Sales figures and the following discussions

Ahhhh!!!

We guys are so passionate about the cars we drive; be it Fiat, Maruti, Honda, Ford, Tata or whatever brand. We always feel good if we see our brands doing good numbers and feel sad when it happens otherwise. Quite Natural!

However I feel, when we start defending our cars and pointing fault of others, is when the problem creeps in. While it is good for the discussion's sake, but people make inappropriate comments about cars they do not own, and others make it point to prove them wrong. For e.g. one comment was the SX4 is not doing well because of poor fuel efficiency (I believe the comparison is with new Honda City). 3 of us in our office own SX4s (old version) and two have New City’s (one a bit old now and other bought one month back). We don’t find any difference in fuel efficiencies at all, but the perception is city is more fuel efficient than SX4. Same goes for Fiat and GMs service cost, Tata's service quality etc.

What we all must understand is that it is a very competitive environment in India. There are so many cars, all decent, all good. Most people buy cars that are seen more on road and this cycle ensures that brands like Maruti, Hyundai and Tata will rule the Indian car market. However, perception is that these cars are inferior in quality compared to the Hondas, Toyotas or GMs of the world. We all honestly know that this is as incorrect a statement as saying that say a Maruti is twice as good as any other car at the entry level.

Sales figures do not tell the complete picture. Let’s not label cars good or bad simply on the basis of how they are selling. What needs to appreciated is the fact that Fiat and Tata have now grown considerably since two years back and would grow faster in the coming two years. We have seen players dropping prices, increasing features and making cars more affordable and better than they ever were. As consumers we are getting a good deal and I hope things will get even better in the years to come.

definitely the people are now going for other brands like fiat, gm and other brands.

the competition should increase for the betterment of consumers

Himanshu, a very valid point. As far as I understand, this is a human phenomenon, in general. We always find our stuff better than others' and we will go to any extent to prove others wrong. And as we all know, you can prove your stuff better also by proving others' stuff crap. Most of the people take this route.

On the perception part, you can't help it. Sometimes it takes only a few moments to form a perception and it takes ages to change it. Honda City has been successful in forming a perception of very good fuel efficiency and it will last really long. The perception was built by a strong product they had launched a decade ago. I drive a Palio and I can tell you that my car gives more or less the same FE as a Santro or i10 gives in my office. Initially Fiat, GM and Skoda etc did not perform as per expectations on the after-sales front, now even if they do things drastically different and better, it will take quite a while to change what has gone inside people's mind. It's natural.

When you say people tend to buy only those cars which are more often seen on roads. This is because they don't want to take chances. They already have lots of issues in their lives, they buy cars to make their lives easier and not miserable. Buying a high-selling car gives them peace of mind. Another aspect is, they don't know much about cars and hence it's always safer to pick a bestseller. I would say they are right in doing so.

I will give you an real-life example. One of my colleagues and I were discussing cars the other day. He told me that he will be upgrading his i10 soon enough. Before I could recommend him anything, he said he doesn't want a Fiat or alike. He said he knows Fiat cars are way superior to other similar but bestselling cars as they have characters and they talk to the driver and all but I have tried a lot talking to my car and I feel it doesn't talk to me. I think I better stay with an inferior product but get an overall better ownership experience. He said, he doesn't want hassles in life. He said I know Bose products are not as good as any other hi-fi music brand but I want Bose because it delivers me the pleasant ownership experience.

You are right, all the cars in the Indian market today are good. There is no bad car. There is a car for every need. We have matured in terms of having good cars in India, I think it's time to think about the experience. Manufacturers who will deliver the hassle-free experience will rule over the ones who take people for granted. Sales numbers are nothing but imitation of this experience!

The main problem is of perception. If buyer's have a good perception more then half your battle is won and if it's vice versa then no matter how good your product you will struggle till the perception will slowly change with word of mouth (Best example is Ford in America). Despite all the advances in media, technology, blogs, forums etc etc word of mouth still rules.

The biggest example of perception is now when Toyota has recalled over 8 million cars for sticky gas pedals. On forums, I have seen responses like :

- It's a conspiracy to promote American cars.

- The issue is not as serious as the media is making it out to be.

To put the above statement in perspective, total production in India is 2 million cars annually while the Toyota recall has touched 8 million worldwide! Yet, some people say that media is blowing it out of proportion.

The above two were among the most ridiculous statements I read. Of course, if the manufacturer in question was GM or Ford or Fiat people would have started writing obituries of these manufacturer's and saying that they deserve it for taking customers for granted.

If the manufacturer was Tata or Mahindra then I cannot even imagine what would have happened!

So sure are the people that Toyota cannot falter that no body is asking if the Prius launched in India is free of the ABS issue. Since Toyota manufacture's the Prius exclusively in Japan, it should affect all Prius's globally. Still the Toyota India MD says all is well and people get reassured.

Another perception is that Japanese give good customer care. Honda Civic, ever since it was launched, has the ground scraping issue. Honda has pushed the matter under the carpet in true Japanese tradition of dragging their feet and playing down issues and everyone is okay with things. The car still sells about 600 units every month. What would have happened if the Cruze had such a issue? There are Skoda service horror stories all over yet the Superb outsells the Accord every month. Some companies escape all problems due to perception while others get bogged down badly due to this same perception.

Exactly, and Ban mentioned in his post these perceptions have formed on the back of some good products over the years. Now it's hard to change them. Unfortunately for a brand like Tata of fiat the experiences were not so good, and hence they too will take a lot of time to change.

Good thing is that companies recognize this fact and with the new launches, there is more than 2 - 3 cars today for every need. So, as a consumer we are in a far better position than say, 4 -5 years ago. Hopefully the trend will continue in future as well.