Ford Ecosport Launched starting 5.59L


scorpionragha

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Certainly with such a long waiting period this is surely gonna help duster to keep the ongoing pace of its sales in the market.

Also with such a long waiting period the car will be able to make a remarkable impact on the market but to compete with the sales of its main rival , is something difficult to comment upon !!

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  • 2 weeks later...
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As we all has expected and most of us had predicted even before its launch , EcoSport has started to hurt Duster sales

Motorbash reports that current sales have dropped down to mere 3089 units on its birthday. Last month sales figure 4523.

Renaults other products are also not doing that well.

Carwise sales for July 2013

Renault Duster: 3089 Units

Renault Scala: 371 Units

Renault Pulse: 292 Units

Renault Fluence: 10 Units

Renault Koleos: 01 Unit

Total Sales : 3763 Units

My question ,Is it a verdict against Renault or its specific products ?

Data Source : Motorbash

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ford India said on Wednesday that it has stopped bookings of some of the variants of its compact sports utility vehicle EcoSport in the wake of heavy demand.

According to dealer sources, the stopping of bookings differ from dealerships to dealerships. While some dealers have stopped bookings of entry-level variant of the diesel version, others are not taking orders for top-end and mid-level variants of the EcoSport in diesel option.

http://profit.ndtv.com/news/industries/article-ford-india-stops-bookings-of-some-ecosport-variants-326106?pfrom=home-business

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  • 3 weeks later...

Ford India has hiked prices of it's cars by up to 5%, applicable from 5-Sep

http://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/ford-india-hikes-car-prices-by-up-to-5-per-cent/1/198366.html

Base EcoSport variant now starts at 5.82 lacs ex-Delhi (was launched at 5.59 lacs).

The price increase is applicable to all bookings including pre-bookings, done before ES launch.

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It seems Ford is going Renault way of increasing the price within couple months of launch.

Material prices, input costs have gone up - Fair enough, but as an ideal practice, they should start charging new price on fresh bookings, there is no legal binding as such on them for doing so. But I am sure those who are waiting for delivery of their Ecosport would not like this, because they were not at fault for the delay. I was just wondering, having heard of waiting list of 6 - 8 months for some Ecosport variants, if they take couple of more price corrections in due time, how much would that impact the customers !!

While one can understand this practice being followed on products already in market for sometime, as they would not have long waiting list, but atleast some consideration should have been given to the customers who have enthusiastically lined up for buying a newly launched product.

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It seems Ford is going Renault way of increasing the price within couple months of launch.

Material prices, input costs have gone up - Fair enough, but as an ideal practice, they should start charging new price on fresh bookings, there is no legal binding as such on them for doing so. But I am sure those who are waiting for delivery of their Ecosport would not like this, because they were not at fault for the delay. I was just wondering, having heard of waiting list of 6 - 8 months for some Ecosport variants, if they take couple of more price corrections in due time, how much would that impact the customers !!

While one can understand this practice being followed on products already in market for sometime, as they would not have long waiting list, but atleast some consideration should have been given to the customers who have enthusiastically lined up for buying a newly launched product.

I agree.

Increasing prices based on input costs is understood but it should give due diligence to product / waiting list / customers.

When Ford launched ES they had made tall claims of being able to adjust to any market demand.

Now we have a case where bookings are stopped and waiting list running into 6-7 months and even more.

Is customer at fault if a company is not able to provide a product in time?

What's more, Ford is not even respecting customers who had pre-booked ES before it's launch.

I am sure people who still remain in the queue might see another price jump before they get a hand on their vehicle.

BTW, i have already got news from couple of my friends who are cancelling ES booking and looking elsewhere now.

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Ford's claims are total BS they knew that within few weeks if the demand is higher then they can increase its price . I hope Ford has held the ex-showroom booking for the waiting customer to the original one , M&M had marginally increase the cost wrt to acutal increase in ex-showroom for the people who had made the booking before for XUV5OO.

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With all due respect to Ford and its brilliant car, I think Ford should not get carried away by the initial demand. The story of the Nano is a classic case. The Duster and the Terrano are very good cars in their own right and the main selling point of the Ecosport is its rock-bottom pricing. If they are going to keep increasing the prices, I think other manufacturers will have the last laugh eventually.

Now the Ecosport is seen as a good alternative to a hatch or an entry-level sedan and not as an SUV (no matter how much it tries to be). If they are gonna price it close to the Duster/Terrano, it will surely lose its value and worth. And Maruti and Hyundai are readying their mini-SUVs, which would be something not to be ignored. Indian market is a very volatile one, many have burned their fingers trying to play smart with it. I think the current pricing for the Ecosport is appropriate for the base and mid versions, which is perfect for an over-sized hatch. Even the top-end version feels overpriced for its worth.

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In short, Ford did not make it public but that was there introductory price, and now they have increased it to their desired level. Fluctuation in currency price is just one of the excuses (though may have impacted to some extent). I am sure they were not sitting on such thin margins that such a volatility would literally force them to increase prices so early !!! There are ways and means to work around it.

Nothing wrong with milking the cash cow, but price protection to the pre-bookings was desirable. I remember M&M did it for XUV and Renault for Duster for some pending bookings. One more example comes to my mind is Nano which was price protected for first one lac bookings !! (though that is a separate case / story).

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Increasing prices based on input costs is understood but it should give due diligence to product / waiting list / customers.

When Ford launched ES they had made tall claims of being able to adjust to any market demand.

Now we have a case where bookings are stopped and waiting list running into 6-7 months and even more.

Is customer at fault if a company is not able to provide a product in time?

I think this was a pre-planned course of action by Ford. Initially, they themselve delayed the launch...which was part of their market strategy to hold on rival car's booking in an anticipation of ES, then after seeing very high demand then increased the price and finally they closed the booking, i think all their pre-launch promises were not completely false that they can match to market demand...condition is that if they are willing to match up to. In this case it does not seem so.

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There is a very fine line now between being VFM and over priced for Ecosport. One more price increase and it will be out of the VFM bracket. I wish Nissan could have priced their Terrano below Duster than it would have been interesting scenario.

Compact SUV segment is a very high potential segment currently in India, but i just get the feeling that if the manufacturer keep pricing their vehicles upward, then it will kill the enthusiasm to a certain extent and at the end of the day if the buyers keep aside the SUV looks and think rationally, they might find more value in top end hatchbacks rather than likes of Ecosport.

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I think this was a pre-planned course of action by Ford.

Yes, it was, there are many pointer to this.

- Rupee depreciation, but it's not exclusive to Ford. Not all car manufacturers have raised prices in range of 5%. Ford had specifically targeted ES. Not all their models got same price increment.

- With the kind of localisation % Ford had launched ES in India, i think vendor contracts for part supply stand to adhere to initial pricing for few months. To say it in other words, Ford is still getting the parts from vendors at pre-launch prices but extracting more from customers.

- They can't meet demand of ES in India but they continue to export to other countries (Nepal, South Africa)

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Another update, Ford have removed "Smar keyless entry" and "Push button start" features from Titanium variants.

They are now available only in Titanium (O) variant.

I have confirmed this by chatting with Ford customer care guy.

Ford website has not been updated yet.

I think Ford is now going bit too far on milking Indians for their ES.

First price increase and now silently removing features from variants.

I think they want to discourage Indians from buying ES.

They are more happy exporting them. :P

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All said and done, people will still queue up for Ecosport and purchase it. Ford has realised that the life cycle of cars is decreasing fast in India. They want to make the most of the opportunity due to no direct competition, since anyways even after the Ecosport launch the overall volumes of Ford have not gone up significantly (due to declining sale of Figo).

I was just comparing Ford Endeavour and Figo price changes, which are 21-27K and 5-7k respectively, as against 23-43K in case of Ecosport

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This amounts to Ford going CHEAP O.

A product that has found mass appeal should refrain from such reductions , if anything they should be aiming at adding stuff all the time.

If this removal has actually brough down the cost of the variant it can be accomodated but all things constant this is cheap stuff.

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Clearly they want to push Titanium (O) variant. May be they have better margins there. Over a period of time manufacturer do rejig their variants and feature offerings based on market feedback and their own interests, but Ford seems to have started it within 3 months of launch !!

Also cancellation charges issue is unclear to me, as i am hearing contrasting information from different people, some are saying cancellation charges applicable and some are saying otherwise.

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Here's an article mentioning how long queue for ES is pushing buyers to other rivals.

http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/queue-pushes-ecosport-buyers-to-rivals-113091700609_1.html

Ford should understand that their honeymoon period with ES will not continue forever.

Within an year we will have more rivals to ES in market and then people will ditch Ford for it's lack of trust.

Ford got a big opportunity to build brand value with ES but they are messing it up now.

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  • 3 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Ford has again increase price of Ecosport by about 35 to 40000 across range.

This is a big hike and must be very irritating for the waiting buyers. as the total hike at the ex showroom level is about 60 to 75000 since launch. the ex showroom delhi comparison of launch price and current price is given below

Fuel Type

Variant

Launch Price

Current price

Diff.

Petrol

1.5 Ambiente

5.59

6.20

0.61

Petrol

1.5 Trend

6.49

7.15

0.66

Petrol

1.5 Titanium

7.51

8.11

0.60

Petrol

1.5 Titanium AT

8.45

9.04

0.59

Petrol

1.0 Titanium (EcoBoost)

7.89

8.50

0.61

Petrol

1.0 Titanium (O) (EcoBoost)

8.29

9.04

0.75

Diesel

Ambiente

6.69

7.39

0.70

Diesel

Trend

7.61

8.26

0.65

Diesel

Titanium

8.62

9.22

0.60

Diesel

Titanium (O)

8.99

9.75

0.76

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Ford is not doing any good to build up it's already not so good reputation.

They are only interested in exporting EcoSport at the expense of Indian customers.

Infact if we see below sales figures of ES for last few months, it's only dropping.

What else can justify reason of drop in domestic sales figures for a product which is in very high demand and has a long waiting list.

Sep: 6203

Oct: 5113

Nov: 4392

Dec: 3905

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Hope Ford doesn't make another fatal mistake with the Ecosport, and lose the popularity. Its a great car nonetheless, Ford should support it with good ASS and cheaper spares, and not by increasing prices! The new Fiesta is a great seller abroad, but it failed to make a mark in India in the sedan version. Also a classic case is the Ford Mondeo which was the European car of the year and a fabulous car, but it vanished without a trace in India. Ford cannot be sitting pretty on the initial demand and forget their basics. Ecosport is still seen as an alternative to a hatch and high pricing to place it in the region of XUV500 territory would not be a good thing.

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