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The staff i spoke to had not yet known of any letter that had been sent to a customer in some random city stating that the invoice was wrong. I had asked him this question much before the letter came out. And am not sure what document the staff are supposed to sign according to what you said.

Having a personal rapport with this particular staff, its easy for me and most people like me to trust them. Already this issue has been unnecessarily blown up to huge proportions.

So, if the staff confidently say there was no spare alloy in the vehicles apart from those kept in the outdoor exhibit, there's no reason not to trust them. And nowhere in the past has ANY tata staff claimed the spare to be an alloy AFAIK.
Hence, if there was a link to a source which says that these vehicles did come with an alloy spare, it would help greatly in sorting things out!
That was my intention, nothing else. And please, no offense! End of day, we all want justice for what its worth!

On Saturday I had gone to Concorde Pune to do some running repairs of my Tata Safari. Got some time to sneak in and do an informal chit chat with the sales guys on Hexa. Be noted that, I had the test drive when the prices were yet to be divulged.

As per the pricing chart, the high-end Manual 4X4 would cost around 21.7 Lakhs in Pimpri Chinchwad area.

Here I want to stick to my earlier jurisprudence; with this price, I doubt if the Hexa top-end models would ever have a successful future. For long, I feel, The Safari is a decent seller because of its price bracket. The moment one crosses the 14 or may be even 15 Lakh barrier, there are a lot of people with lot of money and I doubt why would one pay a whopping 21+ lakh on a Tata Vehicle.

I know, few may justify it with the feature that Hexa comes bundled with but then, the segment of 21+ lakh has its own share of people who can always afford 5-6 lakhs more and go for a better brand.

I still stick my neck out and say - once this early craze fizzes out, Hexa going to ruin itself, solely because of this price list. They somehow have to cut at least by 2 lakhs from the current price.

Well my pennyworth.

I went for a Hexa TD over the weekend in Gurgaon and the dealer (Aristo) still doesn't have a display car let alone a TD car! Walked out shaking my head. If this is the situation over a month post launch, then once again a potentially good car will meet its demise.

Not many Hexas are being seen on the road, are they? With such a trump card in their hands, Tata Motors should have looked at their pricing strategy and supply chain management with much more responsibility and foresight.

Quality notwithstanding, they should try to change people's perception of the brand. They could replicate the boot camps being held in the metros and let people from tier 2&3 cities experience the vehicle first hand. I see no Hexas-display, TD or new ones around me.

Chikkamagaluru is normally very receptive of new cars, irrespective of brand and budget. Sadly, I find no Hexas and minuscule number of Tiagos. Though I won't be buying any of the two in the foreseeable future, I feel bad for the product.

Having given birth to talented children, it is imperative for the parents to provide them opportunities to excel. Tata Motors, are you listening?

Hello, I beg to differ here.There is nothing wrong in pricing of Hexa it is in the territory of XUV and Crysta only.

Moving on to next segment is not much comfortable. I am considering the top end variants here. As a buyer if I am going for Hexa XT models then definitely I will be looking on top end trims in Fortuner or Endeavour. The difference will be around 15L not 5-6L.

In base models you miss out on most of the creature comforts especially if you compare Endeavour models.

Same here, I had recently also visited the Ford showroom here in Mumbai to check out the endeavour; don't have the price list handy but there were no more discounts and it started at approx 30lacs (otr) vs. 22 for the XT 4x4 hexa. That's a cool 7.5+ lacs.
The trend misses out on so many features, plus safety equip that the hexa has at this price point.

Just not fair to compare them actually, different segment and way to much of a price difference for me personally as well. Just looking at the price I could say maybe a few endeavour sales will go to the hexa and not vice versa.

My 2 cents

Cheers

Disagree. Do not be in the notion that people who can afford 21 lakh can afford 5 to 6 more. Am going for the XT and trust me, i cannot afford even 2 lakh more. Forget 5 or 6. And there a multitudes of people like me. Making such assumptions is totally wrong.

Also, consisting that i could stretch that 5 to 6 lakh, its only the base model that i can afford. And why should i go for it, when i have an even better ride quality car with more features at a lesser price? Only people who find it difficult to open their minds and welcome the changes will pay extra only to be satisfied with the base version. That's what i feel!

Agree with you to the fullest. Most of the people who buy at 21 lakhs have budgets starting a little below that. They already stretched themselves to 21L and cannot expect them to go further 7.5L. As some one mentioned, different feature list makes the comparison en even.

Why can't Tata come up with the bookings they have on hand to avoid confusion?

On the contrary, Most of the bookings seem to be for the top end models.

I don't think we can compare Hexa and Endeavour - a full segment above it. But for what its worth, Let's see some real numbers e.g.Delhi on road price list attached:

Variant to Variant comparing their top most auto variants with 4x2:
*Top End Tata Hexa XTA 4x2 : 21.11 lakhs
*Top End Ford Endeavour Titanium 4x2: 36.93 lakhs
*Difference: 15.82 lakhs
To put that difference in perspective, you could get ANOTHER full Hexa (XE @ 14.66 lacs on road Delhi!)
And both Hexa's would carry a 5 year warranty included at this cost!

Agreed. That's the Ford's 3.2 motor, lets see 2.2 engine
*Top End Ford Endeavour Titanium 4x2 2.2l: 33.43 lakhs
*Difference : 12.32 lakhs still!





Bottom line is that IMHO, the sticker price of Hexa debate must be put to rest.
It's out there and people who are convinced are going ahead and buying the car., especially top variants. Tata has trust enough in their product and are offering a 5 year coverage warranty. The product is good and cannot be blamed. Sales numbers is a different ball game and time alone will tell.

All of us, including myself, would love it to be 2 lacs or why not,? even 4 lacs cheaper. But this way at least Im happy TATA has not skipped on any safety features.I think its not fair to expect TATA to slash prices just because of the badge.

Again, I beg to differ. I don't think there's any early craze in the Hexa story to begin with. No sold out ads, no long booking queues or insane waiting times, no lotteries (yet ;) ). The Hexa carries some baggage and we all know it.It will have to prove its mettle by roughing it out in the market. Its not going to be a runaway success at launch itself. In fact, as we can gather from our forum itself, people are waiting to see the product perform and then buy after its proved in the first few months. If the Hexa pulls its name with the first set of buyers, I would actually expect sales to better after the initial phase.Just my observation.

Also being a Safari owner, like the OP, Im hoping that the good bits of the Hexa lessons, get carried over to the Safari also, even though at an understandable price increase. I don't want it to miss out on any upgrades, just because it has to stick to the price bracket.

Agree with the fact that Hexa and Endeavour cannot be compared. The very fact that some people are making this comparison is that Ford has pulled a trick by slashing prices by 2L for a couple of months and got it back to where it belonged. This seems to have made an impression on people's mind that the pricing is within reach, particularly if you are sitting on the top end Hexa.

That is exactly what pricing can do to you. People can think Endeavour is way more affordable than Fortuner, even though the pricing variant to variant might be close.

The debate on sticker price of Hexa will not be put to rest, until there is going to be consistence performance on the sales charts.

You do mention product is good, but say sales numbers will be a different ball game. Cannot think of a good product that has failed, if not for the pricing. Tata has offered 5 yrs warranty on the product, because they trust the product, or maybe also because they just had to (given the baggage + what the competition offers?)

Yes, I believe Hexa should be priced lesser by 2L. Why cannot I ask this as a consumer? The Aria when launched was 15L plus, but now you can buy a variant at 10L, albeit bare bones one. Where did they find room to cut it by this margin?

Not going to be a runaway success, but will have better sales number after initial phase? Cannot think of another product which had luke warm response at beginning, but then took off to be a runaway success after a while.

The only argument with respect to pricing people seem to be making is, the start for Hexa could have been aggressive. The need was to have a runaway success to boost the products desirability.

I have said this before on the this thread, a few months later the product could end up being a 'me too' one with a price tag that of its rivals, doing the same (if not lesser) numbers that of its rivals. It might not be a blockbuster!

I can think of at least one - the brilliant first gen (in India) Jazz that bombed because of pricing.
And the capable S-Cross hasn't been a roaring success either in terms of Maruti sales -in which pricing has had a part to play.
Sorry a little:OT

the i20 (first gen) was practically a dud till the jazz came along and made it seem VFM. It has not looked back since.

FIAT? The Punto and Linea are good products and are priced well - but they failed due to other reasons.

You have answered your own question. Hexa do not have a bare bones variant.

:OT
If any product is not a hit at the time of launch and then pics up sale, it cannot be termed as a runaway success. A runaway success is "something good that happens very quickly or easily" (link)

If Hexa can get anywhere near the number of its rivals, that itself will be a grand success for Tata (Rivals being XUV500\Crysta).

--Anoop

The main takeaway from this is, if Endeavour is ever seen as a 'stretch' from Hexa top, then the stretch actually accommodates another Hexa! You would get two cars in the price of one!

There was some truth about that ARIA barebones version. They of course found a way to cut cost. But is that what we want? We should be happy that just to shave off a few lakhs, TATA is not skimping on essential bits/good quality and giving us a bare bones product.

The HEXA XT is TATA's ambition entry into the 20L OTR segment and TATA thinks its worth its bill.Whether we buy it or not, is a personal matter of convincing oneself and making a calculated decision and personal affordability, and that is the right of the consumer.

I test drove both Hexa (XT) and Innova Crysta G MT. Unlike most on this forum, I somehow noticed a very pronounced turbo lag on the Hexa. I did not fiddle around much with the various modes. The power mode on the Innova Crysta was very impressive though.