[Amartya]

Originally Posted by avishar

According a news article a new logan variant is going to be launched in 18 months,most probably the CS version.

18 months? If is really is a "CS" job, they certainly are taking their time. Not sure if this is a good idea. It took Tata less than a year to do the same (right after the 4m rule was brought into effect).

[gshanky]

Originally Posted by Amartya

18 months? If is really is a "CS" job, they certainly are taking their time. Not sure if this is a good idea. It took Tata less than a year to do the same (right after the 4m rule was brought into effect).

I think it is a rumour that it could be a CS variant of the logan. In TATA's case they primarily had to reduce only the boot, but with Mahindra, I assume they have to alter the grill also

Finally I also feel that Mahindra take their time and release more robust vehicles. But this time I hope they give better interiors in logan.

[Motorholic]

Why does Mahindra want to hold on to the Logan?
I mean it would have been easy for them to exit from the venture and concentrate on their core business - Utility vehicles.
Does it also indicate that Mahindra wants to stay in the sedans segment and probably build their own cars in future?

Mahindra can learn from the technical expertise. Just as they did with Ford, they will learn from this process too. And while I agree their strength lies in UVs, thinking of making cars is not too bad an idea considering their greener.

Knowing Mahindra's product development history (Willys, 550, Armada, Bolero etc), they will be selling the same Logan with minor changes even 50 years from now.

@Gilead: . I don't know if you are joking or serious. But I won't discredit them so much. In the past fifteen years look at the number of all new platforms that they have created - the Scorpio, Xylo, Maxximo, the newer premium SUV. Dynamic I would think.

More importantly, does Mahindra have the expertise to re-design a car ?

@theMAG: I think what this car desperately needs is a new set of clothes. The outside, Mahindra can take care of, though I won't bet on it being beautiful. But if they start making changes with the interiors, I doubt they'll pull it of as well as their international counterparts. Going by their current crop of vehicles, interior fit and finish is not exactly their forte, at least not as yet. And for the time being from what I've heard, the engineering in the Logan seems sound, so they won't have to meddle with that too much.

I also think that the claim that Renault screwed up the Logan on it's own is a fallacy. Look at Mahindra's history with JV's. Ford came, they left, Renault came, now they are leaving, both prematurely. Both of these companies are, however, continuing in India. Once it might be coincidence, but twice? Don't you think that Mahindra might be to blame, even if to a certain extent?

One thing I will say. While the base variant Logan's were economical, I felt some of the other variants (the diesels) were priced poorly.

So Renault thought they could take us Indians for a ride by pricing an ultra-basic,bland car more than twice its original tag,just by campaigning it as a 'wide-body' car!? Serves them right.

@AyAn!: Haha!! Wide-body car, I almost forgot that line. In fact in general, I feel that while many of the Mahindra advertisements had good brand recall, they were all a bit corny.

The Alto was a flopped product when launched. Its sales increased only when Maruti made price corrections in the 0.8L variant and dropped the 1.1 variant. This was in 2004, I guess. Since then, 800's sales started dwindling. Point here is, that, at a lesser price, it became more VFM for the buyer.

@ashutoshb: Not to go off topic, but in my opinion, to call it a flopped product would be pushing it. Second, they did a lot of value engineering on the Alto to bring the price down and strategically wanted to promote it over the 800 (the car) and hence, even dropped the 5-speed variant of the Maruti 800.

Whatever People might suggest.... I suspect Mahindra has no intention of keeping this vehicle in its manufacturing stable. It looks to me that Mahindra wanted to buy out this JV so that it can starts using the Manufacturing capacity of the existing plant to make more boleros scorpio and Xylos..... this is simple.

@anu21v: If manufacturing capacity is all that they require, they wouldn't be ending a JV to retool a particular manufacturing line to produce their UVs. Now, if your logic is that they would use this better manufacturing line to improve the quality of their UVs, that also is not completely possible because the manufacturing lines and assembly processes required for a monocoque and a body-on-frame are completely different, so major and expensive retooling would be required. But otherwise, I agree that M&M can learn from the production systems.

[rishab.k]

Still 18 months ?? BS motoring had published a snap of Logan CS in March this year.
Have a look at this link SCOOP! : Logan CS snapped!

[SRK]

Originally Posted by rishab.k

Still 18 months ?? BS motoring had published a snap of Logan CS in March this year.
Have a look at this link SCOOP! : Logan CS snapped!

I think this was a photoshop pic. An Artist's impression on what the car would look like.

Also this product might sport a new face.
This is what I think might be the outcome:

[ashutoshb]

Some design studies from Mahindra Graphic Research Design S.r.l. (Mahindra had taken over the Italian design house G.R. Grafica Ricerca Design S.r.l. in 2008).

Hoping Mahindra will make good use of their services for the Logan!

Their website: http://www.grdesign.it/

[AyAn!]

Originally Posted by ashutoshb

Some design studies from Mahindra Graphic Research Design S.r.l. (Mahindra had taken over the Italian design house G.R. Grafica Ricerca Design S.r.l. in 2008).

Hoping Mahindra will make good use of their services for the Logan!

I'm not impressed.These small Italian design firms don't necessarily produce the best of results.I think M&M and other Indian companies should tap India's talent pool and concentrate on in-house designing as much as possible,rather than outsource it.I'm sure they'll be able to produce better results!

Regarding the new Logan,I think it'll just be a heavy face-lift because M&M wouldn't want to tamper much with the basic shape which would result in upsetting the good packaging and generous interior space,the main USP of the Logan,apart from its ride.

[ashutoshb]

The firm is owned by Mahindra! So, no Indians vs rest of the world debate comes here!

Even if Mahindra doesn't use their resources, my point was that they do own a design firm, and if they are taking their help, the results should be good.

On the new Logan, it was always meant to be a facelift. They never said they are coming out with a brand new sedan based on the Logan platform. Whats most likely to change is the boot length, front-rear bumpers, the head-tail lamps, drvms and possibly the interiors. Changing body panels mean new dies means heavy investment, I doubt Mahindra will do that.

[roy_libran]

Have been using a Logan Diesel as my regular ride for the last three years and have not had ONE opportunity to complain. Of course, I prefer a car's utility more than it's aesthetics. If M&M were to shave off about 50K from the current price, without taking away anything, I'm sure a lot of people would see the "VALUE" factor in the car better. I bought mine off the first lot and hence it went without any discounts, but till date I feel it was a value purchase, an intelligent decision!

[karpusv]

@roy_libran
I completely agree with your view. I too have now owned a DLX Logan for 3 years.
In all this time, there has not been one ocassion when I have felt that I made a hasty or bad better purchase.

The time when I purchased my car, the Esteem was already out from production. So was Accent CRDi. And the only other options available were IKON & FIESTA with diesels.
I chose the Logan owing to my utilitarian need of a car. (Already had another petrol car at home then).

The only issue I ever faced with my car was in the first 8 months. A creaking noise in the rear left door which again was not a product issue but more a lack of knowledge on the part of the service guys, who didn;t know how to rectify it.

Now after completing 37,000kms+ It still drives the day I boght her home.
I bought my car for myslef, hence the looks thou not highly appealing, did not matter much.

[ashutoshb]

nice to see Logan owners coming out in favour of the car. Not many people know this, but most of the Logan owners are quite happy with their cars. It's the mahindra a.s.s. which has been a pain!

[Sush]

Originally Posted by ashutoshb

nice to see Logan owners coming out in favour of the car. Not many people know this, but most of the Logan owners are quite happy with their cars. It's the mahindra a.s.s. which has been a pain!

I second that. I bought my 1.6 GLS more than 2 years back and I have no regrets. It's a pleasure to take it to the highways and it consistently gives 17 with AC.
As far as Mahindra service is concerned, I think they have a lot to learn.

[rkparur]

I completely agree with the views of roy libran and karpusv. I own a Logan GLS since 2007 and run 33000 kms. Driving my LOGAN is a passion for me and it didn't give me any complaints till date. Just like the Maruti Suzuki cars which I owned earlier, LOGAN didn't give me any troubles at all. LOGAN is a cut above the ordinary cars presented to us with a lot of advertising and marketing.

[ashutoshb]

Pawan Goenka:

- There will be two versions of the Logan with different price points. Both will be sedans.

- One will be a full-sedan version.

- Second, smaller version will be shorter than four metres. It would, however, not be a hatchback.

- The sedans will not retain the 'Logan' name after the relaunch.

- Expected to be launched in 13-14 months.

Source: Post Renault exit, M&M to drive a shorter, stripped-down Logan

[avishar]

So what basically they will do is give the current Logan a facelift.Change the nose and headlamps and taillamps and then bring out the "CS" Logan with a boot.

However they have to keep the prices of the two variants a bit apart so as to reduce cannabalisation of sales.