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Originally Posted by Sommos Many people were aware of all these but even then there was no demand for the Tjet. At the initial price range the thrills of driving this car could not connect with the heart of the members.
The difference between the petrol and diesel price is still very wide and the mileage of the Tjet is still the same. The only thing that has changed w.r.t. this car is the price or the discounts being offered. The demand for the Tjet started picking only when people found the thrill offered to be very exciting at the discounted value it was offered.
I agree that the deregulation of petrol also had an impact but my personal view is that Fiat got the pricing all wrong as they wanted to place the Tjet as a premium product. |
I agree with both of your points. Let me add my 2 cents here (apart from fuel pricing) since I was one of the earliest buyers of T-Jet+
: Most people (on the forum or otherwise) when they buy cars do not want to pay more when:
1. It is a Fiat. Common attitude here is "who will give 11L for a fiat?" No matter what, the brand name sounds like disaster waiting to happen, so knock it off from the list of probables.
2. There is the attitude of "how can the petrol variant be more expensive than the diesel variant?". Unacceptable! Foolish! Idiotic!
Both of these points worked against the T-Jet right from day 1. People forgot to see the actual value addition in the T-Jet compared to other cars - outright performance, superb leather interiors, loads of goodies, outstanding tech specs on power/tyres/torque/brakes, etc. In a country which is plagued with stigma (against certain brands), it is hard to come out of those 2 points I mentioned.
When I was choosing amidst other options in the C-segment, there was hardly any competition for the T-Jet, I was faced with the same question : why don't people give it a fair chance? No intention to start a brand war here, but when I was comparing it against the Vento (P), City and Verna(P), the T-Jet didn't lack in any department, barring the social stigma.
Exteriors : looks like a million bucks. Outstanding build quality way ahead of the City, Verna and Vento
Interiors : superb imported leather interiors. This where the City and Vento were actually behind the T-Jet in the interiors department as well.
Features : behind the Verna but easily beats the City and Vento. Er. does city come with automatic climate control yet? It didn't even have fog lamps and alloy wheels to begin with.
Performance : T-jet could trump everything else and run circles around them. Braking was equally superb. Where was the rest of the competition? Vento with its 105 invisible horses? Honda City with a non-existent bottom range and a soft boat suspension? ditto with the Verna.
compared product to product, there was no match for the T-Jet in that segment, performance or otherwise.
Was it overpriced? I would say NO. The same people who feel the t-Jet was overpriced at 11L on road (Bangalore) would never say the City V MT was overpriced, would they? The City V MT would retail at around the same price back then, sell in thousands and came with lesser equipment (in 2011) than the T-Jet in tech specs, interior goodies and gizmos.
What killed it was the Fiat name and the bad reputation in servicing. If Honda had launched a similar enthusiast product at 11L, I'm sure it would have been lapped up in thousands. And yes, where was the marketing? Many people weren't even aware of such a product in existence. There was a stupid ad which showed a couple admiring a T-Jet passing by on the road, but they never aired one to showcase its performance credentials. Here's the old t-Jet ad :
If this lame ad is what Fiat had in mind to show to the Indian audience, god save their marketing department. Most non-enthusiasts who saw it would be wondering if its just another ad for the existing Linea *lol*. Did they bother trying to educate consumers about what was special in driving a turbo petrol variant? Fiat deserves this debacle if you ask me. They cannot expect results without efforts (marketing) in this case. It was a classic case of customers not interested in Fiat products, and Fiat not interested in selling Fiat products. Recipe for failure!
The T-Jet used to hardly sell when I bought it. I was in fact one of the first few black t-jet buyers in Bangalore. I still remember - the sales guy at my dealer got a hefty bonus because I bought a T-Jet+ from that dealer that month.
They didn't hesitate to bring the test drive car home 3 times, yes that's right 3 times! On D-day I was treated like a VIP and given royal preference for purchase formalities and for delivery, because I had bought their most premium offering here in India. They even sent me a thank you letter and some goodies from Italy. I will probably never get such a memorable and overwhelming purchase experience ever!