What’s Wrong with Tata Motors? An Open Letter To the MD

[jagrover]

The thread is about what is wrong with TML. A.S.S is the single big thing wrong with TML.

Two of their products which they expected to be blockbusters failed utterly in the market. Nano from the low end of the market and Aria from the upper end of the market. Both were assumed to take TML to new heights but that didn't happened.

Also some of their good products like Vista and Manza were not recieved as per their merit in the market due to market perception. Marketing & A.S.S team failed to ensure the market that TML is changing.

 

[ss80]

1. Tata Sales showrooms (if not the service centers) should be open on sundays too. There are so many people who come to Aadya motors, but its closed on SUNDAYS! Common, keep the gates open when the customers come.
2. Stop upgrading Indica/launching any new car that has its name or looks like it.
3. Whenever you upgrade any of your existing car, do not make changes that ruin the looks of it Ex: the rear door of Safari Storme is very bland compared to the older Safari that is more Butch looking. I know the advantages, but common Safari is one of the best looking cars TATA has ever released.
4. Plastics - If Alto 800 (I know it looks horrible from outside)can have such decent plastic quality, why cant Indica Vista/Sumo have?
5. Stop pushing Indica as a family car, it is already a hit in the TAXI segment, let it be so.
6. NO MORE TALL TAIL LIGHTS CONCEPT, I assume every car that has come out of TATA has one or the other similarity with the Indica/marina type tail lamps.
7. I recently took a TD of a nano new as well as a used one (77K on odo), I did like the car for its space, but liking ends there. Any day I would prefer a used Alto that a NANO for so many reasons. I am sure, if they change the dashboard with a better looking one with speedo console in front of driver & rear glass opening (like brio) I am sure it can do wonders to the sales chart.
8. NO MORE cars with speedometer in the middle, I personally know so many people who skip Etios, Vista, Nano, Spark type cars just because of the dashboard.
9. If Nano has to succeed either price has to be cut/ interior changes to be done.
10. Never launch a car with pure functionality in mind. Although the choice of tyre sizes (I am referring to width only) is correct for a RWD car, here in India customers compare it to the AUTO (Bajaj RE) which also has thin wheels & rear engine.

Common TATA guys, you launched Sierra (3door, SUV, turbo engine, alloys, wide tyres) almost 18 to 20yrs back, what's wrong now?

If above points are taken care by TATA, I am sure plenty of things will change.

 

[biker]

one more thing. selling cars later to have a lot of parts changed under warranty.
eg: if you buy a vista, your car will have lot of parts changed. WHY? A car coming out of a factory must be pristine and lasting. like a Toyota or Honda.

niggling problems. alignment goes out(Indica,vista) every few hundred kms, tyre worn out, AC cooling not satisfactory etc etc. beta prototyes after testing is shipped to dealers? is that true TATA?

 

[tarun7787]

Well, It may just be me over-expecting, however, during my recent purchase pursuit, I had called a Tata showroom for a test drive. The lady promised me a call back and assured that I can have test drive at my home/office. Reminded her again a week later and got an assurance of a call back in 24 hours.

Around a month later, yesterday, I got a call from her to check if I have made a decision to buy. On asking her about what happened to the test drive call back, I got another assurance of a call back. I am no longer waiting for a call back now that I have already made my decision but yeah...I would guess that after sales apart, atleast sales department should be on their toes.

 

[msjawahar]

TML shud sack all the oldies... hire the young guns... they wil take TML to the next level

 

[ss80]

I dont think sacking old employees will do any good to their sales charts. A company like TATA needs a right balance of experienced old employees & youngsters with fresh thoughts, ideas etc.

The main problem is that their products need refinement, newer models & facelifts alone wont help the company. Old employees are in a way a big asset to TATA. Especially in the NANO project, the engine of NANO was designed by an experienced TATA employee who had already designed the ACE diesel engine. Old employees carry experience, which is quite valuable for a company like TATA.

 

[Gurrala74]

I agree with SS80 here, yes any company needs their old employees as they are truly experienced and are assets to companies, but at the same time they need some young blood who understand the competition well and move quickly with new models

 

[msjawahar]

they need to awake ASAP.. i think their market will be down this year..

TATA, bring back some new designs, forget the Indi** designs frm now on.

 

[Rudhra Mahesh]

TML please do try to think about the psychology of people who wants a own a car.

For NANO, do you think all will ready to spend money to take car in which you have open the hood every time to fill up the tank that's also 15 ltrs.

Along with adding the aesthetics to Nano versions please do add practical things that is useful and gives total feel of car owners (being a nano owner i faced the question several times " y r u opening your hood to fill petrol?" and and the eyebrows will bend like asking "is it a car ?" even ace /iris got fuel lid accessible from outside) come on TML this can at least give you some numbers for your wonderful product.

 

[Tornado]

come on TML this can at least give you some numbers for your wonderful product.

I don't think TASS all over India is capable of handling the increased sales number , if at all it happens (increased sales number), it will hamper the quality of service for preexisting custemers.They are improving but they are facing lot of obstacles at ground level for eg lack of will power on the part of SA /mechanics etc.

Also ,'bluffing ' on the part of TASS is a major problem, which TATAs are yet to perceive leave aside solution.TASS men tend to bank on ' lack of knowledge on the part of ' majorityof the TATA car custemers' to show how sincerely they have tried to solve the problem.Majority of the custemers including cabbies have poor understanding of the english on the feedback form, which comes very handy for the TASS men to mislead the TATAS.

.Sometimes they blame TATA s for producing the cars with a problem.I have cought them red handed for bluffing many times.

Recently , TASS man came to my home to check the car as a part of routine exercise.Prior day he had asked for an appointment from me for the home visit.I asked him to come at 8 o'clock in the morning as I wanted him to check a rattling noise under the dash which occurs only in the morning and which could not be reproduced afterwards.He confirmed and said that he would reach in time.
Next morning ,I called him to ask why he hasn't come yet, to know why he hasn't reached till9:30 AM?.He bluffed that he has two more cars to attend at that time and he will come in the evening..
He had a home visit check list to be followed by himself which was mentioning the things to be checked by him Eg.oils and fuel level and QC checks , windshield water sprayer checkup , door alignment , smoke level blab blab la.

But he checked only the oils, fluids and lights , didn't bothered to check the sprayer, smoke ,doors and many other things prescribed on the home visit check list.Battery water was checked in only two holes,rest of the holes were retightened without opening them.Worst part came when he told me to fill up the feed back and satisfaction level form..
For the rattle which he never got to hear, he asked me to bring the car to TASS.I told him that I would fill up the satisfaction form at the time of TASS visit.

 

[RaviS]

In my opinion, I would want Tata Motors to:

1. Its product line up needs a change. Indica v2 has run its life cycle and its better to keep it up for taxi segment by giving it some new name appealing to that segment. It does not suit a private buyer any more.
2. Remove the Indica tag from Vista, this association invariably leads to buyer thinking about the older Indica has been given a Botox treatment (Vista was one of the better products to emerge from Tata and has given decent sales). Vista D90 is an example of coming of age of Vista. But please give a fresh name to it by changing the look similar to one showcased at the recent Geneva show.
3. Manza is the longest sedan in its competing segment (I hope I am not wrong). Today when other makers are going for sub 4 metre cars Tata is still delaying bringing out a compact Manza. They started this segment with the Indigo eCS and have lost ground to Maruti, Honda. Manza is very competent car and the club class is a good example. Give it a new look like the Hybrid Manza showcased earlier with a new boot design to see the effect.
4. About Nano it has reported in other forums about a refreshed 2013 version coming out. Though I own a 2012 Nano, even after driving only 550 kms in last three months I can say that I am satisfied with it with minor complaints which does not bother me much.

Sumo Gold is doing fine and Storme is slowly picking. Please Tata bring out the Vistta Xtreme concept sooner to surprise everyone. I would own it if I have sufficient money to part with.

And finally: TM has JLR at hand. Why not use some of their expertise in revamping themselves. If TM can rescue JLR, atleast JLR 'ko karja utarna chaiye Tata ka'.

 

[tdcarlover]

it appears that karl slym and TML know whats wrong.. they need time to make changes and time for us to see the fruits of that effort..they also need time to change negative opinions-no not by good PR-but by getting quality in all systems. Mr Slym has alluded to much of what i have written..but for now it appears TML fans have to be patient

 

[visran]

Slym brings GM team to run Tata Motors

In an attempt to revive Tata Motors, Managing Director, Karl Slym has poached five top executives from American rival GM. Karl Slym, a former GM executive himself, is attempting to build his core team signifying a change in the company at a time when domestic sales fell by 10% to 760,000 units in 2012-13.

A report in the Live Mint says, Slym who joined the company last August identified three problem areas – poor quality, lack of model upgrades and perception that the company’s cars were only good for being used as taxis. Tata’s auto division has been allotted a sum of Rs 15,000 crore as capital expenditure for the next three-five years in an attempt to take second spot in the Indian market and challenge market leader Maruti Suzuki by 2020.

In April the company's domestic sales of commercial and passenger vehicles were 47,595 units, down from 60,086 units sold in the same month in the previous year. These numbers are reflective of the slump in the market and Tata’s inability to steer free from dropping sales in the current financial year. Tata Motors has also lost the top position to Mahindra and Mahindra in the UV segment, a segment which continues to show promising growth in the Indian market.

With its new management, Tata plans to launch a series of new platforms and models over the next three years said a Tata spokesperson familiar to the recent developments. However there will be no new platform launches till 2015. This year will see launch of tweaked versions of existing products while in 2014 new products based on existing products will be launched. “models developed on completely new platforms will come in 2015” because “Slym wants to get the back-end process in order before the launch of new models,” added the spokesperson.

The new hires are the following:

Ankush Arora - Marketing and Sales under at General Motors India – now Senior VP (strategy) at Tata Motors.

Venkatram Mamillapalle - heading GM’s purchase department in Seoul – now Head of Purchase at Tata Motors.

Sanjeev Garg - Chief Executive and Managing Director at GM’s Malaysian outfit – now Global Head (Customer Service) at Tata Motors.

Manish Manek - Plant Manager of GM’s Halol factory in Gujarat – now Quality Head for Tata’s passenger car division.

Rajiv Gupta - GM’s National Manager for New Business Development – now After Sales Head at Jaguar Land Rover

Ankush Arora and Venkatram Mamillapalle will join Ranjit Yadav - president (passenger vehicles business), Ravindra Pisharody - president (commercial vehicles business) and S.B. Borwankar - vertical head for quality control, sourcing and vendor development, as members of an executive committee at Tata Motors.

The report added that Narain Karthikeyan, former Formula One driver, will be closely associated with engine development and vehicle testing at Tata Motors. The Tata group being one of Karthikeyan’s racing sponsors.

Slym brings GM team to run Tata Motors | wheelsunplugged.com

 

[Tornado]

Mr. karl needs to understand that he can improve bussiness abroad by bringing in GM team but not in India. In India he will have to understand that the feedback forms are filled in by the customer on humanity basis rather than truth basis.
Till now , so many times I have taken my car to TASS for servicing or some problem but only once the car was taken for TD pre work or post work.But they insist on filling up the feed back form even if the customer has note TD the car , post work.
So my question is that is it possible to import punctuality as it is possible to to import corporate manpower.

 

[ASIR]

Tata has to really change their tactics. People are now aware of aspects like Quality, Relability, Style, Comfort etc and compare these with their desired models and brands. Hope now everyone will have a discussion with a friend or relative who has a knowledge about cars. As of now a small percent people will refer TATA.

They have to stop refreshing existing models and should come up with new models with new shell. If they have designed Strome with a complete new shell, i believe things will be different for TATA