[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by F150

What is the value addition of having a factory in INDIA which cannot manufacture Santa Fe locally ? India is just a export hub for small cars.
I am pretty sure, that they don't have plans to manufacture it locally any time soon.

If you read the review, this new Santa Fe is locally assembled and not a full CBU import.

Even though it's a CKD they have priced it at a hefty premium.

[anujmishra]

This is page of Korean Santa Fe in Korea.
http://www.hyundai.com/kr/showroom.do?carCd1=RV003

Price of vehicle given in above page in KRW. Roughly it starts from INR 16 Lakh and goes upto INR 19.5 lakh. There are five variants of Santa-Fe on sale namely:


1. Smart
2. Modern
3. Premium -- 4WD version starts from here.
4. Exclusive
5. Exclusive Special

Buyers in Korea get many customization options apart from above base price of car.
Here is list of optimization options: (Prices are INR equivalents)

1. 8 inch smart navigation + Premium ACTUNE sound system + Rear View Camera + Dual AC -- Price: 95,000 INR

2. Panaromic sun roof: Price 70,000 INR

3. Third row seats + Rear AC: 38,000 INR

4. Driver/Passenger ventilated seats: 24,000 INR

5. Electronics 4WD System: 1,20,000 INR (Premium & Exclusive variants)

6. Brown Leather seats: 60,000 INR (Premium & Exclusive variants)

7. Exterior package: 50,000 INR (Premium & Exclusive variants)


Given that present price in India, it is completely rip-off and with 0 customization options given to Indian customers. These days most of the car manufacturers taking Indian Customer for ride and taking out maximum money from them. I would not think Santa-Fe would be sensible buy in India after seeing these prices.

[praveen_n]

Originally Posted by anujmishra

Given that present price in India, it is completely rip-off and with 0 customization options given to Indian customers. These days most of the car manufacturers taking Indian Customer for ride and taking out maximum money from them. I would not think Santa-Fe would be sensible buy in India after seeing these prices.

Completely agree with you but the same is done by many manufacturers.
Have you checked the price of fortuner/Prado/cruze all are cheaper outside India

[entropy]

Originally Posted by praveen_n

Completely agree with you but the same is done by many manufacturers.
Have you checked the price of fortuner/Prado/cruze all are cheaper outside India

If one is into comparing with international prices - do compare with the US and UK prices. Also compare other makes (Their prices abroad and in India). You'll come to the conclusion that Santa-Fe is quite reasonably priced when compared relatively. Of course, could it be made cheaper ?. Probably ... but it is all relative.

[A350XWB]

Originally Posted by smekad

In Bangalore the top end of CRV (2.4L, 4WD, AVN) is almost 4L cheaper than top end Santa-Fe on road! I think the CRV makes a compelling case against the Santa-Fe if someone plans to keep it for long time and has not too high running. Overall I believe that Toyota will be smiling their way to the bank!

In many posts, I've seen the talk about GC of 185mm. The CR-V has a GC of 170 mm, akin to most of the sedans and people don't seem to mind. Funny. And yes, Toyota will be smiling as always, as they also rip the Indian customers. Please see the prices of Corolla and Fortuner elsewhere. Actually, CR-V and Captiva are the ones which should be compared with the Santa Fe, as they are softroaders and not the truck based Fortuner, Endeavour and Pajero Sport.

Originally Posted by smekad

Digest this OTR prices of fortuner vs Santa Fe in bangalore:
Fortuner 4x2AT is almost 7L cheaper OTR than 4WD AT Santa Fe.

I have to say, apples to apples comparison. Compare 2WD AT of Fortuner against the 4WD AT Santa Fe. One should have compared the 2WD manual Fortuner to the 4WD AT Santa Fe and the equation will be even more skewed, so that the Santa Fe looked even worse.

Originally Posted by F150

The price difference is huge between the US and India. I wonder why ? Is this because Santa Fe is CBU ?
The price starts from 25K USD. That is roughly 16L.
Fortuner's brother RAV4 starts from 35K USD, that is roughly 22L. The price difference is a mere 1L.

If you have to get a one to one price check, you have to select a car, something like the Corolla (even the corolla sold in the US is different). Then you can see that the prices are way too off for what is offered in India. Even for the RAV4, the base version costs 15.10 lacs (INR, directly converted), but has a plethora of safety and additional features, starting with a 6 speed automatic gearbox and Driver and front passenger Advanced Airbag System; driver knee airbag; front passenger seat-cushion airbag; driver and front passenger seat-mounted side airbags, and front- and second-row Roll-sensing Side Curtain Airbags (RSCA), which the Indian Fortuner can only dream of. So, bottom line is, if you directly compare the prices in India and US, every car is atleast 30% or more costlier in India.

Originally Posted by anujmishra

These days most of the car manufacturers taking Indian Customer for ride and taking out maximum money from them.

This is correct. Every manufacturer takes the Indian buyer for a ride, as I mentioned earlier. Even I feel that the Santa Fe is overpriced in India. But so are others. It's in the comparison equation that the Santa Fe really loses out.

[kewlferrari]

Great review as always Anshuman. So much better than all the oher reviews I have read. Attention to detail is awesome.
I was one of the many waiting for the Sante Fe, not convinced that I should plonk 30 big ones on a Hyundai.
Completely agree on the missing features - Sun roof, GPS etc

[Sarvodaya]

Why was Renault Koleos left out in the comparision chart. The Santa FE is overpriced. At this price they should have offered sunroof, GPS Navigation, Passenger seat Power Adjust. For Petrol Lovers, Honda CRV is best VFM. For Diesel Captiva (7 seater), Koleos (5 seater) is best VFM. And the Rexton @ 21 Lakhs which is almost 9 Lakhs cheaper is hard to ignore.

[anujmishra]

This replies in this thread are testimony of Indian Customer about Santa-Fe and its success in Indian market. The review is fantastic and everything well placed but it is consumers who are actually back foot seeing the inflated price and positioning of this car.

This car has lots of potential to make buzz in Indian Auto Market, provided that it is well placed and well priced as per other markets. Nowhere Santa-Fe justify its prices beyond 20 lakhs for top variant. If Hyundai really wanted to launch this car in India, they could have done little more homework to find the ways to keep the price leveled as per other markets. It seems some executive of Hyundai got day dream to launch Santa-Fe in India and wait to rob Indian Customers.

Why you Hyundai Executive gets salary as you cannot put thought behind it or cannot read the market pulse? There is a thread of moderator tsk1979 about "The great Indian SUV void in the Rs. 15 lakh space". Still there is void and no Auto Companies executive got any hints about it. They have product for this price-range, but they came to India with only one intention to make "Lots of Money" from here.

Specially, Hyundai positioning its mid-segment cars in India as higher segment. I want to ask them, a Big Why? Do you know that your top of the line offering in India "Sonata" is mere Taxi is your own country? Rarely people buy your "Verna" aka "Avante" in South Korea as it is "cheap" car in Korea. You sell your Genesis branded cars which are actually top of the line for the price of Sonata and Santa-Fe in India. Isn't Hyundai guys are big cheats in India and believe that consumers are bunch of fools here? Stop thinking like that as you know that India is bread and butter market for you.

Apart from these, these global auto majors always reduce the trim level of cars compared to other markets and position as high end in India. Time has come that such practice should stop as we are not paying less amount to you. We can royally pay you 1 - 2 lakhs more compared to other markets for same product but not 10 - 15 lakhs.

This is not only applicable for Hyundai, it is applicable for Toyota, Honda, Skoka, VW and all global major auto companies operating in India. Don't think Indian market just as Money Minting Market provide same level of service, car, price, trims that you do in other countries. Do not blame governments always, find out the ways as for this purpose executives are getting paid. If they would not succeed fire them immediately.

[drmohitg]

I was really looking forward to the launch of this new Santa Fe. I have always admired its looks from the day of its launch and it failed to click only because of the pricing and a very tough competitor in form of the Fortuner. Although surprisingly I see a lot of Santa Fe here in Gujarat ( never able to guess the reason for that). Having said that the new car looks equally good and as expected is loaded with features. Whats disappointing is he price and even more so the lack of a proper 3rd row seat, an area where the Fortuner is probably still the best SUV in this segment. I don't really see this one faring any better in our market than its older avatar.

[Santoshbhat]

Nice review Anshuman. Hyundai has surely come of age with products like the new Santa Fe. Gone are the quirky looks, average build and mediocre performing machines. It looks modern inside out and is well specced too.

The pricing seems to have irked many. By reading some of the comments here it seems that the "rip off" rights belong only to the Germans. Yes I know badge value does make a difference and Hyundai is no merc or BMW!

I was certainly looking forward to the Sante Fe and was expecting it to come at 25- 28L OTR considering that this one would be a CKD. To be honest I am disappointed with the pricing. But I am quite happy to read from the review that the product is exceeding my expectations. For someone looking for a softroader in the 25L space the only other worthy options are the Honda CRV, Captiva and the Koleos. The CRV is a petrol and petrol SUVs in India is a joke. The Chevy Captiva feels like an old product and the Koleos is a bit too small and I find it too quirky for my liking.

Manufacturers know we Indians love SUVs hence the premium pricing. We now need Maruti to step into the segment with a credible alternative. Competition is the best leveller.

[A350XWB]

Originally Posted by anujmishra

Specially, Hyundai positioning its mid-segment cars in India as higher segment. I want to ask them, a Big Why? Do you know that your top of the line offering in India "Sonata" is mere Taxi is your own country? Rarely people buy your "Verna" aka "Avante" in South Korea as it is "cheap" car in Korea.

Interesting perspective. With this logic, I would add the Merc C & E classes, the BMW 3 series & 5 series Combi, the VW Passat, the Skoda Superb etc to the worthless list as they are all taxis in their home country. And here in India, how much are you shelling out to buy those taxis?

Originally Posted by anujmishra

This is not only applicable for Hyundai, it is applicable for Toyota, Honda, Skoka, VW and all global major auto companies operating in India.

This is true. As the RAV4 was brought in to the discussion earlier, I just checked the MoM sales figures of the RAV4 in US and Fortuner in India. Below are the figures from July to December 2013.

Fortuner in India - 1669, 1313, 1518, 1631, 1264, 1144.
RAV4 in US - 19538, 23502, 15928, 17590, 19447, 20970

As you can see, US is a market which is selling 10x that of India and I don't think India will pickup those numbers any time soon. This might be one of the reasons for the higher price to negate the costs to the manufacturer. We can be happy that the prices are not 10-fold, unlike the sales. Also, higher taxation maybe another reason. I'm not justifying any manufacturer, but throwing another perspective to the whole thing.

(Data Sources - Team-BHP & Good Car Bad Car)

[arup.misra]

Very nice review Anshuman, though I cant say the same about the Santa.

For me Hyundai spoilt the party with

a) Missing sunroof - The rear three quarter design bears resemblance to the RR Evoque, which too has a declining roof. But the addition of sun roof masks the claustrophobic feeling, especially in the last seat

b) Pricing - Almost all Hyundai cars are better equipped than the nearest rivals, so in the sense the gizmos were more on expected lines (no surprises). Despite this it is positioned upwards of 25L in the T-fort range.

For me this is where Hyundai seems to be off the mark. When the idea is to compete / make-a-presence in the big boys club, you either need to undercut without glaring omissions or load it with bells and whistles and position is in the best sellers club.

Sadly Hyundai has done neither.

[adi_petrolhead]

@anshuman awesome review as always. I went for a test drive of the Santa Fe. The test drive model was 4x2 AT. So there were big differences like the instrument cluster et all. Now I asked the sales advisor, does Hyundai not know that people spending upwards of 30L on a premium SUV, would want the car to feature a proper panoramic sunroof like the international model? to which he replied that sunroofs spoil the rigidity of the structure! and they are mere cosmetic upgrades. There is no actual purpose of the sunroof. I argued that why don't you leave that to the global ncap to decide.

Next I asked why the display in the centre console is so tiny. Why not the full screen display like the European model, to which he replied, that GPS and extra features would distract the driver, and so we feel we made the car safer by not adding full screen with GPS.

He told me that he was previously working with Renault, and the Koleos also didn't come with a sunroof, which saved his life. Apparently he had an accident in the Koleos in a test drive where the customer managed to topple the SUV. According to him, the absence of sunroof saved them from further injuries of broken glass. Now what do I argue with this guy?

Anyway, I am pretty sure, soon enough Hyundai will update the Santafe, offering sunroof (may be not panoramic) and with proper full screen satellite navigation.

[kaizanfan]

Before buying the Toyota Fortuner I had taken a look at the Hyundai Santa Fe. I didn't go for it for the following reasons:
- Not much company on the road. I am able to spot a Santa Fe only once or twice a week.
- Trouble free and low cost maintenance is not proven (again not much data available due to fewer vehicles on the road)
- Low GC
- Pricey for an Hyundai. Difficult to accept a Hyundai in the luxury category. They need to do some marketing on this aspect. German soft roaders available around Santa Fe's price point.
- Felt like it was an old model since the fluidic version continued to be in the making for a long time.
- Test drive was not available. Trident informed me that they would be able to provide a short test drive only when a vehicle arrives for delivery to a customer.

First four points still hold true.

[rogercharlie]

Would anyone know if production and deliveries have started in India? Trident Bangalore folks are taking bookings but are not able to commit any firm delivery dates. The best they are saying is a vague "about two months".

On pricing, all cars in India are significantly more expensive if you consider their US pricing and multiply them with the Re/US$ exchange rate. I think the issue has more to do with duties and taxes collected by the government, rather than insane profit margins.