Re: TATA trying to kill Safari Storme?
Somebody higher-up in TATA wants to prove success of Hexa. To do this...
- All Safari storme ads axed
- Safari Stome demo vehicle removed from showrooms
- Sales person trying hard to push Hexa when someone ask Safari
Despite of all this last month, loyal customers purchased 320 safari against 895 Hexa.
No doubt Hexa is good product but certainly not replacement for Safari. At service center I asked a person why he purchased Hexa over Safari? Answer was last front facing seats.
You echoed my thoughts precisely. To add on to your point, most of the dealerships are not even having the TATA approved accessories with them, some of the items seem to have been discontinued as well. Some of the dealers even said that they have stopped getting Storme accessories even to order. Most of them want to clear off the existing pending stocks alone and they are the only one who have it available as well.
Even when I was looking for a used Storme, I used to visit the TASS for taking the vehicle service history and all that while, all the SAs were preaching against Storme and was pushing new Nexon & Hexa.
I second your statement - "No doubt Hexa is good product, but certainly not replacement for Safari/ Storme"
Good observation ISO2015.
But i think this is the basic sales strategy of Major companies when a new product is launched.
Isn't Hexa more advanced and refined than Safari Storme according to you? i have no idea coz havent TD both the cars ever, but just for knowledge i have asked you this.
You are right, Hexa feels a little more refined in comparison with Storme, on the drive, but these two are entirely different cars, not comparable at all. Hexa is an MUV and Storme a true Inidian SUV in all terms, so its apples & oranges you are trying to compare.
They have spent money on developing aria,which was a failure . With Hexa they are trying to get back the investment. Also storme is an aging product. It has no new safety features and may fail in the upcoming crash tests.
But still people are buying the relatively low tech storme over the hexa which is baffling?
No automatic,curtain airbags,ESP but still people buy it. Even knowledgable members of autoforums have bought new storme over hexa.
Well... Storme is an ageing product is a true statement, the reason & culprit for that is Tata again. They have not really attempted a full hearted, true refresh on Storme. The reason for that could be the low sales numbers. There is a cult following for this vehicle in India and customer base is quite lean, making it a non-mainstream product. Having said that, this model will not get completely killed or discontinued anytime soon - Thanks to the Indian Army signing up for this vehicle, to be used by them, replacing the trusted long tenured Gypsys.
Coming to it being a 'low tech' product in comparison with Hexa, well... that is the basic reason why many people still prefer this car even these days, even while having a plethora of options in the market. There is very less electronics that could fail. Trust me when I say this, am a Storme owner now and earlier I had an XUV - the trend setter in providing 'high-tech' features in Indian cars. The reliability of those gizmos are questionable, also how many of them do we use practically on a regular basis? To be honest, having switched from XUV, I do not miss too many of the features on Storme - May be its only me, being old school.
Safety - This is a debatable point. I agree, the lack of Air Bags in models other than the top most model of Storme is a crime, these days. Having said that, Stormes are built like a tank, really solid. I feel this car is safer than may other cars having more than 6 airbags, under similar crash conditions. The notion of more airbags make a car safer is a total misconception. Am a part of the Safari owners group and hearing their stories and a few true testimonials from owners of accident car in Tata Service centres, this thought is underlined and retained in bold characters.
I recently saw a red Safari 3.0 car in Concord motors Bangalore, which had met with a major accident, toppled and rolled over multiple times, but the driver/ owner came out safe with no major injury or trauma. The car was declared a total loss it seems, but the owner decided to rebuild it completely and saw the car redone in TASS, that is the kind of passion and trust owners have on their cars.