[soumobakshi]

The way Mahindra is dealing with this situation is appalling. Any complaints about delayed delivery gets routed back to the dealer, who in this case are helpless.
It's hightime someone with high moral standards in M&M Sales or Marketing Team steps in and provide us with clarity on the reason for delay ( even though few of us booked on 2nd Oct itself without a Test Drive). Is this the reward that we are receiving for trusting in a Made in India Product ?

Requesting support from this community to tag #whereismythar and retweet, till we get a valid response from M&M on this https://twitter.com/soumobakshi/stat...164434432?s=19

@mods: I hope this request of mine doesn't violate the norms, if it does please delete 🙏

[ph03n!x]

Originally Posted by soumobakshi

...tag #whereismythar and retweet, till we get a valid response from M&M on this https://twitter.com/soumobakshi/stat...164434432?s=19

Have done that.. #WhereIsMyThar 'd my tweet too, look it up using the hashtag.

Those who booked, esp in the first week - please tweet if you are on twitter, with the same hashtag!

[84.monsoon]

Originally Posted by ph03n!x

Earning frustrations is not going to work for the brand in the long run, especially when situations like these have been encountered in the past by M&M themselves as well as their contemporaries. No manufacturer in their right sense of mind will continue to pile bookings when cars to dealership are not enroute yet, at least for the initial batch of bookings.

This is where the scarcity mentality of the Indian consumers comes in - market does not punish brands beyond the first few months of waiting. If the Thar had a 12 Month wait list, that makes the product all the more desirable in the eyes of those customers who have not booked it and want to get it later on in the life cycle. There will be a few frustrated souls who have booked and are waiting, but consider the number of people who will be buying this product over a 7-10 year life cycle. They will be happy to buy a product that was so desirable and had "one year waiting list when it was launched" - gives the product a Halo. Not much has changed since the 80s "Bajaj Chetak" days! In any case, M&M can only manufacture and deliver 3500 units a month, might was well do it under a halo!

On the other hand, if M&M rushes and there are niggles and quality issues with the first batch, the consumer will not forget this even after 3-5 years. The product will be treated with suspicion. In India, better take the time and deliver good quality assured product and be seen as a "sought after product"
over the long life cycle than hurry up and please a couple of thousand pre-booking customers by delivering a product that is not 100% bullet proof but suffer long term damage to product reputation. So I am not at all surprised at M&M's actions!

All this are moot points, since deliveries were supposed to start in Q2 next year, before all the launches from Hyundai and Kia started putting pressure on Mahindra. They simply did a master stroke by producing a few 100 test cars and holding a few virtual launch events in October 2020 itself. Pocketed a cool 15000 customers, just as the festive season and demand recovery was in full swing- many of whom would have a Creta/Seltos/Sonet standing in their garages now, if M&M had not done the surgical strike!

[CEF_Beasts]

I found a cheeky comment on Mahindra’s official Thar page on Facebook

[cool_dube]

With all this hullaballoo around delayed delivery timelines, could not resist posting this epic video that went viral around the launch of Thar V1. It's been 10 years since but this one still has me in splits whenever I watch it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-nTob4UwGg

[prajakt_23]

Test drove Diesel manual version on last weekend. One thing which I noticed glaringly was the horn was really hard to press. I don't recollect reading it in reviews I have read so far. Am I the only one experiencing it or was it that individual vehicle specific problem?

[ph03n!x]

This came up in Twitter (Posted by Nilesh Balaji - @kkc_Delhi_6) -


Has anyone heard of any issues with the Thar's Chassis? Or about plant closure in November for 15 days?

By the way #WhereIsMyThar seems to have caught on!

[1.2TSI7DSG]

Guys, this was expected.

A vehicle which sold 15k a year has received 15k bookings at launch. these numbers are a huge clap the product planning & marketing team for defining the requirements right & to create the buzz fort he vehicle. But, no amount of prediction would have predicted the humungous booking numbers and thus the supply chain. That too most of the bookings being for the 2.2 AT Hardtop! Something M&M must have committed certain annual numbers for the AT with their suppliers.

That said, I recommend M&M, like the XUV, should pause bookings and focus on deliveries on priority.

[cool_dube]

Originally Posted by 1.2TSI7DSG

A vehicle which sold 15k a year has received 15k bookings at launch

Agreed! Goes on to show the high levels of resonance this product has had with Indian consumers, and talks volumes about the market research that has gone in. Kudos to M&M for displaying the guts to give us enthusiasts a lifestyle vehicle, when most of the industry is busy with dishing out "mass" products, especially the lethargy displayed by MSIL with regards to the Jimny.

Originally Posted by 1.2TSI7DSG

That said, I recommend M&M, like the XUV, should pause bookings and focus on deliveries on priority.

Completely agree with this! Are they still taking bookings?

[Pkumarblore]

Originally Posted by hellraizer

I am already developing cold feet with my booking.

Anybody else in a similar boat?

Hi, I hope the Thar is your second or third car at home.
Else please buy the Harrier.

[techfreak]

The tweet war seems to be doing its job.
Got a call from officials from the company.
Same story of sourcing of parts as we have already discussed here on the wake of unexpected demand was cited by them as the reason for delay in delivery. One new point that came up during the discussion was they started production apparently in Nov only ��.

Rest chassis problem etc as discussed few posts earlier was not even mentioned. (Obviously even if true)

Can someone confirm if TD cars have actually been recalled?

But (not on record) they (it was a conference call with multiple Mahindra officials of Eastern Zone) also told that most likely deliveries will be earlier by about month or two than the projected dates.

Keeping fingers crossed.

[Stribog]

Originally Posted by 84.monsoon

On the other hand, Mahindra is using transmissions from Aisin, suspensions from ARC, and a host of other externally sourced sub-systems. When push comes to shove and there is a major disruption, these suppliers cannot be expected to toe the line of the OEM when it comes to prioritisation and expediting. This is the reason Covid has severely affected manufacturers like Mahindra who rely heavily on external supply partnerships vis-a-vis Hyundai-Kia, who are more vertically integrated and self-sufficient.

Originally Posted by vkochar

Spot on - Was informed this afternoon when I got the call regarding delay that the overwhelming response and the added COVID restrictions has caused the delay which M&M is trying best to overcome.

Let's not bash M&M on this.

Be that as it may, then Mahindra should have ideally pushed the launch and booking date by a month or two.

M&M planners would have on Aug 15th clear visibility on current stock (which I guess was zero), production capacities and ramp up capabilities. If they had doubts as they should have, why even launch so much ahead of time?

Like someone else also said, this is the Jawa story all over again.

[TusharK]

Mahindra Thar: 20,000 bookings; waiting period over 6 months

Mahindra has announced that it has received more than 20,000 bookings for the 2nd-gen Thar within just a month of its launch. The waiting period for the offroader has now crossed 6 months.



According to the carmaker, the waiting period for certain variants now ranges between 5-7 months. The Hard Top Automatic and Manual variants of both petrol and diesel versions of the Thar are in high demand.

To cater to the demand, Mahindra is fast tracking the process of increasing the production capacity at its Nashik plant and also at the supplier end. The planned capacity of 2,000 units per month is being increased to up to 3,000 units by January 2021.

Deliveries of the Thar commenced on November 1, 2020. During the weekend, the company plans to deliver over 500 cars across India.

[cool_dube]

Originally Posted by TusharK

Mahindra has announced that it has received more than 20,000 bookings for the 2nd-gen Thar within just a month of its launch.

Wow! Goes on to show the untapped market this segment has had for ages, unfortunately overlooked by the likes of MSIL and Tata. Way to go M&M

Originally Posted by TusharK

To cater to the demand, Mahindra is fast tracking the process of increasing the production capacity at its Nashik plant and also at the supplier end

I just hope to God that they do not cut corners on the QC front owing to this mad rush! I would prefer waiting for an additional month and get a niggle-free product as opposed to a buggy product delivered faster. M&M should not forget that first impressions last the longest - a bad reputation earned from the first few thousand deliveries will have far reaching implications on subsequent volumes for a vehicle that could be a game changer for M&M as well as the automotive scenario in general for India! Please, M&M!

[CEF_Beasts]

Well I feel more than announcing booking numbers every 2-3 weeks they should prioritise on deliveries because out of 20000 bookings if due to delays 5000 people may cancel their bookings it’s Mahindra’s loss!