re: Global NCAP tests Kia Seltos, i10 Nios and S-Presso. All three perform badly Quote:
Originally Posted by nagarjun I don't think so, even if you consider this thread as a yardstick and with the reach of team-bhp itself there should be a dent in their sales numbers. At least I will share this information with my friends and acquaintances. Everytime someone asks my opinion about buying a car, I share the links to the various threads and official reviews from this forum to them.
We cannot compare with sales of Swift or S-Presso as Seltos is 20lac car in its highest trim and people putting that much money would be a little more worried about the safety.
In case of entry level cars, lot of customers are looking at them as their first car which can protect them and their family from elements compared to a bike. That has been the case with me as well when I bought my first car. |
I will be pleasantly surprised! I hope it really happens and there is a substantial dent in the sales. That will bring about two things:
1) Kia will be forced to make the Seltos safer by not subsidizing the build quality for the local market. Now, will that be easy? I don't know the answer to that. It depends on what's missing in Seltos for Indian market - is it additional members in the frame or the tensile strength of the frame itself in critical places? Kia will surely know what's different and they will have to get this done.
2) All new models and manufacturers to be launched will know that something has changed in the Indian market and they will equip the cars better - skin deep changes to fare better in these crash tests.
That will show that the market has matured a bit. But like I said, I will be surprised. Though I really hope you are right and we have turned a corner! One of the longest corners out there!
Why the skepticism? I have been following the sales numbers for a very long time now - ever since 'Indian Auto' and the likes started printing some sales numbers in their pages. Public here has an uncanny ability to substantiate any decision they make - and most often it's not rational or logical. Actually, while purchasing a car, it is very easy to make a logical choice - but there is a lot of baggage which limits the thinking of many out here.
It is an extension of what you said in your post. A first time buyer will think about a two wheeler and assure themselves that they are much better off. A Seltos buyer will think about i10 nios while defending the choice and likewise for S-Presso. They are better off in the i10 compared to being in the S-Presso or a two-wheeler!
And I am not even talking about the larger market, I fully expect many members of this forum to follow suit. None will think Seltos barely got those 3 stars by the skin of its teeth and there is no excuse for it to be any less than 5 stars. Meanwhile, Kia PR machinery will kick into action and they will try and convince the hapless 1.25 lakh customers that 3 stars are more than enough and how GNCAP got it wrong!
All said, I really hope I am proved wrong! Only then shall the cars here will get safer going forward. None should ideally buy an unsafe car in this day and age. And for all the tax being collected on cars, I don't think the bureaucracy will care and make something happen. We are all on our own here!
Edit: Quote:
Originally Posted by Vikram Arya I did some digging and found that the North American variant of Seltos earned a score of Good....I then compared the safety specs of the various trim levels for North American & Indian variant and was not surprised that the level of safety equipment offered was very different. |
No point in comparing Seltos in India with that in NA. Both looks the same and share the name, but the cars are very different underneath. And as you have rightly pointed out, the poor crash result here is not a function of missing active safety features either. The structure itself is not stable for the Indian model and no amount of safety kit can help once you start there!
Last edited by deetjohn : 12th November 2020 at 07:12.
Reason: adding quote
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