also the features being cut, I'm not sure how much amount per car Tata is going to save. Except for one or two biggies, most of them should cost less than Rs 1000/- totaled together.

Been wanting to start this thread for a while, glad someone started it. Thanks Chirag.

[Mortis]

This is really cheap and shady on Tata Motors part !! Just when they were starting to perform well and launch attractive products.

Other items deleted from the Nexon are :
1) Rear power socket
2) Some downgrade of the wheel cover on lower non alloy wheels.

[i74js]

Though it may not trigger failure, but if it does then - another case study for management students - "There are no secrets to failure (success)" - Tata Motors Limited !

[sachinayak]

Earlier, people would wait for an year or two post launch of any new vehicle from Tata Motors, to let any issues to be ironed out.

Now, perhaps they want folks to push for allotments from initial lots before they start cutting features. Somebody was given the task to fix the original problem and must have come up with this out-of-the-box solution.

Yeah, of course, this is in lighter vein.

[dark.knight]

In general, it has come to a point where the gentle touches, the attention to detail, and the subtle areas of refinement are today only available in cars north of the 20 lakhs range, there is NO denying this. For the discerning customer, spending that amount is the only way to satisfy himself/herself.

I do not care two hoots about what is obvious in a car, mostly today, it is the tablet-esque touchscreens, phone connectivity, chrome garnish (until I kept reading this nonsensical term, I thought garnish was to add a sprig of mint or curry leaves on a dish), sporty decals etc.

While I have to admit that in my view, TATA has mostly done away only with certain useless features, its is the general strategy of all car-makers who throw in all the features in one go, create a buyer base and then remove those features, that is off-putting.

I agree that central locking with flip key, day night mirrors, rear parcel shelf, noise isolation materials etc are an absolute necessity across all cars and variants today, any car that skimps on cladding, sound deadening materials and overall driving-experience enhancing subtleties, isn't worth half the money that is being asked for it. Personally though, I have no use for charging ports or phone connectivity options even though my car has all the options.. I don't care for them as I focus only on driving. I'm sure skid plates, tabs and roof-rails are useless for 99.99% buyers also.

Nonetheless, as usual its the two pronged attack of customer awareness and competition that will electroshock these companies back into generosity.

[knaveen]

Have been eyeing the Nexon for sometime now. Planning on the XZ+ varient. So whats missing now?
- Illuminated power window switches: It is a nice to have feature, but can live without it. Heck! my 2014 Nano has illuminated power window switches!
- Rear 12v socket: This is a pretty useful feature (might have been very useful for a rear dashcam). They could have moved this to the central console under the blower. Will i miss it? yes, but its again ok.
- Rear parking sensor switch: This was a pretty nifty feature to switch on rear cam on the move . Saw this in XUV sometime back and loved it. But is it useful?, not really. The only gripe now is the empty blank slot in the place of this switch. Honestly, how much is TATA going to save with these deletions? All put together, I'm sure it will be less than 4000 rupees max (on a 11.5L OTR car!).

As someone said earlier, hopefully these are the only things that went missing, assuming under the hood everything is still intact .

[ashis89]

I completely agree that this is not the right move at all. Increase the prices, give clear announcements about addition or removal of features and let the customers decide which model they want to choose. Because of this reason, I lost interest in the Nexon. But we are being unfair by targeting TATA only.

There are other manufacturers who are following the same practice. Some do it quietly every few months, some do it with every refresh. Some popular hot selling models which come to my mind now-

Hyundai i20
Maruti WagonR
Ford Ecosport
Mahindra XUV

These manufacturers have removed features quietly which were available in the early versions.

Edit: Even the new Jazz has lost the magic seats.

[arunrajk81]

Originally Posted by comfortablynumb

Well, I guess between increasing the price and keeping the product intact versus keeping the same price and reducing features, they must have taken a conscious decision favouring the latter (for reasons unknown to us).

However, if they have made corresponding changes in the specs on their website and in their brochures, then I don't think their transparency should be questioned. That is why I request the OP/Mods to omit the word "slyly" from the thread title.

Most of the positive points mentioned in team-Bhp reviews or in any other forums are based on feature set/variants how it came initially. I have seen, some brands removing some options with later model updates. But this is a big list for Hexa and was done without any model update.

[AutoNoob]

Originally Posted by ChiragM

But is the success already getting to their heads? Why has Tata started deleting features from its new models ?

Originally Posted by GTO

Cheap, cheap, cheap . More than anyone else, Tata Motors should know best that 'cheap' thinking ruins cars... God knows what else has gone missing, other than the stuff listed above.

Originally Posted by mrbaddy

Can this thread be added to the Home page or atleast added as Hot Thread?

I had reported similar 'rationalisation' in Ford Ecosport as well, that too within 9 months of launch.
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offic...ml#post4456608 (Ford EcoSport S (1.0L EcoBoost) : Official Review)

I have two suggestion to mods/ official reviewers :

1. Upload the launch time brochure of the vehicle along with Official review. That would be a reference for current situation w.r.t. launch.
   
2. Once such deletions/ changes are known, add details of these to a new section in official reviews - Changes since launch.

These will provide transparent information to the followers of Team-BHP as not all changes are noticed by everyone from the latest brochures.

[jetsetgo08]

People usually say never buy a Tata product within a year of its launch. But with time, features being deleted and increasing prices, it seems the best time to purchase a product is during its launch to enjoy the most bang for hard earned bucks.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by mrbaddy

Can this thread be added to the Home page or atleast added as Hot Thread?

Already added to the news and will be going to the hot threads too.

What really angers me is that the company is finally making a turnaround after years of suffering, and now this. What a miserable way to treat your new customers.

I also find it intriguing that the automotive media - which is the first to report on a special edition with stickers & seat covers - hasn't yet picked this story up.

Prices were increased considerably. I bought Nexon XZ+ at 9,37,000 in Nov 2017, but it costs 9,83,320 now (ex-showroom Hyderabad).

Exactly what I meant! It's a myth that Tata hasn't raised prices. Thank you for providing specifics.

Originally Posted by sachinayak

Earlier, people would wait for an year or two post launch of any new vehicle from Tata Motors, to let any issues to be ironed out.

Now, perhaps they want folks to push for allotments from initial lots before they start cutting features.

Originally Posted by AutoNoob

Upload the launch time brochure of the vehicle along with Official review. That would be a reference for current situation w.r.t. launch.

Done . Will add this to the 'Other Points' post.

[sleepyk]

Great initiative by @chiragm in documenting all the changes Tata has made over time.

I think this is a bad habit they've acquired from other manufacturers who have also been doing this worldwide.
Can't cite specific examples, but I've heard about quite a few companies launching models with features and then silently removing them in a few months, once the reviews are in.

Had really thought Tata was turning a new page, but I guess not.

Edit:
I was recently looking to buy a new TV. All 55" 4K TVs on the market were priced at 2.5+ lakh INR.
Then Xiaomi and TCL got into the market and introduced TVs at 50k INR.
Now everyone, including premium brands like Sony is selling large, full featured TVs at much lower prices.

Even in the auto sector, domestic manufacturers need to wake up and smell the coffee. Chinese brands are coming, and they need to innovate or be ready for disruption.

[Annibaddh]

This is absolute idiocy! In spite of the JLR mayhem, I've stayed invested (heavily) in tata Motors owing to their Indian portfolio's potential. Tigor, Hexa, Tiago and Nexon are all excellent cars. The upcoming Harrier - Atmos twins, 45X + sedan and a potent EV play can make for a very strong Tata performance. JLR could recover very well once demand in China picks up.

And yet, they keep finding silly, stupid ways to self-destruct!

[libranof1987]

Posted this on the Tiago thread quite some time back:

Originally Posted by libranof1987

This alone is enough reason.

So, the Tiago has lost these along the way:
1) Under-hood insulation for petrol variants
2) Boot lamp

Probably more. I wonder if it's better that Tata increases the prices, as most other manufacturers have, than cut features. Unfortunately Tata, unlike Maruti, can't get away with a lot.

I didn't now about the strings for the rear parcel tray then.

I only hope this thread reaches the right people at Tata and this stupidity is stopped. It won't be long before the feature cut extends to QC lapses.