Re: Mahindra - Rise.
After the Scorpio, Mahindra launched the Bolero CRDi called Bolero Storm. It launched the Xylo. But we will come to all that later. Now we will talk about the "hot topic of the town" - the XUV5OO!
Till some years back, the 12-20 lakh segment was devoid of any SUV/MUV. After the innova, the next SUV/softroader you could buy was the Ford Endy or the Chevy Captiva. But TATA hoped to change that. Within a short period of its displaying it's concept called the 'XOVER', TATA unveiled the ARIA. The car was marketed as a mix between a sedan & an SUV. Everything about the product felt just right. It had got the looks, the space & even the features. Everything was spot on, but when TATA announced the prices, the market went tight lipped. It got a very lukewarm response since the day it was launched. It sold next to nothing as what TATA anticipated.
All this while, Mahindra was not sitting idle. They were busing testing the W201. It was the next big project of the Mahindras after the Scorpio. 4 years of rigorous testing & lot of development cost was involved. Finally in October 2011, the XUV5OO was launched. The initial reaction was pretty average. People dint take to the looks very well. Some even said it looks gaudy for a "16-18' lac vehicle. It was only when Mahindra announced the starting price of 10.7 lakhs, that the people were wide mouthed. Competitors were shell shocked, including TATA. It could see the Aria plunging further down.
The XUV5OO was a competitor to the Aria, yet priced like the Innova! It was priced 2-3 lakhs lesser, yet offered more than the Aria. The XUV gathered such a huge response that it's bookings had to be closed within 10 days of launch. It had a massive 8000 bookings till then. And this is only from 5 cities! It has not been launched pan INDIA yet.
Mahindra had been very good in marketing the vehicle. They created a good hype, made sure they had a good, feature laden vehicle & at a competitive price. They were not here to repeat TATA's mistake. Even before the car was launched, every dealership was equipped with proper training and atleast 4 XUVs for test drives. They even had some segment firsts like iPads with sales executives to check stocks, touch screen monitors in showrooms to display vehicle features, personalized Relationship Managers & purple club for owners & an online tracking system to keep a check on the status of the vehicle, for those who have booked their XUVs!
They were not sitting idle even after the bookings closed. They were busy giving test drives to prospective customers & take important feedbacks. Inspite of the generous response, Mahindra did some very appreciated proactive moves like changing the gear oil and updating the software of the infotainment system, all free of cost.
The XUV itself had a lot of segment firsts. Good product, spot on pricing, trust worthy brand image & good customer support is the mantra for success... Mahindra has just shown the market what it is capable of.
The XUV effect was such that TATA had to slash Aria's price by 2 lacs, that speaks a lot of the XUV5OO as a product.
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