[GTO]

The original video ad on YouTube had 15k views; this thread now has over 5 times that. And that's not even counting the views on social media & other websites.

What was the point?

Would have rather they focused on the car's strengths rather than pull a fast one off like they did.

[C300]

Originally Posted by shashanka

Maruti & TM (the new product line-up) are streets ahead in the VFM stakes - you get what you pay for.

Lets appreciate the efforts of TM and FCA for brining in world class products to our market.
As for Maruti, I don't think its VFM at all. Their chairman went on record stating safety features are redundant in Indian scenario.

What Renault has done is absolutely unethical but lets not overlook our largest two manufacturers who are conning us for decades.

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by C300

Lets not glorify Maruti. S-cross and Brezza are overpriced hatchbacks. I dont think they have even tested by gncap. Will pick up Duster/Captur/Terrano over these any day.

I'm not a proponent of Maruti cars at all. But they have at least not tried to cheat. And S-Cross is not a blown hatchback. It has a separate platform. Otherwise we'll have to call all sedans as blown hatchbacks also.

And the SCROSS scored a good 5 stars in ASEAN NCAP.

The Duster has failed miserably in nCap tests long ago. 0 stars without airbags & only 3 I think with all safety pack. So its no tank at all. The design is age old & has shortcomings on safety.

[C300]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

But they have at least not tried to cheat.

How can we be so sure about it?

Originally Posted by Reinhard

And the SCROSS scored a good 5 stars in ASEAN NCAP.
.

Do check whether it was Indian made

Originally Posted by Reinhard

The Duster has failed miserably in nCap tests long ago. 0 stars without airbags & only 3 I think with all safety pack. So its no tank at all. The design is age old & has shortcomings on safety.

While we are quick to point out shortcomings of Duster, how many Indian made cars have scored 3 stars in crash test? Anything from MSIL? We call S-Cross premium and VFM when the top spec costing a bomb doesn't even offer ESP. This will make it unfit for sale in countries like Aus.

Mods, pls remove if

[John]

Amazing how the silence, on this unethical advertising, continues amongst the Indian automobile journalists fraternity.

One word springs to mind. But I dont want to mention it! Gen. V K Singh was right.

[arjab]

Would the Gauls had done a similar thing in say, Continental Europe or USA? If they had, and had been caught, they would have been sued by now!
Anything goes in India! Marketing must've thought: "Arre yaar, doh-no gaari dikhne mein ek jaisa hain; bana doh ad.....kisiko samaj mein hee nahin aaiga, doh no gaddi mein farak kiya hain." (Both cars look the same; produce the ad....no one will know the difference betwen the two cars)
"yahan pe log sirf discount aur mileage dekhti hain banao, banao ad banao!!" (Here people only check discounts and mileage. You just produce the ad)

In fact the local Renault management can still salvage the issue. All it needs is the CEO to come in with a rejoinder; tendering a sincere apology and stating that such things will not occur again.
We, Indians, are a very forgiving and sentimental lot, the moment such a statement is made, we'll all go "Awwwwww, Renault is so sweet" , and they can go back to selling their Romanian relic!

[tomraven99]

Totally against this unethical ad.Ad or not I don't think the Captur will sell in numbers if priced above the Duster AWD variant.
On the other hand its funny to see Maruti being made into a saint on account of this ad goof up. Vitarra Brezza is not the Suzuki Vitarra. Its just a glorified hatch with no capabilities nor safety .No point in comparing it with the 15L AWD Duster.
Lets not talk about the crash ratings of the Indian made swift or alto.
You get what you pay for in all aspects. If you want 5 star safety in an AWD get the Compass and prepare to shell out 10L more.

[Motard_Blr]

Originally Posted by John

Amazing how the silence, on this unethical advertising, continues amongst the Indian automobile journalists fraternity.

One word springs to mind. But I dont want to mention it! Gen. V K Singh was right.

The saying that comes to mind is "Do not bite the hand that feeds you.". A very nice book by Gurcharan Das titled "The difficulty of being good" seems like an appropriate read in this day and age.

[MaserQ]

Very deliberate. This is no copywriter's mistake. Given all the evidence, it is clear that the strategy was rubber stamped by Renault top brass. They were clearly betting that media houses wouldn't risk the loss of ad revenue by reporting it. And they were mostly right. They have however, underestimated the reach and impact of an independent forum like team-bhp.

How about an apology Renault? Show a little class.

[Reinhard]

What they are doing with the K/Captur is way overboard and undeniably cheating. But then Renault has done tricks all the time.

• Launching DACIA cars as Renault branded ones - Logan, Duster, Lodgy with extremely premium pricing when they are considered ultra cheap in their European market.
  
• Shamelessly launching the 1st Gen (Mahindra)Renault Logan, with not just the lamp/wiper controls LHS oriented, but even the wipers and bonnet release!! I can accept a 1st gen Premier Padmini with wipers that clean windshield more for the passenger than the driver. But a 21st century car with this mistake?

So, this is just climbing (down) a few steps more this time in their case when it comes to "ethics".

[for_cars1]

First, it was the Rs. 5 lakh Logan that was based on the B0 platform that got sold here.

The same low cost B0 platform raised on stilts became the Duster whose marketing value increased upto Rs 15 lakh and was successful.

The same B0 frame is also being sold as the MPV Lodgy in our market.

Now the intent is obviously to use the same B0 frame and sell it as Captor and increase its marketing/selling value.

All of these vehicles mentioned above and also Renault Fluence use the same common K9K 1.5 L Diesel engine in different states of tune.

Essentially the same low cost platform and common engine is being used to make cars that may look different and serve different segments but will all have the same DNA underneath.

This strategy of platform and engine/ components sharing is very commonly adopted by OEMs especially in emerging markets to maximize their profits, ease of manufacture, inventory sharing.
It makes no difference to the vast customer base as the majority in our market are blissfully unaware of the underpinnings.

The Indian Captor sharing the same low cost B0 platform is fine, its upto the customer to buy if it suits them, but falsely using the laurels of the Clio platform based Captor which is a totally different car especially by the CEO is not acceptable. Its so funny to imagine that Renault marketing thinks all the people here are naive and can be taken for a ride.

[proton]

I remember a colleague at the factory lunch room announcing he had just taken delivery of a Maruti Suzuki Esteem which had won an award in the US, as per the ad in all the main publications.

I remembered having actually seeing an article in Motor Trend at the Eloor Lending Library on the Award and it was for the Geo Swift, a third generation iteration of the Suzuki Cultus!

Ironically, the 3rd gen never was ever produced in India, the Indian Esteem actually being the 2nd gen! Didn't stop Maruti from claiming in it's ad that what it was offering was the Award winning Car!

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by proton

I remembered having actually seeing an article in Motor Trend at the Eloor Lending Library on the Award and it was for the Geo Swift, a third generation iteration of the Suzuki Cultus!

Ironically, the 3rd gen never was ever produced in India, the Indian Esteem actually being the 2nd gen! Didn't stop Maruti from claiming in it's ad that what it was offering was the Award winning Car!

Suzuki Cultus's version that we got as the 1000/Esteem originally was the same one that was built as GEO METRO in the US right? Either way, the Suzuki Cultus / Swift / GEO METRO won a truck load of awards all over the world including a lot of car of the year awards across years. So claiming that the Esteem was an award winning car was not as bad as this Captur saga IMHO. Some configuration obviously would be different, engine would be different. Fine. But predominantly the DNA of the car was same all over the world. I don't see a big crime in that. Even Hyundai used to paste a "Euro NCAP 5 Star Rating" sticker on its pre-fluidic i20. The car we got, wasn't the same in specifications as the one that underwent that testing. So that I think will always happen to some extent and it should be OK.

What Renault is doing is outright cheating with selling a totally different car with no similarity in components. Only visual resemblance. Still can't find an example of similar magnitude as this one.

[proton]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

Suzuki Cultus's version that we got as the 1000/Esteem originally was the same one that was built as GEO METRO in the US right? Either way, the Suzuki Cultus / Swift / GEO METRO won a truck load of awards all over the world including a lot of car of the year awards across years. So claiming that the Esteem was an award winning car was not as bad as this Captur saga IMHO. Some configuration obviously would be different, engine would be different. Fine. But predominantly the DNA of the car was same all over the world. I don't see a big crime in that. Even Hyundai used to paste a "Euro NCAP 5 Star Rating" sticker on its pre-fluidic i20. The car we got, wasn't the same in specifications as the one that underwent that testing. So that I think will always happen to some extent and it should be OK.

What Renault is doing is outright cheating with selling a totally different car with no similarity in components. Only visual resemblance. Still can't find an example of similar magnitude as this one.

Two things to consider:

1. The Esteem was a second generation, while the award winning GEO METRO/SWIFT was a 3rd gen.

2. The Dacia 1310 was based on the Renault 12, and itself is the base for the B0 platform, used for several Renault, Nissan models, including the Logan and the Clio II!

Quote
The Logan is based on the Dacia B0 platform, also used for the Renault Clio II and for other Renault and Nissan models.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dacia_Logan.

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by proton

2. The Dacia 1310 was based on the Renault 12, and itself is the base for the B0 platform, used for several Renault, Nissan models, including the Logan and the Clio II!


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dacia_Logan.

I beg to defer, the Renault 12 came out in 1970 or so. The Clio is not related or based on it at all