Team-BHP > The Indian Car Scene


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Old 4th December 2007, 13:54   #31
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peugot 209 was launced in india, man a disaster . why . fiat , Peugeot and these strong european brands are not a success in india. its just simple common sense. the european companies try to sell their most disgusting car thinking the indian market will take crap but they don't know team bhp is here
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Old 4th December 2007, 14:45   #32
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Citroen has some excellent cars, the C4 for instance is a very highly rated car. In China they are making an extended version of the C6 and is quite good-looking. Got some pretty decent engines in their armory as well. Peugeot needs to introduce the Citroen line in India and forget the earlier failures that they had with Peugeot.

Sam ji took a few good pics of Peugeots and posted them on his blog of the French tour. I think those were SUV's, again very good looking vehicles.
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Old 4th December 2007, 14:56   #33
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Originally Posted by tsk1979 View Post
I was talking about the "Indian Market" which is "unforgiving" and does not forget about past mistakes.
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My post is about the unforgiving nature of the Indian market.
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This unforgiving nature is going to haunt Peugot too just the way it affects Palio.

I.E., you did not bargain for the unforgiving Finney .
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Old 4th December 2007, 15:13   #34
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if they are to be here then 206 would be considered as hoda jazz and skoda auto -fabia is here.in that case it was my dream machine for some time and i am gonna take one.
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Old 4th December 2007, 17:32   #35
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I dont care how good their cars are (and they arent all that great anyway) - seeing how they left people in the lurch the last time around, there's NO WAY I'd personally buy any of their products.
Spot on! This is just what I was thinking when reading the thread opening post. Peugeot literally dumped a good number of Indians who had put their hard-earned money on the bookings. That said, I'd disagree that Indians dont forget easily. At launch, the Palio was a hit (almost 4000 cars a month) despite the Uno debacle just a few years prior.

If Peugeot does arrive on our shores, I hope they choose a better partner, product and attitude.
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Old 4th December 2007, 17:50   #36
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I am not so happy about how they dumped the Indian Market when they left.

But they have some amazing diesel engines. At one time, Peugeot diesels were considered among the best in the world. I hope they get in a small diesel to combat the MJD 1.3. There is no question about the reliability of the cars either.

I will still consider them provided they prove their commitment to the Indian market in terms of service and good quality products.
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Old 4th December 2007, 17:53   #37
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Once you spoil the name in the market, it is very tough to regain the people's confidence again. They have to work 200% to prove their worthiness.
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Old 4th December 2007, 19:36   #38
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It is my estimation that they will not enter with the Peugeot brand.
If they release a car here, it will be a Citroën. Any Citroën. I don't know enough about cars to tell you which one.

But I know enough about brands.

Indian people are rushing to buy Chevy Sparks, after losing so much money on their Daewoo Matiz.
Indians love the Chevy Optra, despite the fact that every Daewoo Cielo they spent lakhs for, is now worth its weight in dung.

Brand is everything. And Citroën is an undamaged brand.

Last edited by Sam Kapasi : 4th December 2007 at 19:39.
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Old 4th December 2007, 20:39   #39
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With all due respect- this statement is hard to justify!
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Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi View Post
Indian people are rushing to buy Chevy Sparks, after losing so much money on their Daewoo Matiz.
Indians love the Chevy Optra, despite the fact that every Daewoo Cielo they spent lakhs for, is now worth its weight in dung.
Brand is everything. And Citroën is an undamaged brand.
GM sales for Nov 2006.
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The sales comprised 557 units of the luxury sedan Chevrolet Optra and 1,426 units of its small car Chevrolet Spark
1,426 units of spark clearly shows that even with 50k discounts, the car is struggling to sell its capacity of 2k cars per month. Optra Magnum with its delightful diesel is selling on 557 units compared to 3 times the figure for Civic.

People havent forgiven Chevrolet (GM) for faults of the Opel Brand! And sales confirm that!

Forget Deawoo. Common people doesnt know the connection between Optra and Deawoo. Although Matiz/ Spark can be identified based on looks alone!

Citroen is an unknown manufacturer as far as common people are concerned. Hence, brand value cannot be accounted for!

Last edited by CrAzY dRiVeR : 4th December 2007 at 20:43.
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Old 5th December 2007, 10:42   #40
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But they have some amazing diesel engines. At one time, Peugeot diesels were considered among the best in the world. I hope they get in a small diesel to combat the MJD 1.3. There is no question about the reliability of the cars either.
AFAIK, the Fiesta diesel engine (TDCi) is sourced from Peugeot.
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Old 5th December 2007, 10:45   #41
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AFAIK, the Fiesta diesel engine (TDCi) is sourced from Peugeot.
FOrd and Peugeot jointly designed and developed the engine
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Old 5th December 2007, 10:48   #42
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I'm waiting at their doorstep. They still haven't refunded our booking amount!!
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Old 5th December 2007, 10:48   #43
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Quote:
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Forget Deawoo. Common people doesnt know the connection between Optra and Deawoo.
Precisely my point. Most people can't connect Chevrolet to Daewoo. They believe they are driving a great piece of American Automotive History instead of a piece of Korean Corporate Bankruptcy.

I mean no offence by the above statement to anyone.
I think that the cars released by GM in India under the Chevy badge- Optra, Spark,SRV and UVA (Does that cover the Daewoo cars? I know the forester was a Subaru) are fantastic and reliable cars. We're merely discussing brand names here. Badges, if you will.
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Citroen is an unknown manufacturer as far as common people are concerned. Hence, brand value cannot be accounted for!
Merely as an example: I can assure you that barring the few car lovers like yourself and perhaps other members of this forum, Škoda was an unknown brand in India some years ago.
Today the common man perceives Škoda as a luxurious brand. The brand was built (virtually from scratch) and then sustained.

Brand value is taken to to the common people.

Peugeot had that chance and they botched it. When Peugeot came to India many years ago it's wasn't exactly like people were waiting with bated breath for them as a brand. Kidhar ka hai? France ka hai? In all cases, car and automotive brand awareness was far, far lower then, than today. They built it, then burnt it. May not have been their fault entirely, but it did happen.

Since then, money has changed hands to a whole younger generation.

Here's another side to this discussion:

12 years ago, a boy of age 24 did not make 50K a month and did not have a credit card and banks chasing him to PUHLEASE take a loan to buy a car.
This current new generation of Indians that is very aware of what is going on in the whole world (thanks to the media) can now afford to buy a car. Young TBHPians can now afford to buy cars. 12 years ago a person of their age may not have been able to afford a computer to surf Team-BHP.

My singular point was: Citroën does not have great recall value as a brand in India. I agree with you there.

But it would make more marketing sense to build Citroën as a brand, rather than re-build Peugeot as an apology. Don't you agree?

Last edited by Sam Kapasi : 5th December 2007 at 10:52.
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Old 5th December 2007, 10:54   #44
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ajmat View Post
FOrd and Peugeot jointly designed and developed the engine
AFAIK Peugeot designs and makes these engines, which Ford uses under a agreement to share powertrains.
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Old 5th December 2007, 10:56   #45
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Quote:
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FOrd and Peugeot jointly designed and developed the engine
Thanks for correcting, Ajmat. I remembered Peugeot in the equation, but didnt know it was jointly done.
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