Is Tata Motors Trying To Kill Safari Storme?


Status
Not open for further replies.
Thread Starter #1
Joined
May 19, 2015
Messages
258
Likes
169
Location
Bahrain
Somebody higher-up in TATA wants to prove success of Hexa. To do this...

  1. All Safari storme ads axed
  2. Safari Stome demo vehicle removed from showrooms
  3. 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.
 
Joined
Jul 10, 2017
Messages
710
Likes
681
Location
mumbai
Re: TATA trying to kill 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.
 
Thread Starter #3
Joined
May 19, 2015
Messages
258
Likes
169
Location
Bahrain
Re: TATA trying to kill Safari Storme?

Good observation ISO2015.
But i think this is the basic sales strategy of Major companies when a new product is launched.
I think this is a negative strategy. What is the result? Hexa 895 and Crysta 6127 sold last month.

Personally I test driven manual Hexa but I did not like it.

Auto Hexa was good but abused demo vehicle was having too much of body roll.

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.
Basic engine remains the same. More gizmos doesn't mean more advanced product. The person I met in the workshop came to close Hexa A/C fresh air intake vent permanently (bad smell in A/C) for the brand new vehicle just 2K Kms. Why TATA couldn't solve age-old problem from Safari Dicor for so called advanced Hexa?

Let brand new Safari stand next to Hexa, why TATA is afraid of that? I'm sure Safari look more SUV and Hexa look MPV. TATA trying hard to bring Hexa under SUV category but basic DNA of Aria can not be hided.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jun 5, 2015
Messages
332
Likes
221
Location
N/A
Re: TATA trying to kill Safari Storme?

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.
 
Thread Starter #5
Joined
May 19, 2015
Messages
258
Likes
169
Location
Bahrain
Re: TATA trying to kill Safari Storme?

Also storme is an aging product. It has no new safety features and may fail in the upcoming crash tests.
Lets see. TATA has from the beginning in-house crash safety testing unlike Mahendra. My nephew was working in that department.

Refreshed storme is much much improved product over Dicor. How can we say it is aging?

Why people buying that? I think it is ride quality, road isolation, outside noise isolation and long drive comfort.
There is link in Teambhp how luxury car fail in ride quality in India despite of high tech
 
Last edited:
Joined
Sep 12, 2013
Messages
93
Likes
69
Location
KA51, KL05
Re: TATA trying to kill Safari Storme?

Somebody higher-up in TATA wants to prove success of Hexa. To do this...

  1. All Safari storme ads axed
  2. Safari Stome demo vehicle removed from showrooms
  3. 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.
 
Thread Starter #7
Joined
May 19, 2015
Messages
258
Likes
169
Location
Bahrain
Re: TATA trying to kill Safari Storme?

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.
I echo to this. Recently I saw in 'Auto Point' dealer in pune, customer ordered brand new chassis of safari to replace. Cost more than 1L. This is the trust customer having on the product.

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.
For low sell again TATA is responsible. One person in Delhi waited one year to get 4x4 [shock]. Who will wait for that long in this cut throat competition?

Take my example. I had to do two separate bookings by paying 11K + 11K at two deferent concord dealers in the same Pune city.

Dealer Concord Wakade wadi Pune was too slow and behaving like a government organization. Also I saw some fraudulent practices like I was told to pay insurance amount in cast. Because of this foolish dealer I wasted time and there was GST price hike.

Why customer should face all this hassle when other companies like Maruti putting red carpet for the customers.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Sep 30, 2014
Messages
277
Likes
203
Location
Bangalore
Re: TATA trying to kill Safari Storme?

While I agree that the Safari Storme is a good product, and is quite different from the Hexa, I think its the cost of production, training sales and service and the supply chain of parts, that makes a company consider to discontinue a product.

As compared to the new products of Tata, the Safari does stand out as it has the older design language. Yes, while it is an improvement over the Dicor, and has a very capable engine, with the sale numbers, Tata maybe considering easy sale of the product. They maybe considering something like Maruti was doing with the Gypsy, where the majority would go to the defense forces, and some may still be sold to the common public based on interest.

I think some of the dispatches shown in the numbers may also be to the Army, who had given a big order for the Safari. While the Army order would keep the production running, we must understand that the Army vehicles have a different ecosystem of service, parts and maintenance, which is not easily available for customers.

When a dealer is selling a car, a worry he may have is, that after the sale the car would come back to him for service. When that is the case, he has to make sure easy availability of spares, and well trained mechanic for the car. When its a slow seller, he maybe worried about the wrath from the customer, if he fails to provide good service, and maybe choosing to push forward the Hexa which would be a safer bet for the dealer in the future.
 
Last edited:

Akash1886

Honoured Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2014
Messages
11,936
Likes
14,774
Location
Delhi-NCR/ Mumbai
Re: TATA trying to kill Safari Storme?

The Safari badge is & will be a legend. Safari Storme has aged now and certainly with the H5X in pipeline and more contemporary SUV(s) being lined up for near future I guess it is fine to pull-the-plug on the Safari. Also, if we compare the interiors of Hexa Vs Safari then Hexa wins and having an aged SUV & a modern SUV in same price band (mid-variants of Hexa are priced at par) makes no sense. So I guess it is better to continue with the modern SUV and prepare a strong ground for upcoming SUVs than to push further an aged SUV which sells half the numbers of Hexa each month.

Regards

Akash
 
Thread Starter #10
Joined
May 19, 2015
Messages
258
Likes
169
Location
Bahrain
Re: TATA trying to kill Safari Storme?

So I guess it is better to continue with the modern SUV and prepare a strong ground for upcoming SUVs than to push further an aged SUV which sells half the numbers of Hexa each month.
Dear Akash remember this half numbers are coming with absolutely no publicity and marketing. Think what will happen if there is good marketing for Safari?

I dont understand why TATA is afraid of keeping both Safari and Hexa next to each other at least in the prime showrooms?

Let customers takes the decision. Why you force your decision on them? Aren't we in the buyers market?

Are they afraid that Hexa numbers will decrease? Any way it is now clear that it is not a successful product when competitor sells almost more than six times.

And already it is plagued with so many customer complains. Recently I read on FB Auto Hexa was having problem of reverse.

BTW-Hexa is also a aging product hailed from Aria DNA. There are so may common parts shared between two from engine to gearbox to propeller shaft. How we can say it is contemporary modern design? Changing allow to 19" and putting variable dampers doesn't make it so.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Sep 12, 2013
Messages
93
Likes
69
Location
KA51, KL05
Re: TATA trying to kill Safari Storme?

For low sell again TATA is responsible. One person in Delhi waited one year to get 4x4 [shock]. Who will wait for that long in this cut throat competition?

Take my example. I had to do two separate bookings by paying 11K + 11K at two deferent concord dealers in the same Pune city.

Dealer Concord Wakade wadi Pune was too slow and behaving like a government organization. Also I saw some fraudulent practices like I was told to pay insurance amount in cast. Because of this foolish dealer I wasted time and there was GST price hike.

Why customer should face all this hassle when other companies like Maruti putting red carpet for the customers.
Precisely, The dealers are causing more damage to the brand Tata overall, be it the sales horror experiences or the service disasters.
Pre-Sales : Sales guys do not have interest in selling their products at all, how much ever enthusiastic and decided we are to get a Tata car, the moment we enter a dealership we will feel the doubt if we are in the right place or not, by the time you are out of the store, you would have made up your mind that you indeed were in the wrong place and consider competition options. I went through this about 5 years back. Was planning to get either Storme or XUV, Went to 2, 3 Tata dealerships in Bangalore, but the experience was really disappointing. Could really feel the government office kind of setup. The overall attitude, followup, everything were way off the target. On the other hand, Mahindra was highly positive and super aggressive, spot-on with the followups and eventually bagged the deal.
After-Sales : Most of the service advisers at TASS do not have a clue about the product that they deal with. They do not even completely know the features and specs of the cars. I took a couple of cars to perform the 40point checkup at TASS before purchasing a used Storme. It was a horror story, the SAs are under educated (about the cars), listening skills were rock bottom and I even doubt in certain cases their IQ is lower than room temperature. They do not even know if an EX variant has disk brakes on all 4 wheels or not, if there is ABS or not. After purchasing a used Storme I took it for service, had a complaint that the rear driver side door doesnt open even when the driver door is unlocked & opened, it requires multiple key based unlocks. I told this to the SA and he said the door latch needs replacement. I went home and did some reading regarding this, which apparently revealed to be a safety feature in Storme. On the first key based unlock, only the driver door gets unlocked and the remaining doors remain locked and if we press the unlock button again, all the doors will get unlocked. Luckily the service centre did not had the door latch in stock, else they would have changed it and charged me unnecessarily. Another instance to mention is about the incorrect/ inappropriate billing codes at Tata (especially at Concorde). I changed the brake light bulb and i was charged for the headlight bulb replacement, telling me that there is no specific code for tail lamp. But the rate was exorbitant Rs.420-/, for headlight it is kind of reasonable as its a little complicated. Similarly, when I replaced the wiper fluid tank, I was charged 899+tax and used the bill code for 'Car Full Checkup', which is total absurd and the rate, at best, should be called daylight robbery. All these kind of experience become deterrents and brings low confidence in TASS.
 

Akash1886

Honoured Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2014
Messages
11,936
Likes
14,774
Location
Delhi-NCR/ Mumbai
Re: TATA trying to kill Safari Storme?

...remember this half numbers are coming with absolutely no publicity and marketing. Think what will happen if there is good marketing for Safari?
Agreed, and that is why I in my opening remark said that the Safari Badge is and will remain a legend. It has got loyal followers myself included.

I dont understand why TATA is afraid of keeping both Safari and Hexa next to each other at least in the prime showrooms?
Sir the Safari has lived it's life and I guess TATA Motors won't like to stretch it any further. If they keep the Safari & Hexa in one place then perhaps they should think of keeping the Indica Vista & Bolt too because more than the Bolt, People recall the Indica & Vista name. It isn't about being afraid it is rather about making way for the future cars. Why isn't MSIL displaying the Gypsy & Brezza together in their showrooms @ metro cities? Gypsy has mass following than the Brezza if we follow the opinion.

Let customers takes the decision. Why you force your decision on them? Aren't we in the buyers market?
Sir, it isn't about forcing the decision, if you are going for Safari and the dealer isn't providing you that and pitches a Hexa instead then it is of-course your call whether or not to make the purchase. Dealers are instructed and informed by the Brand so they'll follow their instructions. They'll pitch in the latest product and frankly, Hexa won't be benefiting a lot either by discontinuing the Safari. Even in presence of Safari, the Hexa managed 800-1000 units a months so even if the Safari is discontinued still you'll not see any substantial increase in Hexa numbers in following months and they'll be around 1000-1100 odd only because TML isn't really focusing on the mass production of Hexa and are quite content with the volumes their other vehicles are in general providing.

Are they afraid that Hexa numbers will decrease? Any way it is now clear that it is not a successful product when competitor sells almost more than six times.
Hexa still hasn't entered the commercial fleet segment either so number wise if we compare it to Crysta then let us also consider the fact that the Crysta sells in commercial segment too.

And already it is plagued with so many customer complains. Recently I read on FB Auto Hexa was having problem of reverse.
Sir even the segment's best has had a lot of niggles in it. No car can be seen as error free as some or the other niggle might come in. It is just that shortcomings of some brands are publicized a lot and others aren't highlighted as much.

BTW-Hexa is also a aging product hailed from Aria DNA. There are so may common parts shared between two from engine to gearbox to propeller shaft. How we can say it is contemporary modern design? Changing allow to 19" and putting variable dampers doesn't make it so.
Sir, I myself have heard the similar words in person that Hexa looks like another ARIA. But, if that is such a big thing that sharing the parts and platform makes it look like ARIA then why even those 900-1000 units of it are being sold? Even if they are similar on certain grounds then too there would be some additional positives in comparison to ARIA in the Hexa that people are still investing 20+ Lacs in it. Lastly, there are buyers who are badge loyal and those who believe in moving on to better technology irrespective of the badge, hence, people who are buying the Safari and those going for Hexa are both correct in their respective places. If eventually the Safari comes to an end, surely, TML won't be leaving the space blank it would rather fill it with a more robust, technically advanced and contemporary looking vehicle.

Regards

Akash
 
Thread Starter #13
Joined
May 19, 2015
Messages
258
Likes
169
Location
Bahrain
Re: TATA trying to kill Safari Storme?

Sir the Safari has lived it's life and I guess TATA Motors won't like to stretch it any further. If they keep the Safari & Hexa in one place then perhaps they should think of keeping the Indica Vista & Bolt too because more than the Bolt,
Dear Akash if I'm correct these are officially discontinued products. Vista being sold to only Taxi segment. So there is no question of standing them in the showroom.

Safari is still in the price list along with Hexa so customer has every right to check it before purchasing Hexa but precisely Tata is not doing that. If Safari is selling more, who would benefit from it?
 
Last edited:

Akash1886

Honoured Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2014
Messages
11,936
Likes
14,774
Location
Delhi-NCR/ Mumbai
Re: TATA trying to kill Safari Storme?

Dear Akash if I'm correct these are officially discontinued products. Vista being sold to only Taxi segment. So there is no question of standing them in the showroom.
Sir my view was about the fact that to which badge name the people associate & recall more and Sir if we compare the sales of Bolt Vs Indica or Vista, the Bolt wasn't really benefited with the discontinuing of the Vista so discontinuing the Safari won't really matter to Hexa numbers either. Every product has it's merit and sells as per that. Every buyer has different set of requirement according to which one buys a specific product.

Safari is still in the priceless along with Hexa so customer has every right to check it before purchasing Hexa but precisely Tata is not doing that. If Safari is selling more, whoes benefit it would be?
Of-Course Sir and as I said above too "it isn't about forcing the decision, if you are going for Safari and the dealer isn't providing you that and pitches a Hexa instead then it is of-course your call whether or not to make the purchase." and vice versa. It all boils down to customer's needs. If you enter the dealership with a firm decision of buying a Safari then no matter what, you may stick with your decision irrespective if the dealer pitches the XTA or XT 4x4 Hexa. If you aren't satisfied with the pre-sales experience and the sales guy isn't enthusiastic to sell you the desired product, best will be consider other viable options.

Regards

Akash
 
Last edited:
Thread Starter #15
Joined
May 19, 2015
Messages
258
Likes
169
Location
Bahrain
Re: TATA trying to kill Safari Storme?

Dear Akash

When Honda introduced BRV, they literally hided Mobillo in the basement. Aria was well vanished before launch of Hexa.

What is the point of not keeping Safari demo in the showroom? If I'm correct major concord dealer in Pune is Baner showroom don't have demo vehicle.

What I mean by forcing is not giving equal opportunity for the customer to compare Hexa v/s Safari. Dealer is behaving as if Hexa is replacement for Safari which actually is not.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top Bottom