[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by shashanka

Forgive me for saying this, but I believe the mass market in India understands MSIL products well. So, yes I believe the initial brick dropped by Renault India has a good deal to do with the Captur's box-office disaster, apart from the already drooping sales of it's precursor, the Duster.

MSIL is the mass market's car. Agree. But the days are gone when it was selling only entry level cars. Now it has products spread all across the range and moreover with increasing penetration of internet, I really doubt if a Captur's buyer is more informed than a Swift/Baleno one. I still feel that the false claims made by Renault have nothing to do with the sales. We have enough number of cars in our market which lack even the basic safety measures but people buy them left and right. Few of them even got categorically publicised in the Media when the crash test reports were shared. But still that didn't damage their sales. Renault has just been a single legged pony all along and only recently tasted success with its second car, Kwid. The Duster owed its success to it being one of the first offerings of its kind. But sadly by the time the Captur arrived, that segment had got pretty competitive.

And lastly (and this is OT!) I feel heartened that you continue to think of yourself as a student, tho' I'm sure you must be a doctor/doctorate!

A Doctor regardless of his degrees and specialisations, is still always a student of Medicine na.

[deehunk]

A Doctor regardless of his degrees and specialisations, is still always a student of Medicine na.

This kind of attitude has led to the fall of big brands in India, the moment they are entering a third world market, they should keep aside their head weight and gain market confidence at ground level.

[shashanka]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

......A Doctor regardless of his degrees and specializations, is still always a student of Medicine na.

Wonderfully put! I wish all the other practitioners of the craft had a similarly enlightened view!

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by shashanka

I had no idea the Creta (at least the made-for-India edition) came with AWD. In which case I would have certainly given it due thought. Well-rounded or not, it doesn't have the upright SUV stance by any stretch, and is as inverted-jelly-mouldish as they come (or crossover-ish if you like).

Creta doesnt come with AWD and I'm pretty sure you are aware of it.

My point was that you don't take a knife to a gun fight. Creta doesnt have AWD, but is a very established product. For Renault to have succeeded, they needed to differentiate their product as much as possible. Having AWD should have helped atleast take a small percentage of interest from the Duster, even though AWD contributes little to the latter in terms of sales as well.

Regarding the looks - regardless of what you think of it - the market verdict is pretty clear. Indian market considers Ecosport, Creta, Brezza and the likes as SUVs whereas Captur, SCross, Hexa all struggle to match up to that expectation, regardless of the fact that they have better offroad credentials or not. An imposing upright front end qualifies as an SUV for many!

Originally Posted by shashanka

The Duster sold (despite the dowdy interiors) because it had great ride/roadholding and respectable off-road credentials (the AWD version) and decent pricing.

Not how the mass market works.

Duster sold because of its oversized wheel arches, boxy looks and all that chrome. The fact that it was an allrounded product helped too - along with the total lack of competition. Road holding and all plays a good role among us enthusiasts, and the AWD came much later and never really contributed much to sales, outside of forums like Team Bhp.

[PrideRed]

Had a chance to look at the Captur yesterday when I went to pickup my Kwid. The car looks great, the interiors are decent, quite good feature set and looks big. The biggest drawback I saw is its a proper crossover!. While I was looking at the car, two families rejected it and started negotiating for the Duster- Just because it was a SUV. SA had a tough time selling Captur as he could not convince it as a SUV. The other drawback I saw was with legroom at the back-pretty ordinary.

[shashanka]

Sad, but true, CrAzY dRiVeR! For me, the Duster AWD remains the first SUV worth the name, despite the lack of rugged durability (the reason I chose the Scorpio & have stuck to it!). No doubt the XUV500 AWD did much to enliven the market, tho' it was a late-comer. But yes, the Duster AWD had a subdued macho appeal for a lot of us. Too bad that Renault's service network at the time did not support a mass-market campaign. Hopefully the Kwid will resurrect that.

I read somewhere that MSIL plans to introduce an AWD version of the Ignis! Anything in this?

[motorworks]

I just sold my Rapid TDI 2 days ago and have been test driving all cars in the range of 12 L.
I was at the Trident Hyundai show room to check out the New Verna and the Creta and the same dealer has a Renault showroom right next door. I did check out the Captur, but did not consider it. One, because initial reports point towards a sales disaster, and secondly because the car itself is not attractive in person. It looks like a stretched hatch back and in fact it does not even have the cross over looks of the S-Cross! I still have the s-cross in my list, but not the Captur! Renault should understand their mis-judgement of the Indian consumer and quickly bring in the next gen Duster else that segment would get further competitive with Tata coming up with their all new SUVs!

[FrodoOfTheShire]

Originally Posted by sameer sultan

The dealer is awaiting RTO approval for this version as upto now only diesels have been registered in Chennai

There has been no posts from you sir, post your inspection of the RXE Petrol. Hope the RTO has given the approval. Please do let us know of any updates.

A colleague of mine is very interested in the RXT Petrol but it seems dealers here in Bhubaneswar are yet to receive the TD vehicles.

[volkman10]

Renault Captur can be now declared as the latest dud from the french manufacturer, consistently does sell in 3 digit volumes. January sales at 376 units.

Ironically the CAPTUR in Europe is the largest selling Crossover.

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by volkman10

Ironically the CAPTUR in Europe is the largest selling Crossover.

Which kind of prove that the name change eye-wash did not really work for them. Give a quality product with realistic pricing and options, it will work. I won't be surprised if Renault just end up being a player in the entry level segments only.

[arunramaswamy]

Originally Posted by volkman10

Renault Captur can be now declared as the latest dud from the french manufacturer, consistently does sell in 3 digit volumes. January sales at 376 units.

Ironically the CAPTUR in Europe is the largest selling Crossover.

Originally Posted by vb-san

Which kind of prove that the name change eye-wash did not really work for them. Give a quality product with realistic pricing and options, it will work. I won't be surprised if Renault just end up being a player in the entry level segments only.

Unless Renault stops treating India as dump yard and starts selling the original Captur at the 'Captur' price point. But knowing Renault, they will start manufacturing CMF architecture based products and try to push it as Award winning Global product

[deehunk]

Originally Posted by arunramaswamy

But knowing Renault, they will start manufacturing CMF architecture based products and try to push it as Award winning Global product

They are on the verge of complete chaos, the declining sales of Micra, Sunny, Terrano will have an impact at the component cost level which is very essential for CMF architecture shared by Nissan and Renault.

[govigov]

Where are we with the official review? Or did we decide that it is just not worth to write a review about?

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by govigov

Where are we with the official review? Or did we decide that it is just not worth to write a review about?

GTO had posted about it earlier (The Renault Captur SUV. EDIT: Launched @ Rs 9.99 lakhs).

Media vehicle was provided only by mid Jan. Usual review of Team Bhp standards takes time, but the wait could be even more in this scenario as everyone would be busy with the Auto Expo.

[govigov]

That was about 20 days ago, never thought it would take soo long to write a review. It probably must be the Auto Expo like you said.