[ashvek3141]

Originally Posted by AMG Power

That is set to increase as days go by.

This is true; however, only for the Zeta MT variant; the Alpha AT has a waiting apparently. Atleast this is what I got to know from a SA of one of the reputed NEXA dealers in my city. Moreover, it was really surprising that inspite of all the discounts and bookings, they had absolutely NO deliveries on the auspicious Dusshera day, where the NEXA showroom was flooded with deliveries of other models!

- Like the other BHPians have rightly mentioned, apart from the optimistic pricing the car lacks the supposedly 'butch' appeal for an off-roader. Maybe you can say that the erstwhile off-roaders have made this image for us; but than it is what it is! It looks really puny in traffic, even amongst the Sub-Compact SUV's.

- To me even the Jimny doesn't 'appeal' as much as the Thar does. I'm not an off-roading or adventure junkie of the sorts, but going by the pure looks and feel of it, the Thar surpasses the Jimny in looks department.

- Furthermore, even though the Jimny is 5-door, the rear space practicality is almost non-existent. The bench is too short and headroom is a compromise (inspite of not having a sunroof to eat into the space). A person of my height (6 feet) simply cannot find himself sitting in the rear bench; and I'm not even mentioning 'comfort' here.

- On the drive front too the engine is a complete 'meh'. It seriously lacks punch and that irritating whine from the AT box is simply crazy! I would rather prefer the grunt / clatter of the Diesel than the Whine which doesn't even move the Jimny as much. Jimny really needed a better engine + gearbox. Period.

- Suspension though a big IMHO. No two ways about it. Supremely comfortable for an off-roader. Thar simply cannot hold a candle here.

IMHO, it is still fairing well for what it is and Maruti should be sorta happy with it. Probably they had really high expectations given the initial hype and how people were eagerly waiting for one since years!

Maybe, now it all depends on how Mahindra prices their 5-door Thar. If they get really optimistic, than probably people might find the Jimny relatively VFM.

[IB290]

Jimny is a great proposition in many ways including - ride quality (with 26 psi), narrow width led confidence inspiring vehicle in traffic conditions as well as in no road conditions, and probably the easiest jump to BoF/ 4X4 for the uninitiated. All of this come with some compromises.

And those would translate into certain expectations on the price. That is the key. Price it proper and hang on, it will start selling. Word of mouth is the best marketing. And a more fair one compared to throwing around numbers.

Like someone said above, accept the mistake and drop the price. Refund money to the early adopters. They are the brand ambassadors. And create goodwill that will eventually pay off.

Goodwill goes a long way. I have romanced Thar a bit by taking many test drives. And the thing that appeals most is the beautiful plate on the dash saying - Made in India.

[fiat_tarun]

As one of the few who actually bought a Jimny - yes, I do think it is overpriced, but it suited my use case perfectly and hence I went ahead and bought it.

Would it have sold more if it were slightly cheaper - I highly doubt it.

The Jimny is a nice second vehicle to have but to be the only car in the garage it's a hard sell. A major chunk of the Thar sales are for the 'look' and road presence which the Jimny does not have, but at the same time it does stand out on the road in its own weird way (my wife hates the attention it gets!)

Having seen Maruti's annual projections for the Jimny sent to suppliers, the expectations were not at all high considering domestic + export requirements. The way I see this current discounting is a stock clearance of the Zeta variant as those that wanted the Jimny bought the Alpha. The Zeta is very basic and felt even more overpriced.

The Jimny will remain niche and I think Maruti knows this, hence I don't see a price correction as such and it will continue selling around 2-2.5k units a month.

[VRPAI]

Voted No.
I dont think its the pricing thats dampening its success, but its the product itself. We've had a Thar D AT for about 2.5 years and 50k kms and got a chance to drive the Jimny .

At the end of the day both these cars sell for their appeal rather than practicality and thats where Mahindra hit the bulls eye. It just oozes appeal , be it the butch looks the big engines and smooth ATs .
The Jimny would sell for the 4*4 capabilities and nothing else.
The average engines, the old automatic gearbox and and the iffy interior plastics dont help matters either .

Its just that the Jimny isnt as desirable as the Thar for an average Indian.
But for the hard-core offroader or someone with a specific use case, the Jimny would fit their slot perfectly.

[Baristyro]

I remember reading some articles that Indian Army specifically requested MSIL for a two-door soft top Jimny.

If only MSIL could optimise the extended wheelbase 5 door Jimny chassis into a 2 door soft top, and launch it as Gypsy, they could rescue this situation.

[Mortis]

I'm confused as to what would make the Jimny a more appealing package :

1) The current vehicle as is but at a price that's lower by 1-1.5 L

2) Current price but with better interior quality and features and a better engine and gearbox combo

What do you guys think ?

Also to me, the dimensions of the 5 door makes it look more like a mini Hummer H3 rather than a longer Jimny or even tiny G Wagon which is what the 3 door one looks like and I guess could be considered it's USP in terms of looks.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by arjab

Maruti's original plans for the Jimny was that it should achieve around 5000 units in monthly domestic sales. At present it is doing less than half of that, with average sales hovering around the 2000 units per.month mark.

The Jimny is never going to achieve the numbers they've set out, even if they lower the price. What on earth were they thinking. The product competes with a couple of their own offerings at a similar price point, most being superior to the Jimny. If you look beyond a Maruti Suzuki, there are way many options to consider.

The Jimny is and always will be a niche product, like the Thar is to Mahindra. It isn't going to fly of shelves.

Even if you look at the International Market for this model (which is a less practical two door), it does not sell in large numbers. Suzuki never looked at the Jimny as a high volume product. There is small customer base for this vehicle and it will remain that way.

[Dr.Abhi]

Majority of Indian public buy SUVs to flaunt their butch presence, space. Unfortunately Jimny falters on both parameters.
USP of Jimny is its off road credentials, but how many of mango people are in need of its off road ability.
Those who need capable off road vehicle have already purchased it or will purchase it without giving it a second thought.
Is jimny overpriced? I dont think so. Any well engineered, this much capable BOF jeep with 6 airbags and other modern amenities is going to be costly affair in 2023.
What maruti can do to increase its sales.
They can launch lower variants to increase its affordability.
Fine tune rear seat comfort.
Make cabin more user friendly, add more bottle holders, improve music system sound quality, increase boot volume if possible.
Is Decreasing price going to help jimny? I dont think so. Instead it will tarnish the brand in long run.

[aviator1101]

I doubt the Jimny will sell like a Baleno even at a discounted price.

It's an enthusiast's car focussed towards go-anywhere performance (with certain shortcomings thrown in)

It lacks basic features which hatchbacks or compact SUVs costing 3-4 lakhs lesser offer. Here you will struggle to sit comfortably in the rear seat, have a claustrophobic feeling throughout, run short of boot space after two trolley bags, fumble for space to keep even a bottle of water. I wonder how Maruti is expecting it to sell like a mass market car. Anything that is cheap does not sell in Indian market.

And mind you, Jimny is not a cheap product. It is a purpose built vehicle, whose qualities will be appreciated only by a person who will find use for it. Let's not degrade it's esteem by even expecting it to come cheap.

[vikramvicky1984]

To me the jimny is perfect except for the price. I had waited for long and then decided to go ahead and a day later the offer on zeta came. Hence put my bookimg on hold. Even maruti employe sales staff agree in conversations that its overpriced.
The sales number are not bad though.
How many did gypsy sell earlier even when petrol was substantially cheaper? The use cases for a jimny are few.
While I am waiting for a price drop to save some bucks, I dont think price cuts will move many buyers towards jimny from other models.

Its like the iphone
Some people buy it at launch irrespective of the price.
Some wait for the price cut, big billion day sales, exchange, credit card offer etc.
Some get iphone 13 when 15 is launched ( used jimny)
Some hope someday they'll hopefully have an iphone and live with their androids ( i10, ignis,creta etc) till then.
Most people just don't care what this hype about a glass slab with jootha seb is all about.

[speedmiester]

My vote is a "Yes".

Both my wife and I love the Jimny. It's compact, have sufficient space and a proper Auto with 4x4 hardware and enough features to make it a good second car in the garage. It's a perfect replacement for her Ignis, but we cannot justify the price.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by vikramvicky1984

To me the jimny is perfect except for the price. I
Its like the iphone
Some people buy it at launch irrespective of the price.
Some wait for the price cut, big billion day sales, exchange, credit card offer etc.
Some get iphone 13 when 15 is launched ( used jimny)
Some hope someday they'll hopefully have an iphone and live with their androids ( i10, ignis,creta etc) till then.
Most people just don't care what this hype about a glass slab with jootha seb is all about.

This is making sense.
Jimny is not a mass-market product at all. Only those who understand it or to whom it appeals, will buy it. All others wont. But of course opinions are free and expressing opinions is easy.
I personally just want them to continue selling it and servicing it until I can buy and own one; which will happen just as soon as I can get this Thar-love out of my system. In my case, while I definitely appreciate the Thar for many of its wonderful attributes, I do find that the Jimny will fit my needs much better. I just prefer well engineered vehicles with a small footprint and which are high on functionality and capability. Of course, if further price cuts etc are in the offing, I will gladly and willingly accept all such benefits, being a normal salaried, Tax Paying person.

[androdev]

In the grand scheme of things, the diminutive looks of Jimny is a huge handicap to grow the customer base in our market which Thar doesn't suffer from. Those who are clear about buying Jimny may not need too much persuasion but this number is not as big as Maruti wants. Those who like big SUV feel, which is a very profitable and growing customer segment, is out of bounds for the little Jimny.

Personally, I am very happy with the fact that Maruti decided to launch Jimny in a fairly premium spec in our market - it comes across as a great car overall. In fact, I feel this is probably the only car in Maruti portfolio they can afford to sell at a higher price if they are OK to accept it as a niche product with modest sales volume. Given they have so many other cars to bring in the aggregate volume, why not leave this car as an aspirational niche product.

[Kosfactor]

Originally Posted by vikramvicky1984

How many did gypsy sell earlier even when petrol was substantially cheaper? The use cases for a jimny are few.

Yes for Jimny it maybe but Gypsy is a useful vehicle even today because it has a huge advantage over Jimny - Its an open top vehicle.

I do not have to explain how important that is for an adventure vehicle, perhaps sunroof can help but nothing comes close to driving topless, that is real fun.

[gsferrari]

Originally Posted by Kosfactor

Yes for Jimny it maybe but Gypsy is a useful vehicle even today because it has a huge advantage over Jimny - Its an open top vehicle.

I do not have to explain how important that is for an adventure vehicle, perhaps sunroof can help but nothing comes close to driving topless, that is real fun.

Not just the fact that it is an open top. Even the hard top version had a much taller profile than the Jimny. I used to carry motorcycles and bicycles inside the Gypsy. Cannot do that with the Jimny. Not sure why that shape was abandoned.

Maybe to make the Jimny look more like the G Wagen?

I would have been extremely happy with captain seats in the middle row and the Gypsy style hard top with the bump in height.