[Kishen.padiyar]

Originally Posted by GTO

I think the Hexa's sales are a lot lesser than reported on the sales threads. This is the nth time I'm hearing of old stock at the dealer's end.

Please correct me if I am wrong but I do not understand how an instance or two or even 10 for that matter translate to lower sales of that particular model.

Can't it be down to something like cancellation or modification of booking? Also if we need to consider the fact that there are plethora of choices in terms of variants, transmission, seating configuration and colors it can get quite confusing! I myself have come across many instances where booking has been changed to a different variant/color after the order has been placed by the dealer.

In addition to the above, one of the examples quoted above is for the 4X4 variant which is not the best selling variant in case of most crossovers. GST has a role to play as well as many of them were holding up booking/deliveries in view of a price cut. Does a month or two old car make such a difference? I do understand old stock is not good if there has been a face lift or an updated feature list or change in manufacturing year.

I personally feel this old stock thing is blown slightly above proportion. My two cents.

[Latheesh]

@Sandy - May month vehicle is absolutely fine. Do take TBHP PDI check list and check the vehicle before registering.

[kbishwa]

Originally Posted by himanshugoswami

Honestly I'm not surprised. Two counts:
(i) While the Hexa may be a competent product per se, its still not an SUV in the perception of the aam junta. In our SUV mad country, this is a big downer. The van like image just doesnt work, unless you were christened "Innova" at birth and your daddy answers to the name "Toyota".

(ii) Dealers make or break a company. Tata dealers are universally pathetic. Period. Saying this from long personal experience having owned two indicas and two safaris. In contrast M&M dealers rock and the company is super responsive. Case in point, when I got android auto update on my XUV, the dealer charged me 999/- (for what is supposed to be a free upgrade- later was clarified that this was labour charges and the software itself is free!!). I tweeted to M&M and Anand mahindra, got a reply in 2 mins and a call from their regional manager in 15 mins! beat that!

Hence, expect reasonably priced hexas in the used marked a couple of years from now where owners sell their cars out of sheer frustration and incompetence of the service stations.

I agree that people may go for how macho a vehicle looks (Kwid is an example), but looks are very subjective. And for the value Hexa gives in terms of space, ride and premium feel, one should not mind marrying a little overweight matured & smart lady!

I also owned Indica and had similar experience. But the things have really changed. And if I can get an excellent service for a Nano, from ASS to RR, then why cannot for the top rung Hexa, and there are many supportive stories in this thread only. By saying this I don't undermine M&M, but Tatas have also been getting good marks in this department.

[abhi7013]

Originally Posted by himanshugoswami

Honestly I'm not surprised. Two counts:
(i) While the Hexa may be a competent product per se, its still not an SUV in the perception of the aam junta. In our SUV mad country, this is a big downer. The van like image just doesnt work, unless you were christened "Innova" at birth and your daddy answers to the name "Toyota".

(ii) Dealers make or break a company. Tata dealers are universally pathetic. Period. Saying this from long personal experience having owned two indicas and two safaris. In contrast M&M dealers rock and the company is super responsive. Case in point, when I got android auto update on my XUV, the dealer charged me 999/- (for what is supposed to be a free upgrade- later was clarified that this was labour charges and the software itself is free!!). I tweeted to M&M and Anand mahindra, got a reply in 2 mins and a call from their regional manager in 15 mins! beat that!

Hence, expect reasonably priced hexas in the used marked a couple of years from now where owners sell their cars out of sheer frustration and incompetence of the service stations.

Oh man, that last line is just so opposite to what's actually happening inside the ownership groups, i can just laugh out loud!
Frustration and incompetence of the service centers?
Let me tell you brother, no matter how serious the problem (I've come across 4 to be exact out of thousands on road by now), TASS have been showing responses which can only be expected from a premium brand.
Offering hotels to stay, zero charges for free services (not even labor or consumables) apart from oil, free pick up and drop or even getting the technical team home to analyse an issue which turned out to be minor (in my case), etc etc. I could go on.
Yes, other brands may offer the same, but saying outright that owners would be selling their cars out of frustration is
Maybe it was your bad luck that you ended up with such a dealer. There are a few such entities in every brand.

With regards to your first point, looks are highly subjective. Main reason why it's not flying off the shelves as it should is because Indians are not risk takers. Period. No matter how good the product, it's the brand image that matters end of the day. Else, a good track record of the product which am sure will be so, few years down the line.

Coming to your second point, claiming that every dealer is pathetic makes me not to comment on that. Let the owners and prospective buyers judge the same!
It was a good move, by the way, for M and M to respond back to you the way they did for such a minor issue, no denying.

As long as there are no issues in our cars and we are treated the way we are being right now, am pretty sure things will take off down the line.
As i had said earlier, no one expects it's sales to cross XUV's or Innova's. Let it stay rare and premium!

[Kishen.padiyar]

Originally Posted by himanshugoswami

Tata dealers are universally pathetic. Period.

How many Tata dealerships have you personally visited and have had bad experiences with them before making such a statement? Give me a number. I am interested to know.

[himanshugoswami]

Originally Posted by Kishen.padiyar

How many Tata dealerships have you personally visited and have had bad experiences with them before making such a statement? Give me a number. I am interested to know.

Since you asked, here's the list


Sanya motors Delhi (now defunct)
concorde Delhi
Aristo gurgaon
Auto vikas Delhi
Tuli Motors Delhi
Pawha Delhi
Kulathunkal Trivandrum
Malik cars hyderabad
Concorde Hyderabad
KHT Bangalore
Prerana Bangalore


A couple of other service centers that I visited in the course of my long distance trips, one in Pune, one in Lucknow and one in ahmedabad whose names i cant recollect.

All these over a period of 10 years during my ownership of an Indica LSI, Indica DLX Turbo, Safari 3.0 Dicor LX and Storme VX in which I covered a cumulative distance of approx 2 lakh kms..

So i think Im fairly qualified to pass judgement on ownership experience of tata vehicles.

[#win]

Originally Posted by himanshugoswami

Since you asked, here's the list




All these over a period of 10 years during my ownership of an Indica LSI, Indica DLX Turbo, Safari 3.0 Dicor LX and Storme VX in which I covered a cumulative distance of approx 2 lakh kms..

So i think Im fairly qualified to pass judgement on ownership experience of tata vehicles.

You definitely seemed to have lived with Tata atleaset for over a Decade. what made you upgrade to Storme VX considering the bitter experience you had with Tata already.

[Enobarbus]

Originally Posted by himanshugoswami

Since you asked, here's the list

I guess you are a perfectionist.

In our family we have used the Vista for more than 100,000 KM, Manza for 85,000 KM, and we are currently using two Zests, both have covered nearly 50, 000 KM each. I have used the services of Malik cars Hyderabad and Concorde Hyderabad many times. I never had any major problems in either. Only a few minor goof ups in Concorde.

On the other hand, my first car was a Wagon R and it developed engine problems (low power, driveable on flat roads, struggles on gradients) within the first 5000 KM. I visited at least 7 or 8 Maruti service centers. Maruti engineers worked on it twice. Every time they just clean stuff and 3 times they changed spark plugs, but the issue was not rectified. They finally came into a denial mode. I sold it at a very low price at 35,000 KM because of this issue. The guy who bought the wagon R took it to a FNG and voila, it was rectified in a jiffy. No this is not a con pulled by the technicians or service center guys. The guy who bought it is a close friend who wanted to use it occasionally. After 8 years, he is still using it happily.

Coffee, clean lounges and rest rooms are all very nice, but at the end of the day, they have to rectify the issues.

[akshay380]

Regarding someone's post above that Hexas are not selling much, I have experience to share from two dealership. Goa and Pune. In Goa the silver shade, may-17 was readily available in XT manual whereas Blue had 3-4 week waiting. Same for Blue XTA. In Pune XTA grey and Silver was available ready from May 17.

PS: I know because my uncle is getting his blue XTA next week!

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by GTO

This is the nth time I'm hearing of old stock at the dealer's end.

Going by the the posts after your post, it seems pretty clear that it is most likely restricted to silver/grey vehicles. This happens across brands.
A lot of customers book silver/grey since they are "safe" colors to book after they see other colors, quite a few of them change their booking to a better color, which in the Hexa seems to be the Arizona blue, much like your 530d.

Originally Posted by ashis89

While I don't approve of trying to pass off older stocks, they are not hiding or dissuading PDI to cover their tracks.

Frankly, a 2 month old vehicle is NOT old stock.
However, the onus is on the dealer to be clear in communication and allow a detailed PDI to the customer's satisfaction.

Originally Posted by SaNdY_AR

The plant produces at least 250 vehicles in the same color at one go and till the stocks are near to finish they do not produce the same color again until they have sufficient orders.

They are correct. Paint shops work in batches and that is exactly why there are older stocks of grey vehicles.

Originally Posted by Kishen.padiyar

Does a month or two old car make such a difference?

It doesn't, as long as the dealer is clear in his communication to the customer.
Also, I m pretty sure that "rust" mentioned on the running board was just some surface rust which would go away with a wet wipe at most.

Originally Posted by abhi7013

It was a good move, by the way, for M and M to respond back to you the way they did for such a minor issue, no denying.

Let's be frank here, it was not just a "good" move, it was exemplary.

This is where M&M is head and shoulders above TML. They come across as a young, proactive OEM which listens to its customers.

Originally Posted by abhi7013

Let it stay rare and premium!

Dont tell me you mean it. Even you do, TML doesn't, no OEM does.

Originally Posted by #win

what made you upgrade to Storme VX considering the bitter experience you had with Tata already.

Great question there....!!!

Originally Posted by Enobarbus

Coffee, clean lounges and rest rooms are all very nice, but at the end of the day, they have to rectify the issues.

Individual incidents apart, one cannot ignore the fact that pan-India surveys put Maruti on top in their Service Satisfaction Indexes year on year.

Is TML as bad as, say Datsun? No, but they aren't as good as Maruti as well.

Originally Posted by akshay380

In Pune XTA grey and Silver was available ready from May 17.

Another example there. So it is the grey which has older stocks due to the color change in bookings.

[abhi7013]

Originally Posted by n.devdath

Dont tell me you mean it. Even you do, TML doesn't, no OEM does.

Yes, i honestly do feel that way and am not at all bothered by the sales figures! A product, for me, should speak for itself and shouldn't depend on the market sales figures, specially where its feature driven.
And yes, i wouldn't expect brands to think that way as you said. But again, targets and expectations have to be pragmatic!

[himanshugoswami]

Originally Posted by #win

You definitely seemed to have lived with Tata atleaset for over a Decade. what made you upgrade to Storme VX considering the bitter experience you had with Tata already.

The product itself. It ticked all the boxes for me plus my emotional connect with the Safari. Heck, i would buy one again today if it came with the brilliant AT box from the Hexa along with Automatic climate control (crap dealers notwithstanding).

[siddharth113]

Originally Posted by akshay380

Regarding someone's post above that Hexas are not selling much, I have experience to share from two dealership. Goa and Pune. In Goa the silver shade, may-17 was readily available in XT manual whereas Blue had 3-4 week waiting. Same for Blue XTA. In Pune XTA grey and Silver was available ready from May 17.

PS: I know because my uncle is getting his blue XTA next week!

NDTV Auto reported a July sales number of 2,808 for Hexa. Massive I think even if we're to bake in the GST impact.

Waiting for the Team-BHP analysis of July car sales. I think Compass may just shake things up a bit for Hexa, Creta, XUV etc, so this segment will make a very interesting watch for the next few months.

[S.MJet]

Originally Posted by siddharth113

NDTV Auto reported a July sales number of 2,808 for Hexa.

2808 is total UV sales for July which includes Sumo and Storme. No doubt Hexa numbers would be better than previous months.

While the car segment marginally degrew by 1% at 12,125 untis, the UV segment grew by 110% at 2,808 units, due to strong demand for Tata Hexa.

ET Auto

[simplyself]

One major step Tata should take is increase the number of service stations. Concorde should increase the number of outlets in a city. With less number of service outlets, the personnel are over burdened and rushed. I have been observing this in Concorde, Uppal, Hyderabad. They are competent but the sheer number of vehicles makes things difficult. And the water wash people, though working quite fast, simply cannot cope up with the rush.

The other day Tata customer feedback guy called me up to ask for my feedback. I have explained to him the situation.

I also heard at Uppal station that they are planning to add one more outlet.