Failed Cars in India


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Fiat Uno
Fiat Petra
Fiat palio adventure
Maruti Astar
Maruti Baleno
Maruti Versa
Maruti Baleno estate version
Chevy CRV
Mitsubishi Cedia
Tata sumo Grande
Ford Fusion
Mahindra Logan is not failed but didnt sell in masses, sold in good numbers in taxy segment.
There was another car I remember launched in 90s, the Mahindra-Ford Escort.The look was good at that time and as ford was newly launched in JV with mahindra people got it but its engine was not well refined and soon the model got knocked out.Still it was there for 2-3 years.I still remember little of its ads by Leander Paes.

Well if we check out for station wagons like fiat palio adventure,suzuki baleno altura and even tata indigo marina, they are very less sold among private users rather to commercial users because we Indians dont like this design much as europeans and americans do.Even when all our respective parents were in there young ages there was a station wagon from Hindustan motors ambassador stable, that also didnt sold well for the same reason.

For Renault Logan and Suzuki A-star its different reason.Renault Logan was launched in Indian market when there were lots of more attractive and styllish cars already existed, like city,civic,sx4,etc.These cars have raised the Indian taste and awareness of automobile styling which have seriously reduced the interest of most of the Indians in this vehicle.But still it is a value for money with sufficient space inside the cabin and good mileage, still its is the best choice for the metered taxi and cab companies...well this further reduced the interest of the non-commercial customers from approaching towards its purchase as nobody wants that the car which he/she buys , others mistakes it for a cab when he drives the new car on the road.

In case of A-star the cramped interior and less comfort in playing the negative role in its sales.People compare between it and i10 while purchasing, where i10 definitely wins.Its a one man car and ideal for city rides only, on long drives its quite uncomfortable, even the boot makes one cry when he have a large suitecase or a bag.Its a bachelors car who have no friends even to hangout with.

I dont know why mitsubishi cedia ran out of track, well mitsubish is trying to increase its attraction with some new gadgets like in-dash GPS and cosmetic changes like body graphics and momo sports steering.The major drawback is the price I feel as its too high if we compare to what it is offering compared to other cars in its segment.

Tata sumo grande is like an acid test experiment by tata.I dont get a reason why they launched it at that time when there was safari to compete with scorpio and xylo was not even launched at that time.

Ford have launched fusion as a mini suv, but it have nothing like suv,no powerful engine,suspension, space etc.a total flop.

Suzuki baleno was not flop, it was hit in mid-size luxury sedan segment and act as a status symbol for people for many years after its launch

Suzuki Versa is basically an MPV basically used for utility purpose like omni but MS made a mistake by of introducing three variants-- SDX,DX and DX2.Among them DX-the base variant sold well, and others were not so much sold as people want VFM, for utility purpose rather than luxury.

I dont think Fiat uno and Chevrolet CRV are flop models as they had good sales for couple of years after they were launched and people loved them.
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Chevrolet SRV is a great car too, a perfect race car.But its low mileage and high price compared to other semi hatches like Hyundai Accent Viva at the time of its launch and after that played a negative role in its sales. But many race enthusiastic guys got as its race attitude is very good, handling and road stability is also fine and overall it has a chevy powerhouse under its bonnet.
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Fiat petra was the new version of fiat siena and a sedan version of palio, but due to fiat's worst aftersales service it got phased off for very low sales.
 
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what about zen estilo??? then getz crdi. a gem of a car. but it faced poor sales. may be due improper pricing
welcome to TAI.Getz crdi was not failed but same time , maruti rolled out swift with much lesser price and that killed getz crdi sales.Estilo i dont think it was failed but did quite good numbers if you compare it with Astar.
It didnt do that well cause WagonR was available with same power,engine with better looks and space then Estilo which looked more of feminine and so didnt appealed to many family to buy it.
 
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what about zen estilo??? then getz crdi. a gem of a car. but it faced poor sales. may be due improper pricing
Dear Jeyar,

I will not say Zen Estilo and Getz Crdi are total flop models.They are good cars.Zen Estilo had a major drawback of having the name ''ZEN'' prefixed to it.We Indians allot a particular design in our mind to the first model name which is launched, that is what happened with zen estilo, people cant match estilo with old zens-type-1 and type-2.Its boxy nature did not do much appeal to the the masses,as people already had wagon-r of similar segment and stable.If maruti would have launched it as a facelifted wagon-r rather than facelifted zen or rather a separate brand model as estilo which it have done now would have been better.But at present again maruti made a mistake of keeping the name estilo only with this model, cause people will not take this model as estilo type-1 but will take it as estilo type-2 which may effect its sales again.It might have given it a different name like suffixing estilo with another name like hyundai did with getz, getz prime.hope this do not effect its sales.best wishes.

As far as getz crdi is concerned, it was better than its competitor swift in power and refinement.The gear box was also upclass like skodas and others, the reverse gear is to be engaged by lifting a small ring below the gear lever knob and move to left of the 1st gear position, where as we all know in other hatches it is in its traditional position opossite to the 5th gear position.But the major drawback was the pricing , I agree with you.Swift defeated it in that.
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welcome to TAI.Getz crdi was not failed but same time , maruti rolled out swift with much lesser price and that killed getz crdi sales.Estilo i dont think it was failed but did quite good numbers if you compare it with Astar.
It didnt do that well cause WagonR was available with same power,engine with better looks and space then Estilo which looked more of feminine and so didnt appealed to many family to buy it.
Dear Vijay,

I totally agree with your views also.
 
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absolutely DD, infact it would have been great if hyundai could have offered getz crdi at the price which they gave currently, surely swift would had good competition.It was a rocket engine.
 

350Z

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What about GM U-VA and Ford Fusion??
I see these cars on roads, but sales figures shows both are flops.
Ford Fusion is one of the nice hatchback in class but has been over-shadowed by other New and Value For Money models like the Hyundai i20. I've always loved the interiors and Mini SUV'ish looks of Fusion.

Coming to the UV-A, What the GM advertisements claim is true, Its Incredibly Spacious car, Though now its Facelifted version is due for the launch sometime next year.

Drive Safe,
350Z
 
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Hey Guys!

You all forget a big SUV!!

Hyundai's Terracan!
Terracan is really a good vehicle from hyundai's stable in SUV segment.The major drawbacks are its mileage and cost.Both were off the mark in their respective figures.But the ride quality,power offroad behaviour were good.

There was another vehicle named FORESTER, if I am not wrong it was from Chevrolet stable the first SUV it offered before Captiva.There were loads of drawbacks in it.Its offrod capabilities,model design,engine refinement and allround space, all these were off the benchmark and was horrible to its competitors in the segment.It had a very short stay I guess in India
 
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There was another car I remember launched in 90s, the Mahindra-Ford Escort.
We have owned the Ford Escort. Man what a car it was,it totally used to stand out between the esteems (which were pretty famous those days).It was of bottel green color.I really used to love the watch which came inside it.It was a egg shaped analogue watch with white minute & hour hand.[:D]
 
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Fiat uno , palio was much loved car.
The people whom i know(include me) like the uno much , but afraid to own one.
Yeah the main problem are spares now and there S S then. Just the simple engine of uno pick up is like a turbo fixed tata, Better than that.
And the fire(petrol) version uno , is like a rocket.
Baleno has no reasons , though a good car.

I feel nano is having a negative effect , Will it fail?
 
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We have owned the Ford Escort. Man what a car it was,it totally used to stand out between the esteems (which were pretty famous those days).It was of bottel green color.I really used to love the watch which came inside it.It was a egg shaped analogue watch with white minute & hour hand.[:D]
It is really great to know that you owned it.The design was god and even the dashboard with wooden finish was really upclass.If you can then please post your ownership details of it.

Hey guys we really forgot the whole lot of OPEL----Astra,Corsa,Vectra and Corsa Sail. All of them were very good of their time and still we can see many on the road.They have good refined engines, good road stability at high speeds and good handling too and at last but not the least the comfort, it was great.Some of them were the pioneers in introducing various automobile OEM accessories and gadgets in their segments in India.Astra came with first airbags and the Clubb variant has instant standard electronic distance calculator for the given amount of fuel present in the tank.Even ABS was first introduced in India through Opel stable only.But alas! the whole company got phased off from India gradually.

ilango[speed thirst];13380 said:
Fiat uno , palio was much loved car.
The people whom i know(include me) like the uno much , but afraid to own one.
Yeah the main problem are spares now and there S S then. Just the simple engine of uno pick up is like a turbo fixed tata, Better than that.
And the fire(petrol) version uno , is like a rocket.
Baleno has no reasons , though a good car.

I feel nano is having a negative effect , Will it fail?
I agree with you dude, the fiat uno including all its variants were really good.When it was first introduced in early 90s, it was second car to have rear wiper and defogger after standard 2000 which got phased off long back before it.Its look was similar to m800 in those times, I even heard people saying it is big brother of m800 as it has extended boot compared to m800.

How about Standard 2000...a really advanced vehicle compared to its time of launch and reign.It had got many modern gadgets and accessories which are present at present day best vehicles.Its instrument panel used to cover almost the whole dashboard, lots of analog meters.A true aerodynamic design, good handling and stability.But the major drawback was its mileage, it used to make big holes in its owners' pockets.Still love its stylling.

Nano is a car for city people only with family strength of 3 at max to ensure a comfortable ride.The design was good.The major drawback is the boot capacity oops! front bay capacity will sound better.But the space on the front dashboard compensates for that a lot.Its future is realy wobbly, but hope for the best.
 
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It is really great to know that you owned it.The design was god and even the dashboard with wooden finish was really upclass.If you can then please post your ownership details of it.
Well i was really small that time so cant write a ownership experience. But i will definitely put up the pic's,i guess i will need to find the album,scan them & that will take some time.[:D]
 
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There was another vehicle named FORESTER, if I am not wrong it was from Chevrolet stable the first SUV it offered before Captiva.There were loads of drawbacks in it.Its offrod capabilities,model design,engine refinement and allround space, all these were off the benchmark and was horrible to its competitors in the segment.It had a very short stay I guess in India
Did you just say this to a Subaru Forester? This car, which is based on the Impreza platform, and offered off-road capablities matching to a Pajero SWB, being a Soft Roader. Engine refinement and handling was [and still is] a benchmark in India. The Boxer is inherently much smoother than anything we are used to. Handling On & OFF road was awesome, Ideal weight distributuon, an LSD, Viscous Coupling, even rear wheels turning slightly during heavy turns. It wasnt spacious for its class, did not have a 3rd row, but was the best SUV money can buy. On the road, handled on par with sedans. Off the road, it could match spartan mahindras and Gypsies. With all its creature comforts. Had a 120bhp powerplant. What else could anybody want under 15lakhs?
And Lest u forget, It was a SUBARU.

It Did not take off, because nobody wants a Suv that doesnot offer space, and for all those enthusiasts who bought one, Nobody wanted a Chevloret Forester.
 

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