[deehunk]

Sachin, all vehicles are now equipped with basic safety features. Captur is not an exception. The vehicles are designed keeping some tolerance for drivers with poor skills. The average height of Indians has increased over the last decade, did Renault consider this while cheating with smaller airbags. They dug their own grave by promoting Captur by showing fake ads. The mechanicals of Captur are a copy paste job from Duster which is plagued by reliability issues, so what is the reliability of Captur? If you think reliability of a vehicle is not part of safety factor, then whole debate over safety is over.

[FrodoOfTheShire]

I feel the point here is Not whether Captur is a good car by itself. There are a lot of substandard cars doing huge numbers every month in India. Captur is definitely a better product than them.

The question is, is Captur a better and more relevant product than its competition at that price point in 2018?

If Yes, then Renault should have marketed it properly instead of resorting to tricks. They should have gone all out and lauched it simultaneously with diesel, petrol, automatic and AWD variants as these technologies are already available with them. This would have surely helped to drive up the interest and subsequently the sales.

At the same time, Renault should have also done a market study about Indians' preference for rugged SUV looks vs Crossovers. Its fairly evident what type of body structure and styling Indians love.

Additionally, they should have also looked at other cars and how the market is evolving before harping on about Captur's "premium"-ness.

So I guess people are not just complaining about the Captur in isolation but more about Renault's strategy and attitude towards prospective buyers.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by FrodoOfTheShire

There are a lot of substandard cars doing huge numbers every month in India.

The question is, is Captur a better and more relevant product than its competition at that price point in 2018?

Not just the price. Its a combination of a lot of factors.

Keeping price, build, ad campaign and features all same - A Maruti Suzuki Captur sold via NEXA would have worked brilliantly. Imagine how bad a Renault SCross would have failed.

Keeping price, build, ad campaign and features all same - Would a TATA Captur have worked?
It's a funky product people expect from the modern TATA. But defenitely there will be many including me expecting more features or a better VFM price tag.

But then, we have Renault, not TATA or Suzuki or Hyundai. They have produced hit cars earlier - by identifying niche segments and hitting them hard - the first mover advantage helping them along. Duster and Kwid are prime examples. They've never been able to take on established competition in any other segments otherwise.

They just had a try a bit harder when taking on the very accomplished Creta. Either make it very VFM and fight it out against SCross, or load it with unique and USP stuff while positioned against Creta - A large sunroof for example!

Captur is certainly good, but at this point - it is not appearing as so much good or better enough for people to ignore the tried and established Creta. Indians have an inclination towards tried and tested products - which is why they still find more appeal in the Duster (In addition to the looks) than Captur. And Captur defenitely needs a couple of strong USPs fast if it is to recover soon.

Just my humble opinion.

[Nonstop-driver]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

- which is why they still find more appeal in the Duster (In addition to the looks) than Captur.

This is not all. Walk in any Renault showroom and ask the number 1 feedback they receive about potential Duster customers. The answer will be interior. The quality, ergonomics, and feel of it. Renault has to be deaf and blind to not know this. And I'm talking about a generic buyer, not a BHPian who can talk airbags and C/Kaptur. Despite that, what did Renault do about it? Nothing.

Duster can be forgiven because that's how it has always been but they offered the same package in their 'premium' offering while throwing the same medianav in their entry-level offering.

[deehunk]

The car manufacturers should first show level headedness, there are enough choices in the market for prospective buyers. A car has much more to do apart from being driven on terrains or bad roads.

[Sachin Bhatt]

Originally Posted by deehunk

Sachin, all vehicles are now equipped with basic safety features. Captur is not an exception. The vehicles are designed keeping some tolerance for drivers with poor skills. The average height of Indians has increased over the last decade, did Renault consider this while cheating with smaller airbags. They dug their own grave by promoting Captur by showing fake ads. The mechanicals of Captur are a copy paste job from Duster which is plagued by reliability issues, so what is the reliability of Captur? If you think reliability of a vehicle is not part of safety factor, then whole debate over safety is over.

The smaller airbags was considered when the duster got a 3 star rating. So you can’t nitpick a point. And have you ever owned a Duster? May be it’s hearsay in your case...and may very well be true. My brother owns one which has given no problems for the last 4 years he has owned it.

Originally Posted by deehunk

The car manufacturers should first show level headedness, there are enough choices in the market for prospective buyers. A car has much more to do apart from being driven on terrains or bad roads.

I just am making my point based on what I read on the forum. And I am glad crazydriver brought out the misleading CAPTUR ad to light. That helps builds credibility of this forum. But beyond that, I think we have all overdone it by singling Renault out. Let’s target all those who compromise on safety with equal vigour.

[deehunk]

Originally Posted by Sachin Bhatt

The smaller airbags was considered when the duster got a 3 star rating. So you can’t nitpick a point. And have you ever owned a Duster? May be it’s hearsay in your case...and may very well be true. My brother owns one which has given no problems for the last 4 years he has owned it.

Don't take criticism too personal, I owned a Duster at one point of time and sold it off after getting fed up with the poor quality. In fact I was one of the first owners to challenge Renault on social media by exposing the inferior quality part by part. There has been extensive study done on effectiveness of airbags for small, medium and large built passengers. The height of passenger does affect the risk of injury during collision for taller and shorter drivers. Kindly read through other threads on Duster where owners have suffered from poor quality issues. I was threatened in 2016 to stop writing. If your brother has a trouble free vehicle, fine, but it does not mean that owners who have faced genuine issues are complaining because of any bias. I have been driving for more than 20 years now and come from a strong Automotive testing background.

They were some anti-social elements who came to convey a message that I can be sued in the court if I keep writing on social media.

[vishnurp99]

@Deehunk - is there a thread on the forum that talks about your experience. Did Renault threaten you? This is disturbing to say the least.

[Sachin Bhatt]

Originally Posted by deehunk

Don't take criticism too personal,

Not personal at all buddy!

I owned a Duster at one point of time and sold it off after getting fed up with the poor quality. In fact I was one of the first owners to challenge Renault on social media by exposing the inferior quality part by part. There has been extensive study done on effectiveness of airbags for small, medium and large built passengers. The height of passenger does affect the risk of injury during collision for taller and shorter drivers. Kindly read through other threads on Duster where owners have suffered from poor quality issues. I was threatened in 2016 to stop writing. If your brother has a trouble free vehicle, fine, but it does not mean that owners who have faced genuine issues are complaining because of any bias. I have been driving for more than 20 years now and come from a strong Automotive testing background.

They were some anti-social elements who came to convey a message that I can be sued in the court if I keep writing on social media.

Is that true? Wow! Scary! I can relate to what you have been through and your reactions are 100% justified my friend.

[deehunk]

Originally Posted by vishnurp99

@Deehunk - is there a thread on the forum that talks about your experience. Did Renault threaten you? This is disturbing to say the least.

I have shared my frustrating ownership experience on the Duster thread, but in 2016 there were few complaints and I did not get much support. It was a coincidence that issues increased after December 2016 and people started looking beyond Duster. I argued for sometime with Renault that dealer is not accountable to repair new vehicles, they stuck to their stand and I just left it there for my own peace of mind.

[pacman2881]

Fabrice Cambolive (Senior VP, chairman, Africa-Middle-East-India, Renault Group) believes Captur needs some more time and marketing efforts to succeed and it is too early to write it off-

We just have to work further in marketing the Captur and its features and that will enable us in transforming the vehicle into a commercial success; but to do that, we need time. After just two months of launch, I don’t think it is justified to comment on sales numbers

Link

After missing to capitalize on the initial excitement I do not see how marketing alone can pull it off now even if it is a competent product. Even the mighty Maruti would struggle.

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by pacman2881

Fabrice Cambolive (Senior VP, chairman, Africa-Middle-East-India, Renault Group) believes Captur needs some more time and marketing efforts to succeed and it is too early to write it off-
After missing to capitalize on the initial excitement I do not see how marketing alone can pull it off now even if it is a competent product.

+1. It just goes on to show how aloof Renault is from the Indian car market. They tasted unexpected success with Duster and thought they had found the winning formula. Unluckily for them it has been just a downhill journey from there. Only a massive price cut can probably save the Captur and the window for that too is rapidly closing IMHO.

[The Rationalist]

Originally Posted by pacman2881

Fabrice Cambolive (Senior VP, chairman, Africa-Middle-East-India, Renault Group) believes Captur needs some more time and marketing efforts to succeed and it is too early to write it off-

Renault has all the time at hand, that is till TATA launches their H5X in 2019. Then Captur can be buried 6 feet under for sure. These guys are real optimists man! But then so were the makers of Titanic, the unsinkable! Let them stay in their own fantasy world of ' All Is Well '.

[deehunk]

I am eager to see their reaction if the sales drop further in the coming months, is it so difficult to accept defeat? More marketing means more ads featuring film stars or may be some new cricketer from Indian team. I see so many stalls in ITPL very often, but Renault has been missing.

[Tarmac.terrorist]

IMHO captur still has hope if it undergoes a price cut. It recieved overall positive reviews. It's fit and finish is better than duster although not on par with the competition. With good benefits it could manage decent sales.