[Fiestaboy]

I didn't follow cars like Polo GTI quite often, so i will restrict my opinions to the cars i followed / dealers i spoke with.

Ford: I think Ecosport hype was real. In my opinion, I believe Ford themselves didn't expect so much response from India market & i think they reached 50,000 bookings in 17 days or so. (at least that's what my memory says). Even today, after 7-8 years the car is pretty much holding well because of its unique appeal it created by then.

Skoda: On the other hand Skoda Rapid Rider variant hype is to protect their sales with mid or top variants i believe.
We visited Skoda dealer in my native, on early Jan 2021 for my cousin.
Their blunt reply was no idea on delivery with 2021 models & no cash discount & all 2020 models were sold.
My cousin was in a hurry & we bought pre-worshipped Vento.

After a month, we got call from Skoda that 2020 vehicle is available with huge discount.

I always feel that regardless of the hype (true or fake) OE's like Hyundai, Maruti, Kia use it to gain momentum & get increased sales or booking.
On contrary OE like, VW, Skoda & Ford are not able to use these hype for their benefit.

[AutoDowntowner]

I remember on the launch day of Thar, I visited a showroom in PCMC (Pune) where I saw a VW T-ROC standing besides that M&M showroom at an open space, placed by a VW dealer. So I went to see T-ROC & asked the sales guy that "how come a T-ROC still available for sale when company says it is SOLD OUT?" He replied "no sir, we still have it, in fact more than one".


'SOLD OUT' is just a trick to make mouth to mouth publicity of a product. and we if we really want to buy such car, we must search it with other dealers.

[Carpainter]

Usually I have never faced such sold out situation while buying a car but fortunately or unfortunately my dad got selected in the XUV500 lottery and got one of the first few Xuv delivered in the country. He even got an offer of extra 1 lakh to transfer his allocation to another name which he politely declined. It's another story that the car was so problematic that he had to sell it off within 2.5 years.

While I booked my City, I had to wait more than 2 months to get my car. But today if I face such a situation where the dealer is not taking any booking because the car is supposedly sold out, I'd simply walk away and book some other car. No car is precious enough or vfm enough to wait half a year for it.

[mithun]

One of my relatives booked a Kia Sonet Diesel from the Kia Cochin showroom and they had mentioned that the delivery will take after 20 weeks. But it was delivered on the 10th week.

Don't you see the irony?

[shortbread]

Originally Posted by GTO

Mahindra-Jawa faking it!

Attachment 2155098

Jawa was caught faking the demand, faking the waiting period and creating fake hype! Further, they royally messed up its planning & production. End result? Jawa - the brand and its motorcycles - have done poorly. So poor that the company was hiding numbers. Well, FADA stats eventually came out and they weren't pretty.

Ever since the tremendous launch success of the XUV500 and the bookings it consequently generated, M&M have regularly used the bookings/waiting period press releases as part of their marketing mantra!

While they did successfully pull this off again with the launch of the recent Thar, the number of misses show that such tactics have extremely limited impact!

Nov 2015: TUV300 12,000 bookings, 6 week waiting period
Feb 2016: KUV100 crosses 21,000 bookings, 3 month waiting period
Feb 2019: Marazzo 19,000 bookings, 4 week waiting period
Mar 2019: XUV300 13,000 bookings, 3 week waiting period

Time to switch strategies?!

[karavadi143]

Cars being sold-out, double digit people waiting etc are some of the tricks used by salesperson to sell unsold inventory colors or low selling variants. For example, when we upgraded our booking from a Kwid to Kiger, we were told that the inventory was not available and would take around 8 weeks for all variants. When we went with a cheque book and got ready to pay on the day, suddenly there was stock in other dealers that could be diverted to us. They also told that there is a price increase, hold in production due to lock-down etc. to sell this inventory.

Over the next 1 week, we were given so many options with different colors like silver, lower variants like RXL or top of the line- RXZ that were in stock. We were very specific with respect to the brown color and RXT variant, and now under waiting period of 4-6 weeks.

[Hayek]

Such bullshit tactics usually backfire badly on the vendors. When I was looking for my recent car purchase, the Seltos was at the top of my list. Despite my concerns on GNCAP, I would have considered it seriously. But the 3-4 month waiting period that they indicated made it less attractive - and I did end up going for a much more expensive car (a Tiguan Allspace) which I was getting immediately. With the Tiguan as well, one of the dealers indicated he had only 2 cars to sell and offered a very low discount of ₹ 1.5 lakhs on ex showroom. The other dealer also indicated a limited choice of colours but finally settled at a much higher discount - and got my business.

So while I am not sure if they were fibbing or serious, indicating shortages when there is someone who is all set to buy can cost you business.

[dhanushs]

Well, this kind of proves the 'emotional aspect' in Marketing is the one clearly having an edge in India, even/especially when big money is involved.. Sad.

[landcruiser123]

If a car is sold out, I may not even visit the showroom.

What’s the logic?

[INJAXN]

Cell phone oems are using similar technique for some years now. Flash sales, sale only via referral are such techniques. It creates sense of urgency and fear of missing out in buyers.

I have seen friends logging in to Amazon/FK before time, some times more than 1 person is logged in to have better chances. So may be this technique works for cell phones.

[aastiksaluja]

Originally Posted by GTO

Indians - fortunately or unfortunately - are a 'herd mentality culture. Success begets success in the auto industry, and the popularity of a car does contribute to even larger sales numbers. Saying that the model is getting sold out will push customers who haven't yet decided to bite the bullet into booking the car, and also creates a false sense of demand, which would arouse the interest of others in the market.

Thanks for sharing the post, and I'm glad you mentioned the reason(one of the prime) acting as a motivation, or shall I say, Inspiration behind such bold and risky yet Calculated moves. It's us(the HERD) and no one else to be blamed if companies do such cheap tricks and get away with a pile of cash in their hands. I mentioned this some days back in another post, upsetting the Herd, I guess , but coming out from you would hopefully validate the point that this issue DOES exist in the Indian Car buying circle.
Tricks like these have paved ways for some new entrants which did not deserve the numbers they raked in and has kept some strong contenders cemented in their thrones, where they have become so comfortable, their premium is nothing less than bullying.

Although marketing tricks and trending commodities are a universal culture and somehow indicate how good the marketing is, I feel we in India have a relatively greater void of due diligence and opinion sways. Not just in automobiles, but in general, which eventually seeps in this category as well.

[Straight6_N54]

Very relevant points mentioned here. Currently the new headline they catch hold of is the Semiconductor shortage and manufacturing plant being downsized due to COVID-19. It could be true or false. Yes for a mass market competitively priced cars, it could make sense. But for a car above Rs.75lakhs which is already produced in limited numbers how is it possible.

Due to the availability issues of many luxury SUVs, I was even ready to book GLE 53 AMG from MB, and yet what they told me was only A35 AMG is currently in the plan, GLC nor GLE AMG models were unavailable.

OT Since April 15 a new rule is passed stating cars can leave the showroom only with a permanent licence plate. Thus even after paying the full on road amount car will stay in showroom if you opt for a choice number , and can be delivered only after Licence plate is fixed.

[sandeep.menon]

Eventually, karma catches up. Customers can see through companies these days. They can sense intentions after the fact. Sometimes they sense it immediately, sometimes after a while.

Once a company earns the reputation of not being trustworthy, customers start disregarding all their claims, both genuine and non genuine.

As members have pointed out on this thread, their experience showed that 'sold out' claims weren't true after all. Their experience also showed that this is true with many sectors, from Auto to Real Estate.

When a product is 'really' sold out, customers will spread the word. The manufacturer will never have to take the effort. Leave alone placing a full page ad 'communicating' that the product is sold out.

[Sabrish]

With the e-sales and social promotions & virtual frenzy picking up, these gimmicks seems to work on the Average Joes as you would call it. In fact I was one of the "Joes" while booking a Rapid Rider last year, given the 7.49 Ex showroom price tag for a 1.0 TSI.

For a day or two I completely bought into the "no stock" news from the dealer. When I realized I will stick on to my Aspire Sports, the Sales Exec calls me and says the stock was available all of a sudden Later realized, my Rider was the 1st in town at my place and wondering why the fuss earlier then?

But the point is "The Flash sales" "The Sold Out" "The Waitlisted" are some keywords we will continue to see in the next few years just to add spice to the market and give the Buyers a feel of owning a "Limited edition"/ "Feel Good" factor of managing to get hands on one of those at a good deal.

Hope sanity prevails and the consumers get more wary of such gimmicks to not fall a prey to them! Good thread again

[PrideRed]

An example, though I did not consider Gloster, Dealers of Audi and MG are same in Mangalore. Towards end of 2020 MG calimed closure of bookings for Gloster. A person from MG had come to evaluate my car and after evaluation, I casually checked if Gloster is available, to my surprise, he said yes, he can arrange for a car in max months time and did give couple of colour options too! I said MG has closed bookings, to which he said, he will arrange for a car and closed the discussion.

Another similar trend manufacturers follow is "10000 bookings". In another couple of days it turns out "30000 bookings in 10 days". While this may be true for some of the cars, funny part is Dead on Arrival cars like C5 Aircross, Alturas, Kicks etc. also claim "1000 bookings". Despite knowing, while some pickup these cars as it meets their budget/requirement which is fine, unfortunate for others who buy based on booking numbers or on recommendations from friends, relatives.