Renault (including Duster Unveil) @ Auto Expo 2012 - EDIT: Now launched at 7.19 Lacs

[StarScream]

Originally Posted by raycers_honda

Where,How,When ? Is it going to be online or at a certain venue.
Would really like to see it in flesh.It Looks better than the suvs we get here.
Hope after the duster we get some good looking suvs.

It's at a venue. At a hotel. I believe it's a press conference.

[MAS]

Originally Posted by asdon

Can I up the speculations here, I know its another 5 days, but I was trying very hard for last one month to get Duster price if I need to plan for it, obviously after the vehicle gets launched and initial lot of bookings get over...

So I got some prices from some near reliable sources(Bangalore Ex price)

Petrol Duster - 7.4
Diesel Duster 85PS - 7.9 - 10.2 (accross trim level)
Diesel Duster 110PS - 10.3 - 11.1 (accross trim level)

Lets see in a week if my sources were true

Thank you for the info.

- there are two versions of the petrol - RxE, RxL
- there are three versions of the 85 BHP Diesel - RxE, RxL & RxL+ Option pack
- there are two versions of the 110 BHP Diesel - RxL, RxZ

If the info provided by you is true, I think Renault is still playing the "premium" game. IMO, the pricing is higher by atleast 50-80K.

Waiting (Im)patiently for July 4th...

[nair]

I am also looking for a new diesel car. IMHO, Duster Diesel 110PS at 10 or 11lakhs do make more sense than spending 8lakhs on a premium hatchback. Hope Renault is bit more aggressive with the pricing. One hit car can drastically change their image.

Will be actively following auto sites on july 4th. :-)

[idofsuresh]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

I totally agree that the Electronic Stability Program and Anti Slip Regulation is a great boon and keeps one safe in terms of cornering and handling etc. The relatively cheap price of GBP 350 for the Duster means another 30 odd thousand rupees! Why not offer it as an option to discerning consumers?

An US Auto Industry study indicates that with ESP about 40% accidents could have been avoided and a Toyota study pegged it at 50%. The cheapest vehicle with ESP one can get in India is Fluence E2D. Such a life saving feature, costs about 150 USD at the manufacturer. Toyota had an option pack of 250 USD for ESP in Corolla USA if I remember it right. Yet, the same manufactures treat Indian customers life cheap and pay lip service to safety in India. I hate to death their marketing material and hypocrisy when they talk about safety.

Infact, in Europe ESP is mandatory from 2012 according to the NCAP web site. Simply, you cannot sell a new car without ESP. Wish the government does something about safety aspects. Ok, ok, I know I am stupid to expect that in India.

Bottom line, if I need ESP (a 250 USD life saving feature) in my car then I need to shell out 13L Ex-Showroom minimum for that Fluence E2D and I'll live without Auto Climate Control and messed up ergonomics. What a choice. Duster ? No ESP even in the top end.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by idofsuresh

An US Auto Industry study indicates that with ESP about 40% accidents could have been avoided and a Toyota study pegged it at 50%. The cheapest vehicle with ESP one can get in India is Fluence E2D. Such a life saving feature, costs about 150 USD at the manufacturer. Toyota had an option pack of 250 USD for ESP in Corolla USA if I remember it right. Yet, the same manufactures treat Indian customers life cheap and pay lip service to safety in India. I hate to death their marketing material and hypocrisy when they talk about safety.

Infact, in Europe ESP is mandatory from 2012 according to the NCAP web site. Simply, you cannot sell a new car without ESP. Wish the government does something about safety aspects. Ok, ok, I know I am stupid to expect that in India.

Bottom line, if I need ESP (a 250 USD life saving feature) in my car then I need to shell out 13L Ex-Showroom minimum for that Fluence E2D and I'll live without Auto Climate Control and messed up ergonomics. What a choice. Duster ? No ESP even in the top end.

Pipe dreams dear boy, pipe dreams; at least for the moment.
Money and pricing talk here and nothing else.

But they could have I suppose, offered it as an option to discerning buyers; after all they are are a good functional Euro brand, Renault. As you say ESP is ma datory in all developed markets.

I wonder if anyone can throw light on what safety features are mandatory by law in China as a direct comparo to India. My wife is travelling up and down there quite a bit these last few weeks and she tells me that hardly anyone including the drivers of these cabs, even just outside of the big cities like Shanghai, Beijing etc, hardly even wear their seat belts!

I cannot remember off-hand because it is a while ago now that I went there, but I seem to remember that at least in the cities and on the freeways/ highways, the cabbies were quite diligent about their seat belts in those old cabs, even though they had no other safety stuff to talk of. In any case for a tall person in a chinese taxi, one feels horribly hemmed in and caged, because of that ugly metallic partition they have between passenger and driver.

Out here even crumple zones and anti roll bars are touted as safety features, along with 'fire retardant' BEIGE upholstery.
Why on earth do we as a buying public also not understand the value of safety, in comparison to a few bucks?

Maybe I am growing older. But it wears me down, this constant exposure to watching various unidentifiable low flying metal + plastic object hurtling about me on the public roads, piloted by some sort of half wits with an apparent rampaging death wish.

I feel quite at risk to my life and limb every time I step out of the house whether in my vehicle or by cycle or while walking.

Government must make these safety features mandatory like they have done, seat belts and helmets. Only then will all these manufacturers come to heel!

[BUXX]

It is undeniable that Safety should atleast be an option , if not a priority.

BUT, having said that , I do remember someone on the forum posting a link about a US study (NTSB?) where it was found that ABS & Airbags have almost negligible to zero effect/benefit in fatal accidents scenarios.
Though, he did not mention if the study said anything about Non-Fatal crashes.

Renault has posted on Fb, that the launch is in 1st week July. Finally, official confirmation from the horse's mouth !

[monty9991]

I went to the dealer yesterday and they told me that Duster is coming at their place on 4th or 5th of July as demo car.

I might able to get the pictures that day before any one because we own the land on which they are sitting. Will keep this thread posted.

[man_and_machine]

A bit (please excuse)..

Originally Posted by idofsuresh

.......Yet, the same manufactures treat Indian customers life cheap and pay lip service to safety in India. I hate to death their marketing material and hypocrisy when they talk about safety.

Infact, in Europe ESP is mandatory from 2012 according to the NCAP web site. ......

Jago Re moment ? Well, its simply the the "perception" of cost of life in India. The fraction of what 1 life means in the 1.4 odd billion people. Could we purely say "demand v/s supply" for quality of life?

When the Tsunami happened on 2006, a few Swedish nationals unfortunately lost their lives on our eastern coast, that was declared as a national emergency in Sweden! and a major rescue and collect was launched for those few citizens of their nation.

More lives are lost per week in road accidents in India than the number of unfortunate deaths of Swedish citizens and nobody gives a damn (excuse the word) for it! Well, its what does 100 lives mean in 1.4 billion lives? (crazy logic, but its a fact).

So if the govt, the citizens themselves do not care of quality of safety of life, why should the auto companies be singled out? I am defending them, never, but that trying to diff out the perception of safety in India and rest of the developed world!
If the ESP is offered even as an option, I would go for it! would we not all ??

[apachelongbow]

Esp, abs, ebd, park assist, 6 airbags, curtian airbags etc etc all are good and great to have. First of all, we must check if we do have simple 'common sense' before we start driving our machines.

Not belting seatbelts, placing a child unsecured on the front seats, placing matresses/gaddas on the floor to allow children to play, keeping pets unsecured in the boot of a suv, overloading luggage on top of a car tied with ropes... havent we all done that? If one wants he/she can read so many safety voilations on any of our long drive/touring threads.

What is the point of loading the car with all kind of safety gizmos if the owner lacks basic sense on what is safe for him/his family and others?

A simple car with all passengers strapped up will have a far greater chance of survival/smaller injuries in case of a shunt than a car loaded with all safety features but the occupants not strapped up. We should think about this.

[narayan]

Originally Posted by idofsuresh

An US Auto Industry study indicates that with ESP about 40% accidents could have been avoided and a Toyota study pegged it at 50%. The cheapest vehicle with ESP one can get in India is Fluence E2D. Such a life saving feature, costs about 150 USD at the manufacturer. Toyota had an option pack of 250 USD for ESP in Corolla USA if I remember it right. Yet, the same manufactures treat Indian customers life cheap and pay lip service to safety in India. I hate to death their marketing material and hypocrisy when they talk about safety.

Infact, in Europe ESP is mandatory from 2012 according to the NCAP web site. Simply, you cannot sell a new car without ESP. Wish the government does something about safety aspects. Ok, ok, I know I am stupid to expect that in India.

Bottom line, if I need ESP (a 250 USD life saving feature) in my car then I need to shell out 13L Ex-Showroom minimum for that Fluence E2D and I'll live without Auto Climate Control and messed up ergonomics. What a choice. Duster ? No ESP even in the top end.

without doubting the importance of these safety features for even a moment, i will take some of these surveys with a pinch of salt. lot of times, safety is "oversold". further, lets also evaluate this in the Indian context. firstly we need to get the basics right - seat belts, speed limits, traffic sense etc.

also separately, wish to understand whether the ESP is just a bolt on feature on a car. is it merely an upgrade in the ECU or does it also involve additional hardware in the drive train ? if its a bolt on, dont see why it cant be offered as an option

[vb-san]

Originally Posted by idofsuresh

The cheapest vehicle with ESP one can get in India is Fluence E2D. Such a life saving feature, costs about 150 USD at the manufacturer.

Just a small correction there. The cheapest car with ESP (in Indian Market) is the Ford Fiesta Petrol AT. But I totally agree with you – it’s criminal to do cost-cutting by safety compromises.

[bhatmaster]

Got a brochure from Renault Dealer, but Disel version seems to have only two model Rxl - 85 PS and RXZ - 110 PS. Attaching the same here.
Afrer asking about the pricing, the salesperson told RXL will be something arond 9.1 Ex Showrom Kolkata and RXZ will be adove 10.

[mpksuhas]

^ I guess there are 3 varients for Diesel as per the above brochure. 110 RxL, 110 RxZ and 85 RxL. Also you have 85 RxL plus Option pack which is mentioned in the left bottom table.

[itwasntme]

I believe there IS a diesel RxE and its features are exactly similar to the Petrol RxE and hence not separately mentioned. So if, the RxL is 9.1 lakhs ex-s, then the RxE should be around 8.5 Lakhs.

[MAS]

The brochure is quite confusing, but please check the right hand side of the brochure (Technical specifications).

You will find
- 2 models in Petrol - RxE, RxL
- 2 models in Diesel - 85 Bhp - RxE, RxL & third one is RxL with Option pack
- 2 models in Diesel - 110 Bhp - RxL, RxZ

God, this price uncertainty is killing.