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Here is an article compiled by MOTORBEAM.
He has defined the pain taken by a company's organisation process to make a new car from scratch to the hands of the customers. How their planning to decision making to implementation to final prototypes and testing is described. Many people simply brandish the R&D team and useless and ridiculous, but in true, customer preference, project viability, financial returns, and many more need to be calculated to come to a conclusion to ground a final outcome.
Please read this article and you will know the true pain of a manufacturer to ground one single product.
Read more at MOTORBEAM
He has defined the pain taken by a company's organisation process to make a new car from scratch to the hands of the customers. How their planning to decision making to implementation to final prototypes and testing is described. Many people simply brandish the R&D team and useless and ridiculous, but in true, customer preference, project viability, financial returns, and many more need to be calculated to come to a conclusion to ground a final outcome.
Please read this article and you will know the true pain of a manufacturer to ground one single product.
MOTORBEAM said:
There is a lot of work which happens before the vehicle goes into production
It is quite common for humans to like or dislike a product; and when that product is an automobile (two/four wheeler) it becomes much more complicated. Design, performance, fuel economy, price etc. are the deciding factors for buying an automobile. You may be using a Celerio AMT or a Honda CBR250R; every vehicle has a story to narrate. Just a few questions before jumping into the article –
– Why did Maruti use an Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) in the Celerio?
– Why did Honda launch the CBR250R in the Indian market when hardly any Ninja 250s were selling in the market?
– Why is Mahindra still testing the Mojo or DC doing the same with the Avanti?
Ever thought of the above questions? If yes, could you find out the reason? If you didn’t then the answer is here. Just like any other product even an automobile undergoes a life cycle where it undergoes different phases before fading out in the dark. Let us understand how an automobile model comes into existence.
Market Research – Did you know that the Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) was the outcome of the feedback of few lakh customers? Companies pay heftily to independent and marketing agencies to carry on market research for products; which incurs crores of rupees with months/years manpower engagement. The agencies reach the root levels, the customers and take their feedback. Ever been to a showroom and asked for a feature in a bike/car? If yes, then there is a chance for your opinion to be taken into consideration. It may be one of the smallest thing you would have asked for, remember your opinion can be an input for a future bike/car. One should understand that not every ‘wanted feature’ gets noted but the ones which are frequently asked by customers goes into the note. Now a days companies have gone digital to collect data in the form of polls.
Business Case – Based on the inputs received from the market and benchmarked data, a report is generated. Detail specifications such as vehicle category (hatch/sedan/compact SUV or dual eg. Polo/Vento etc.), engine (displacement, power, etc.), transmission (manual/automatic, no. of gears, etc.), vehicle dimensions, features, target market, investment, return on investment and so on are put up in a report. It is in this phase the crucial decisions are taken which includes usage of existing features or whether to bring out new options.
The below cases are just taken as examples and may or may not match with real scenarios:
The latest offering from Tata Motors, the 1.2-litre turbocharged petrol engine; the company must have been in a situation to use the current (older one) or develop a new one. The company had to upgrade the portfolio perhaps by offering something really new and that was one of the reasons for opting for a new engine. Apart from that, factors such as new/future vehicle specifications, customer feedback, future pollution norms also play an important role.
It is quite common for humans to like or dislike a product; and when that product is an automobile (two/four wheeler) it becomes much more complicated. Design, performance, fuel economy, price etc. are the deciding factors for buying an automobile. You may be using a Celerio AMT or a Honda CBR250R; every vehicle has a story to narrate. Just a few questions before jumping into the article –
– Why did Maruti use an Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) in the Celerio?
– Why did Honda launch the CBR250R in the Indian market when hardly any Ninja 250s were selling in the market?
– Why is Mahindra still testing the Mojo or DC doing the same with the Avanti?
Ever thought of the above questions? If yes, could you find out the reason? If you didn’t then the answer is here. Just like any other product even an automobile undergoes a life cycle where it undergoes different phases before fading out in the dark. Let us understand how an automobile model comes into existence.
Market Research – Did you know that the Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) was the outcome of the feedback of few lakh customers? Companies pay heftily to independent and marketing agencies to carry on market research for products; which incurs crores of rupees with months/years manpower engagement. The agencies reach the root levels, the customers and take their feedback. Ever been to a showroom and asked for a feature in a bike/car? If yes, then there is a chance for your opinion to be taken into consideration. It may be one of the smallest thing you would have asked for, remember your opinion can be an input for a future bike/car. One should understand that not every ‘wanted feature’ gets noted but the ones which are frequently asked by customers goes into the note. Now a days companies have gone digital to collect data in the form of polls.
Business Case – Based on the inputs received from the market and benchmarked data, a report is generated. Detail specifications such as vehicle category (hatch/sedan/compact SUV or dual eg. Polo/Vento etc.), engine (displacement, power, etc.), transmission (manual/automatic, no. of gears, etc.), vehicle dimensions, features, target market, investment, return on investment and so on are put up in a report. It is in this phase the crucial decisions are taken which includes usage of existing features or whether to bring out new options.
The below cases are just taken as examples and may or may not match with real scenarios:
The latest offering from Tata Motors, the 1.2-litre turbocharged petrol engine; the company must have been in a situation to use the current (older one) or develop a new one. The company had to upgrade the portfolio perhaps by offering something really new and that was one of the reasons for opting for a new engine. Apart from that, factors such as new/future vehicle specifications, customer feedback, future pollution norms also play an important role.
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