[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by joslicx

LLL/torque
Theres an another angle to look at it! Lets look at City ZX (NHC). A 77BHP car for almost 8+ lacs OTR in Delhi. This is just marginally better (9 BHP but its more heavier than Fabia as well so prob BHP/ton might be similar for both cars) but for 8lakhs still no Airbags/ABS/Sunroof/Parking Sensor?

This is not how you look at it, atleast in India. The prestige associated with a three box honda saloon is immense and thats one of the reason it sells so well.
Going by your logic... A Palio 1.6 beats both of them to pulp in performance as well as price. A better car sell more isnt always true in India.

Originally Posted by joslicx

In all other aspects Fabia Elegante should be as good as City (only with a smaller boot). Still City is widely popular and highly selling model in India!

Why not buy the Ford Fiesta if you are justifying by the way of a better or atleast comparable car. Fiesta retails for the same price and comes with ABS and Airbags. The Fabia isnt even close to Fiesta in performance and driver involvement. Heck the Ford even rides better.

[joslicx]

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

This is not how you look at it, atleast in India. The prestige associated with a three box honda saloon is immense and thats one of the reason it sells so well.
Going by your logic... A Palio 1.6 beats both of them to pulp in performance as well as price. A better car sell more isnt always true in India.


Why not buy the Ford Fiesta if you are justifying by the way of a better or atleast comparable car. Fiesta retails for the same price and comes with ABS and Airbags. The Fabia isnt even close to Fiesta in performance and driver involvement. Heck the Ford even rides better.

Actually that was precisely my point as well! Skoda also enjoys the same kind of prestige as Honda brand! They are banking of that with such pricing (as well as the fact that as cities become more and more congested people will start to look at smaller hatches and there will be a market for premium hatches as junta would want same luxuries as provided by cars like City/Civic etc)

I am not trying to justify their reasoning here (just trying to guess it what was in their minds to have put such prices as somebody had wondered). I might be wrong and there might be other reasons (maybe Skoda does want Fabia to be a failure here but that would sound strange isint it?) You mention Palio 1.6 but that is a Fiat (so not really a Skoda or Honda) and they goofed up so famously here with their supposedly horrible service. They launched Uno before that (which was a good car as some people claim but was extinct in all other parts of the world and looked hideous) and that was a grand failure so Fiat has a history of providing outdated cars and being a huge failure as an automaker in India (compare that to Skoda - all their cars have been success here).

And yes you can go for Fiesta (or Verna) instead of Fabia. Nobodys stopping that. My only point is if I dont want a boot and if I want a good luxurious safe car than now I have a very good option (that is Fabia). Skoda has a brand image in our country to go with an expensive good car (unlike say Tata or Maruti - these are 'supposedly' cheap, common man cars - doesnt mean they are bad but are perceived as cheap and that is a fact).

Admittedly so far the most important factors under consideration (while choosing family vehicle) for prospective customers were affordability (so setting a price point), looks, serviceability, sedan (over smaller hatch) etc. But I do believe that given the condition in most cities nowadays "practicality" will also become a criterion while choosing cars. People like me who can afford (but need to drive themselves) will be forced to go for hatches when they can very well afford equivalent sedans. I would absolutely love to own a City or Cedia (can afford them) but my next car will probably be a hatch only (dont know if Fabia)

Still I believe initially at least Fabia will only eat into Octavia's sales. It might not give sleepless nights to Swift people yet. But I firmly believe in coming years such cars will become more and more successful and we'll have more competition in this segment (premium hatch or 8lakh hatch).

[LLL]

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

This is not how you look at it, atleast in India. The prestige associated with a three box honda saloon is immense and thats one of the reason it sells so well.
Going by your logic... A Palio 1.6 beats both of them to pulp in performance as well as price. A better car sell more isnt always true in India.

Agree there...in India, prestige comes with size. Bigger the better.
safari, scorpio has more prestige than a car. a car with a dicky has more prestige than a hatchback.

Skoda is throwing away a golden opportunity to make lots of money. In small car segment, there only competition is hyundai and maruti. Skoda can easily pull away lots of customers from these 2 by pricing their cars appropriately.

[rajneeesh]

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

All Maruti small cars are overpriced with the possible exception of Swift. They have always been for the old zen days.

The Sx 4 is very competitively priced

[karanraheja]

I read in Business Line that Skoda is planning to either launch the Roomster or the sedan version of Fabia this year. Wonder what rate will the sedan be launched. (10 Lacs to compete with likes of Dzire, Fiesta & Verna).

[jesal]

so whos got on road bombay prices for both the diesel and the petrol

[vkochar]

A little overpriced this is. At least I feel the engine should have been 1.4 or 1.5 at this price. Feature wise it is certainly good.

[GTO]

@ Vkochar, 1.4 is available on the top end. However, I have heard that the 1.2 has not even started production yet!

[joslicx]

Originally Posted by karanraheja

I read in Business Line that Skoda is planning to either launch the Roomster or the sedan version of Fabia this year. Wonder what rate will the sedan be launched. (10 Lacs to compete with likes of Dzire, Fiesta & Verna).

Karanraheja heres a hypothetical poser for you (and for others on this forum as well)

Suppose if Honda were to launch a hatch version of their Civic (same interiors, same quality, prob smaller City engine to bring down costs & maintain better FE, smaller boot) and were to price it in 8-9 lacs category, would you still go for SX4/Fiesta/Verna/City if you were to buy a sub 10lac car or you then be temped to go for this special civic hatch?

[mhafeez_13666]

Call me fickle minded or insane for Car features but I am just hours away
from booking the 1.4 L Petrol Fabia Elegance (8.03 L on Bangalore road)
for my Dad.

I always liked the features it has, in fact more features which even
my Civic baby doesn't have :-(. Money was bothering as this
is definitely at least 1.5L more. But this got nullified as my Dad
loved the car and he is ready to take the Difference.

I guess I will put my experience once the Car comes to my hand in a separate thread.

till then !!!!

[karanraheja]

Originally Posted by joslicx

Karanraheja heres a hypothetical poser for you (and for others on this forum as well)

Suppose if Honda were to launch a hatch version of their Civic (same interiors, same quality, prob smaller City engine to bring down costs & maintain better FE, smaller boot) and were to price it in 8-9 lacs category, would you still go for SX4/Fiesta/Verna/City if you were to buy a sub 10lac car or you then be temped to go for this special civic hatch?

Joslicx - Do you think Honda would think of launching the Civic hatch?
Take for example Chevy SRV it didnt sell cos it was pricey. But it looked great. You didnt get my point.In our country consumers look at VFM cars. Fabia is a great car but overpriced is not the word. Jazz also will not be competitively priced but it will surely sell cos its a Honda. It will be roomier than the Fabia too.

[karanraheja]

Joslicx : I forgot to answer your question. I would definitely go for the Civic Hatch if it was priced at 9l on road . Cos its and Honda and i cant afford a Civic Sedan.

[aseem]

It would be interesting if the bring automatic in Jazz with paddle shift, that could really kill any Fabia petrol sales...

[joslicx]

Originally Posted by karanraheja

Joslicx - Do you think Honda would think of launching the Civic hatch?
Take for example Chevy SRV it didnt sell cos it was pricey. But it looked great. You didnt get my point.In our country consumers look at VFM cars. Fabia is a great car but overpriced is not the word. Jazz also will not be competitively priced but it will surely sell cos its a Honda. It will be roomier than the Fabia too.

Well thats why I said "hypothetical"
With SRV things are different. One it is not Diesel! Two it is Chevy (doesnt have the same brand value as that of Skoda or Honda). Three is wrong timing of their entry (and also it is not that attractive really). Fourth is Chevy never really seriously marketed this product here. They have Aveo in the same price range and same features so people will obviously go for Aveo. SRV is not a more affordable Chevy as there are other more affordable options available in Chevy stable.

Just like Civic hatch (which you have confessed to have a preference for in case it becomes a reality over the likes of City/Fiesta/Verna etc) you can think of Fabia as hatch version of Octy (same great quality, interiors even better, all features you can ask for except auto aircon, better stereo than octy, parktronic that is not there in octy, smaller engine to improve FE which is so important in India). Octy is a 11-12lakh rupees car (just like Civic) so in a sense Fabia is a more affordable Skoda. A Rs. 8 lakh 1.4l Petrol Elegante has everything in that one wants in a good luxury car (for 10lakh or less) that even puts sedans in the same price range to shame. City lacks ABS/Airbags/Parktronic/Sunroof/Projector lamps, Fiesta lacks most of these features as well, SX4 well doesnt look like a luxury car (its just loaded tincan on 4 wheels), Verna also doesnt have most of these features.

In a nutshell Fabia is a good package for somebody interested in owning a Skoda (considered a premium brand in India and on par or even better than japanese ones) who needs a good city commuter. One way to look at its price is its an expensive hatch but other way is to look at it as a much more affordable Skoda as Skoda have managed to keep the product quality intact for which they are so famous in India. ACI mentions over 3500 have been sold so far (in 3 months) which is not bad for an overpriced car.

[mhafeez_13666]

Originally Posted by joslicx

A Rs. 8 lakh 1.4l Petrol Elegante has everything in that one wants in a good luxury car (for 10lakh or less) that even puts sedans in the same price range to shame. City lacks ABS/Airbags/Parktronic/Sunroof/Projector lamps, Fiesta lacks most of these features as well, SX4 well doesnt look like a luxury car (its just loaded tincan on 4 wheels), Verna also doesnt have most of these features.

Exactly what I have in my mind. I closed on Fabia for the luxury I get in
a smaller car within 8 L. The feature list is endless.
SX4 a tincan on 4 wheels? (True, IMHO). I was disappointed when I saw
the interiors of the SX4, not fair after one pays 8.3 L for such basic interiors. Even the Boot, it is not tightly sealed, Boot lid is so flimsy.

200 Units sold so far by Bangalore TAFE dealer (don't know the breakup).