[dhaval]

perceptions are built from differentiators in performance, innovation and design. Now that's premium.

Rightly said my friend. For someone, upgrading from a 100cc bike to lets say M800 can all together be a matter of pride, while for others it might be just another small car.
Same is the case with the GP as well.

[amit27]

Well said Raul Premium is an altohether different word an alto with Sunroof , Alloys , 6 Speaker and jing bang does not become premium . Neither is a brand created out of thin air IMHO premium brands are like Ferrari , Maseratti , RR , Bentley etc. in upper band and cars like BMW and Mercedes , Lexus in grade Skoda is not premium by any strech of imagination .

[RX135]

Originally Posted by raul

This 'premium' business is going of control. Punto is not a premium car, that's a joke, nor is the Fabia, another joke. Next people will say Swift is premium. These are 'designed' to be run of the mill practical affordable cars and are sold as such everywhere. Knock knock, is anyone there.

Tata cannot sell the Indica as an affordable car here and sell a stripped down version of the same car as a 'premium car' in let's say Africa, that would be taking extreme liberties with the term premium. So take a minute to understand the auto industry before throwing around terms like premium.

I guess, you got a bit excited there.

The term "Premium" is closely related to the market. When you have hatchbacks selling from 2.2L ones (Maruti 800) to 7L ones (Fabia), Fabia or Punto are indeed premium hatchbacks. In fact when Getz was launched, they clearly made it as premium hatch against Santro, which is economy model.

Premium tag can not be considered in isolation, but has to be relative to the market.

Otherwise, why would boring Honda Citys and Civics, which are nothing but run of the mill cars in US, considered premium cars in their segment in India?

Mercedes E-class in company of Bentley, Jaguars, Rolls and Maybachs would be considered as super economy car

[raul]

You are mixing things up. You are referring to relative perception, ie to a cyclist any 2 wheeler is 'premium'. That's quite different and puts the Hayabusa at par with the Splendor.

That's an individual thing and not relevant to this particular discussion of identifying the Hayabusa as a premium bike and the Splendor as a run of the mill bike.

The premiumness of the Hayabusa is because of technology, innovation or design and not individual variables. It is not relative in that context. For a person who doesn't value cars the premiumness of BMW or Mercedes has no value, but that doesn't make the cars less premium.

For a 800 owner , the Swift is premium, for a swift owner the Civic is premium etc, but we are talking about premium cars and not our personal situation in life.

[RakishRam]

Originally Posted by raul

This 'premium' business is going of control. Punto is not a premium car, that's a joke, nor is the Fabia, another joke.

yes, call Mini premium or call fiat 500 premium, there will be takers.

Coming back to GP, we all know it is good car and fiat will also be tempted to sell at high price. yes, they could do this, IF, they have a good brand value in India, say something like what honda enjoys. But with its current brand value in India, which will make peugeot looks smarty, the only way fiat can play is by pricing it competently and giving a decent A.S.S.

[MaserQ]

Originally Posted by finneyp

BUSA, if you don't understand the meaning of Modern, Premium, Jazzy etc, I cannot help it! Maybe you can refer any English dictionary!

When did Fiat India say that they want to capture the market by selling GPs in large volumes???
Pls don't cook your own stories!

If some one wants a Premium hatch with ABS & Airbags priced < 5 lacs, that is sheer daydreaming!

The article in business standard says that Fiat India expects to sell 3000-4000 Puntos every month. Now, I would love for this car to do well in India. But if they position it against say, the Fabia, I am afraid they can forget about doing such numbers.

The strategy is to position the Punto above the upcoming new Indica. That still leaves room for an LXi equivalent variant without Airbags etc, to be priced in the range of 5-5.5 lakhs ex-showroom. I genuinely believe that Fiat can succeed with the Grande if and only IF they price this super product sensibly. As it is the A.S.S is nothing to talk home about..

[RX135]

First of all, I don't think Swift to 800 is the same as "Two Wheeler" to cyclist. Anyway!

I thought were discussing about Premium hatchbacks here (Punto, Fabia, Swift/Getz) and it has to be relative to the market. It is widely accepted fact in context of Indian car scene that, Getz/Swift are premium hatches.

If there is no difference in Swift and 800 whatsoever (which are both hatchbacks), why would anyone spend double the money on Swift than on a 800?If tomorrow Baby Merc is launched in India, it will be the premium hatch.

In Indian context, Palio GTX was (or is?) considered as ultimate hot hatch. Sure, there were Golf TTs, Mini Coopers out there in Europe and GTX stands no chance in front of them. So, did it make it dull run of the mill hatch? I guess not.

Anyway, to each his own!

[Ajay_J]

[quote=finneyp;715906]
When did Fiat India say that they want to capture the market by selling GPs in large volumes???
[quote]

Come on, do they need to say that explicitly . Every manufacturer want to sell product in high volumes (pretty high end car like RR Phantom could be an exception).

[RROD]

Originally Posted by neoonwheels

against Swift... TATA would like their Indica V3 to compete against them... ..

I think that's where the FIAT could lose out man.
FIAT cars are amazing and Indians deserve to drive their cars.

[rockyheights]

If you ask me, premium is a relative term too..

All the Bentleys, BMWs, Audis, and blah blah blah of the world are premium only until something better comes by and makes them look ordinary!

A M800 in a remote village in India can be a premium ride!

[penpavan]

So this will be a B++ segment car. If it is priced same as Fabia, as FIAT says, one should go for this car only for exclusivity otherwise, Fabia is the unquestionable choice.

If priced anything lower than Fabia also, I dont think people will prefer it since anybody aiming for this car will not be crunched on budget, and will certainly go for the Fabia, since it is a Skoda and hence will certainly have better FE than Punto. So people will get better car for some extra price.

Well, for me, if anybody buys Punto, it is only for it's exclusivity...

[BUSA]

Very well said Raul.

Originally Posted by finneyp

BUSA, if you don't understand the meaning of Modern, Premium, Jazzy etc, I cannot help it! Maybe you can refer any English dictionary!

When did Fiat India say that they want to capture the market by selling GPs in large volumes???
Pls don't cook your own stories!

If some one wants a Premium hatch with ABS & Airbags priced < 5 lacs, that is sheer daydreaming!

I think you should think before you post, writing stuff like refer dictionary and all just shows how immature you can be, and by no way is Punto modern, its 3 years old already, the most modern car is the i10, its launched recently and yet to be launched worldwide.

Anyways as Eddy has mentioned Fiat India has clearly mentioned that they intent to sell the car in quite large volumes, so there is nothing about cooking my own stories.

Does a car having ABS and Airbag become premium, if so then Hyundai i10 is a premium hatchback. And there is nothing to day dream about ABS & Airbag in less then 5Lacs, Tata's Indica comes for 4.79L with ABS and Dual Airbags as standard FYI.

And if you really seem hellbent on calling the Punto as premium, then you need to reinvent the dictionary with words like suppa premium for the Fiat 500 and suppa duppa premium for the Bravo(which is a real premium hatchback and not the GP)

And Fiat is just a car company, but you should not go overboard with your obssession for it. Call a orange, a orange, an a apple, a apple.

Lets see whether our aam-junta takes to this socalledpremium hatchback

Fiat Punto is far more superior to swift or getz, so i think its fair to have a higher price tag than them

In which way is it superior? A.S.S? Spare price? FE? Engine? Price? Handling? AFAIK the GP has superior ride and build quality, but just blindly calling it superior to its competition wont help.

I just want to say, let Fiat launch whatever features and at whatever price, they should launch a diesel version(even if basic) for less then the cost of the Swift VDi, and only then they can come close in acheiving their sales target of 3000-4000 units per year. Just look at the Palio 1.6, it has a more powerful engine then the Swift, alloys, rear defogger, wiper and costs less then the Swift VXi, but still the VXi outsells it, similar it will be with the GP, so they need to be very very agressive in their pricing. Even Maruti could not get away by pricing the Baleno at Honda City levels(when the Baleno was first launched at 8L)

It is widely accepted fact in context of Indian car scene that, Getz/Swift are premium hatches.

The case in point here is that GP is premium compared to the Swift/Getz

[AMATMO]

there is/was no doubt that punto would be expensive , and it certainly derserves that price..and personally i feel thats the best that much money can buy...but i dont have high hope for that kind of sales but i certainly hope they do well in the country.i love the punto more than any other car in that price range not just the segment

[LLL]

Originally Posted by penpavan

So this will be a B++ segment car. If it is priced same as Fabia, as FIAT says, one should go for this car only for exclusivity otherwise, Fabia is the unquestionable choice.

Would anyone know how many bookings fabia is getting now?

Originally Posted by BUSA

Lets see whether our aam-junta takes to this socalledpremium hatchback

aam janta doesnt want to buy fiat cars. they have heard stories of spares taking 2-6 months to arrive, service stations taking their own time for pathetic service and janta hasnt heard that tatas are servicing fiat cars now. its another story that tatas are also not known for quality service.

so fiat is smoking something really exotic here - trying to sell unpopular brands as preimum cars. they might get some mileage if they price their cars in santro/wagonr range.

[finneyp]

Originally Posted by LLL

so fiat is smoking something really exotic here - trying to sell unpopular brands as preimum cars..

G Punto - unpopular brand?
Pls do a search for Grande Punto on the net & then let us know if it is popular or unpopular!

Originally Posted by LLL

they might get some mileage if they price their cars in santro/wagonr range.

Dream on....!