Quote:
Originally Posted by John316_WRC
Someone had to say something!
Bling features alone don't make a car.
Nothing against the thread OP.
We the customers are the reason Ford left India and maybe we will be the reason for Honda too.
Sad but true. |
No offence, but why should we blame the Indian customers or rather ourselves for what Ford did or for what Honda may do? Its very absurd if you ask me.
The Ford Fiesta was a reasonably successful car in India while the Figo was a super successful hatchback. And the Ecosport too did very good numbers. For the price, the Endeavour used to sell nearly 700-900 units on an average, which even today something like a Kodiaq or Tuscon cannot match. Forget the Fortuner, its always been in its own league. So in a way, India appreciated Ford. But the moment Ford launched cars like the Aspire which lacked the ford DNA, it lost its customer base. And to make it worse, they invested too heavily in the Gujarat plant which made the US headquarters question the very basis of existence in India. And all this coincided with some board room strategy which meant Ford exited some low market-share regions like india. They were in fact on the verge of collaborating with Mahindra for the XUV700 ( just imagine if that had happened).
Secondly and most relevant to this thread, Honda too has always got more than its due in India. The City has always been the benchmark in the executive sedan segment. All auto journalists have always gone ga-ga over the vtec engine, even till date. And until say, 2016-17, before the Creta was launched, the City was always the defacto 10-12 lakh executive car. And deservedly so.
At the same time, what else did Honda do? The Brio? It was touted to be the Swift’s rival, but it came across as a car that seemed half a segment below the swift, interiors, general build quality etc. I owned the 1st gen Swift Dzire and my wife owned a Brio, so i definitely what im talking about. But even then, the Brio wasnt a flop, it did reasonably ok, just that it had no diesel at a time when the swift had. So is that the fault of the Indian customer? And then Honda made the Mobilio, when they had just one rival, the Ertiga. Customer ddo not necessarily understand that both the Ertiga and the mobilio were actually based on the Swift and the Brio. Why wouldn’t people buy the mobilio from Honda? I mean its afterall the same company which sells the great City, right? And just like how Brio was perceived as not great, the Mobilio met with the same fate. Very brave of Honda to bring it back as the BRV!
And all this while, no diesel! And when they finally brought the diesel, you had the torque kings in the segment, the Verna, Rapid and Vento all of which had much superior diesel engines!
Even now, the Amaze has been a fairly successful sub 4m sedan, right? Its sold more than a lakh cars. But no updates. No 6 airbags. No regard for any crash ratings when Tata and Mahindra have now taken “safety” as their new trump card. Koreans have features, Indian auto companies harp on safety, what does Honda harp on, the Vtec engine and the CVT gearbox?
Ok, now the Elevate. Its a good car, no doubt. But how can you come late and yet come unprepared? The Koreans have diesel, petrol, DCT, TC, IMT and what not. The Japanese folks have hybrid tech. Even VW and Skoda for all their dismal performance have 2 turbo petrol engines. The Elevate? The same ivtec. The same CVT. Its 2024 and its not enough.
The thing is, india is aspirational, not a third world country. And thats why the Logan, Etios, Chevrolet sail etc all failed.
And criticism is across the board, thanks to social media. Koreans are yet to get the safety aspects right ( but they do seem to be working on this, with the new Verna), Tata and Mahindra have quality issues, but they are improving steadily. And all of them have been making their business work. Honda has to work on itself, for its own benefit and profits. Lets not pin the blame on the indian customers.