[turbospooler]

Originally Posted by pravint

Koreans do enjoy Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between India and South Korea.
This allows them to import lot of things without much import duty,which helps them to reduce cost significantly..

So do the Japanese under India-Japan CEPA.

Off-topic but relevant to the message on this thread.

[aseem23]

Originally Posted by pravint

Koreans do enjoy Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between India and South Korea.
This allows them to import lot of things without much import duty,which helps them to reduce cost significantly..

Same for Japan as they also have a trade agreement.
Source: https://aric.adb.org/fta/japan-india...ship-agreement

If the Koreans can do it, then the Japanese can do it too. Also, look at Honda's portfolio in countries like Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Australia, and compare it with its portfolio in India.
The recently launched Honda ZR-V e:HEV LX variant costs $54,900 AUD (~35,000 USD), approx 29lakhs. Now imagine if Honda brings it to India then how many buyers they can expect for their 40l product (considering our taxes), and the same goes for other OEMs too. Ours is a cost-conscious country, and OEMs need to consider which products to launch, and how to do it to find buyers/volume and sustain.

I have also attached the pdf of the trade agreement.

[riteshritesh]

Inspite of FTA a lot of items are kept out of its purview. Items that could hit the domestic industry are not included in the FTA, so it needs to be checked if either/or is actually getting duty benefit or not.

[Bhokal]

Honda is making a huge mistake by not going all out in India. We will soon be 3rd largest economy in the world, our car market will see huge growth in coming years. Japan and Honda has so much goodwill here, they need to invest heavily here and absorb any potential losses for long term gain. Their current attitude will not get them anywhere.

[autonmus_drivr]

Need urgent advice! XUV700 Vs Elevate

In a major dilemma and seeking your advice!

I've booked a XUV700 Petrol AT AX7L last July, which is due to be delivered by end of Aug (as per the Mahindra tracker before it went offline).

I've also booked a Elevate ZX CVT.

Requirement: A car that can seat 5 people, two of which will be 6 footers. I'm 6'3 tall and will be driving most of the time. Not a performance driver, though not sedate. Safety is an important criteria in my buying decision. Was leaning more towards Elevate because it is more like a City with a better headroom!

Dilemma:
Elevate - several reviews including teambhp has pointed out the lesser space for front row seats. Haven't seen the car. Whitefield Honda says will get the car to see on Aug 20, 21. BTW, I can live with a slightly sluggish CVT.
XUV700 - even after two years there are so many niggles reported in the forum. I have only owned Maruti and Hyundai and have NEVER visited the ASC for a breakdown in the last 15 years! (Touchwood). Also, I don't think I will truly test the 2L Turbo. While not a dealbreaker, irritated a bit with multiple price hikes in the last year and overall attitude of the dealers.

How should I think about this? Appreciate all the advice.

[wheelguy]

According to above posts, owing to the FTAs, Japanese and Korean OEMs have an unfair advantage over their competition, or does the American, European, and Chinese companies too have any similar benefits?

And in the India-Japan and India-Korea FTAs, do they have anything specific to automotive industry?

[Paritoshkalra]

Originally Posted by autonmus_drivr

Need urgent advice! XUV700 Vs Elevate

In a major dilemma and seeking your advice!

I've booked a XUV700 Petrol AT AX7L last July, which is due to be delivered by end of Aug (as per the Mahindra tracker before it went offline).

I've also booked a Elevate ZX CVT.

Requirement: A car that can seat 5 people, two of which will be 6 footers. I'm 6'3 tall and will be driving most of the time. Not a performance driver, though not sedate. Safety is an important criteria in my buying decision. Was leaning more towards Elevate because it is more like a City with a better headroom!

Dilemma:
Elevate - several reviews including teambhp has pointed out the lesser space for front row seats. Haven't seen the car. Whitefield Honda says will get the car to see on Aug 20, 21. BTW, I can live with a slightly sluggish CVT.
XUV700 - even after two years there are so many niggles reported in the forum. I have only owned Maruti and Hyundai and have NEVER visited the ASC for a breakdown in the last 15 years! (Touchwood). Also, I don't think I will truly test the 2L Turbo. While not a dealbreaker, irritated a bit with multiple price hikes in the last year and overall attitude of the dealers.

How should I think about this? Appreciate all the advice.

XUV 700 AX7 AT Petrol is a far better car in every way except the fuel efficiency. If you are okay with the fuel efficiency of 6-9 kmpl, Please go ahead with XUV 700 petrol AT car. Its absolutely more fun to drive car and its really much bigger than ELEVATE in every way.

However, if money is not a concern and you need a better and reliable product, then, you can also opt for another option - SUZUKI INVICTO (30 lakhs on road) or TOYOTA HYCROSS VX (31 lakhs onroad) or GX (24 lakhs on road) version which gives way more space for its passengers and all 5 six footers will be happy sitting in it.

[SoumenD]

Originally Posted by autonmus_drivr

Need urgent advice! XUV700 Vs Elevate

XUV7OO is a segment above Elevate/Creta/Seltos. Has a much more powerful engine(almost twice as powerful than Elevate), much bigger space and way more features. If budget permits, you should definitely go for it. Competition is Hector/Safari/Harrier.

If you’re considering Elevate, competition usually should be G.Vitara/Creta/Seltos NA offerings. But as per your requirement of 5 people and two 6 footers, this segment is better skipped as most of these are usually comfortable for 4+1kid.

Go for the XUV

[tsi_niks1989]

Originally Posted by autonmus_drivr

Requirement: A car that can seat 5 people, two of which will be 6 footers. I'm 6'3 tall and will be driving most of the time. Not a performance driver, though not sedate. Safety is an important criteria in my buying decision. Was leaning more towards Elevate because it is more like a City with a better headroom!

How should I think about this? Appreciate all the advice.

XUV 700 it should be as you mentioned car should be able to seat 5 people. Elevate would not be able to seat all 5 comfortably, it is a 4 seater at best. Rear legroom would be good when compared to the cars of its segment but not a segment above.

XUV has a proven safety while the Honda still needs to prove. Though XUV has few minor niggles, lets remember Elevate is also a new offering from Honda so we cannot rule out few issues with the initial lot of cars. Just remember the petrol motor of the XUV won't be very fuel efficient, should not expect mileage above 10 in City.

[PaddleShifter]

Originally Posted by autonmus_drivr

How should I think about this? Appreciate all the advice.

From your post, it is clear that Elevate is not for you. You are 6’3” and there will be two 6 footers in the car out of 5. Avoid Elevate, Creta, Seltos etc.

If reliability is important for you at a budget, consider Alcazar which will be spacious enough for the 5 of you. But it is a 3 star rated car so if you are concerned about safety, you will have to compromise the reliability aspect and welcome some niggles. Then you can choose between XUV700, Scorpio-N, Harrier and Safari besides MG Hector.

Regarding XUV700: Consider the age of vehicle that is reporting niggles after two years. Is it a recently manufactured piece or is it that 2021 manufactured ones are still reporting niggles after two years. I believe that recently manufactured petrol models are more or less sorted. One may also settle for a lower variant and skip the AX7L so that lesser tech translates to lesser headaches.

If you want reliability as well, are ok with a van like car and can stretch your budget a bit: then you can strongly consider the Innova (Hycross/Invicto).

[buzzy_boy]

Originally Posted by Bhokal

Honda is making a huge mistake by not going all out in India. We will soon be 3rd largest economy in the world, our car market will see huge growth in coming years. Japan and Honda has so much goodwill here, they need to invest heavily here and absorb any potential losses for long term gain. Their current attitude will not get them anywhere.

Sorry to break your illusion, but no. Per Maruti's annual report, they expect the Indian car market to continue to grow at 6% annually -until 2030. While this is good, it's not ground breaking. Unless the taxes are reduced, the average Indian car manufacturer is going to struggle to meet their returns on capital employed expectations.

[W.A.G.7]

Good God! 29+ pages of debate about whether it's a featureless car or not and whether Honda would exit India! Let's hold on to the horses till the actual user reports start flowing in. I would be more interested in reading about how the car performs in day-to-day conditions rather than debating whether Honda will exit or not! There is a different thread for this I believe somewhere in the forum. I think time will tell whether Honda will exit the Indian market or not and it will be in black and white.

My take on this car is as before - I think it will still appeal to quite a lot of buyers who are not really "enthusiasts" in that sense. I still like it, and if they price it reasonably well, I would probably buy it. Sure they are giving old tech in a newer connected world, but the "core" features of the car would perform flawlessly as compared to many of the electronically connected cars.

[pannags]

A city owner shares impressions from driving an Elevate

Disclaimer: There's nothing we haven't heard or seen

https://youtu.be/FWNwrpsrxZY

[rajshenoy]

While I am not excited about the effort honda has put here and no hybrid tech, I also believe they do have some market data. I feel majority of creta/seltos sales too are from the 1.5NA MT/IVT and hyryder/grand vitara from its K15 engine and Honda engine is definitely proven and does the job well. I am not considering the Germans and their turbo engines etc since they are hardly selling in big numbers.

So with that hope, hoping Honda prices this well and grabs some market share. That might prompt them to launch more models

[wheelguy]

Originally Posted by autonmus_drivr

Need urgent advice! XUV700 Vs Elevate

How should I think about this? Appreciate all the advice.

Wait for Elevate to be available at your place, then checkout whether if it can seat 5 in comfort or not, and then decide. I think Elevate cannot seat 2nd row middle passenger in comfort. Checkout rest of the ergonomics and decide.

Safety of XUV700 is proven, for Honda it is yet to be proved, but going by the company's history, Honda is not skimping on the safety to provide blingy features. So either Honda or Mahindra, you cannot go wrong in this aspect.

Rest of the things like features and prices, you have to choose. Remember XUV700 is from a segment above Elevate.