[ObsessedByFIAT]

Originally Posted by ampere

That is where the whole game is hinged on. Without even being in that territory, it
now gets compared to XUV. (It being priced similarly, in spite of XUV having a bigger engine and space)

Now lets assume they price the top end 4x4 at 12 or 12.5 ex-showroom (hope its Bangalore as price cannot go higher than that !),
(Again just a wild assumption above which they theoretically cannot afford to go)

Then the only way they can justify that price would be to have a much-much superior build quality, fit and finish, plastics
and better engineering than XUV. That would be the only way, buyer wont feel cheated that he/she has paid the same amount
for which he could have got an XUV. Even the equipment levels is no battle field as XUV comes with every thing!

So what ever reduced set of equipment list Renault offers, it has to be "complete" from a daily use point of view.
They should not be caught with feedback like some basic items missing from the list. And not mention again, their quality should a cut above.

Exactly, if they are going to price it any thing above 10L, it has to be justified. The interiors have to be a level up.

But still looking at what the perception of this car is (just my point of view), it would not make much of sense if it does not have most of the popular features like the the bluetooth, alloys, rear wiper, ABS, Airbags (last two on my priority list) etc and if it priced over and above the present day Scrops and safaris, dust will settle on the sales of duster sooner than later.

For this vehicle to attract numbers and to create a benchmark in India, has to be priced right with 4X2 and 4X4 models within reach of most of the urban crowd.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by mxx

Why else do you think Pawan Goenka as SIAM president was quiet when the new ckd definition was introduced? The foreign manufacturers where individually making statement and meeting officials, unlike other times when SIAM takes up the issue directly with the govt. By old ckd definition, yeti could have been atleast 20% cheaper. Not a good thing for tata and mahindra right?
So, renault will have same limitations. It will be very difficult to sell duster less than xuv price for these reasons.

Is Duster going to be a CKD? I thought it would be manufactured here.
Hence the talk of very low prices. Correct me if I am wrong.

[mxx]

Originally Posted by ampere

Is Duster going to be a CKD? I thought it would be manufactured here.
Hence the talk of very low prices. Correct me if I am wrong.

It wont be a ckd for sure if they want to sell it at a reasonable price. I was only referring to higher taxes compared to Indian manufacturers, so dont expect prices lower than xuv. Not saying this will be ckd. That said, if I am not mistaken the renault engine is manufactured locally, isnt it? In that case even if it is a ckd, it will have lower taxes than say the yeti which has imported engine (going by new ckd rules).

[harimakesh]

@maxx: My source of price information on Dacia Duster pricing is that During July 2011 I saw the Dacia Duster ads while in Germany with a simple starting price of Euro 11,500/- with a exchage rate of Rs.65/- per Euro this amounts to Rs 747,500/- in Germany which is a high tax West European country and ABS, multi airbags are mandatory on any car.

So, the same starting price or lower as 50-75% Indian localization should give Renault a ver agressive starting price for the Duster to remain below 7L for a manual 4x2 as in India Airbag/ ABS are optional and offered from mid variant to top line.

[GSM]

For a moment, I read the title of the post as Renault Disaster! Shocked and read again properly.

Looks of it, it does feel good. If the guys at Renault can price it competitively, should do around 300-400 units per month comfortably. Else, the numbers would be per annum.

On the other side, I have a general doubt. All the so called VFM cars such as Figo, Manza, Etios, Punto etc are creating continuous niggles (based on member reviews). In general, the so called optimistically priced cars don't seem to irritate the owners as much. As car buyers, are we over over emphasising on Value over quality?

[mxx]

@harimakesh:
In my post, the numbers mentioned are for the 4x4 diesel.
The starting price you have mentioned is for base petrol 4x2 version. and we should take the price as 7.4 lakhs after conversion. Germany may have high duties, but these are not applicable of products from within the eurozone which includes romania. I dont see how they are going to price it lower than 7 lakhs here, even if they have very high localization. Not to mention we are taking about petrol version here, which is unlikely to be sold here. For diesel base version, a probable price would be 9 lakhs.

[harimakesh]

Originally Posted by mxx

@harimakesh:
In my post, the numbers mentioned are for the 4x4 diesel.
The starting price you have mentioned is for base petrol 4x2 version. and we should take the price as 7.4 lakhs after conversion. Germany may have high duties, but these are not applicable of products from within the eurozone which includes romania. I dont see how they are going to price it lower than 7 lakhs here, even if they have very high localization. Not to mention we are taking about petrol version here, which is unlikely to be sold here. For diesel base version, a probable price would be 9 lakhs.

Leaving import duty, the sales tax alone is very high in Germany. However in Eurozone Petrol engine OR diesel engine pricewise makes no big difference. Infact diesel fuel is marginally expensive in Eurozone.

Only in India the notion of diesel engined vehicles are more expensive as manufacturer form a cartel and exploit buyers taking advantage of subsidized diesel prices.

Renault or PSA they are not known for aggressive pricing or attractive car models.

French strategy in pricing Dacia Duster will reveal their business acumen for Indian SUV Market.

[andromeda]

Have been following this thread from the beginning. I'm not very optimistic of Duster pulling in the numbers. Here's my take.

Pricing - The previous 2 so-called premium launches showed Renault's learning curve. Note the Koleos price band Renault went for, inspite of knowing that Fluence was a dud.

Target - Renault does not have a major presence outside of the Tier-1 cities. The XUV500 just made Renault's life miserable targetting the urban buyer. Need to wait for how Merlin turns up to be. Bolero is almost reaching 10k figures, thanks to it's reach in Rural India.

Branding - Majority of Indians who know about Renault only associate it with the Logan Taxi. Other Renault fans are the ones who have driven it in Europe OR watch Formula 1.

The Renault brand is missing in the world's largest car market where Hyundai has managed to get a good grip off-late. This is pretty important because the number of Indians travelling to US far outstrips the count to European countries. This definitely adds up to the brand awareness/recall.

Reach - The have a chicken & egg issue here. Don't want to expand before getting numbers, but won't get numbers if they don't expand. The only way to get rid of this is to undercut the competition by offering a better product at a jaw- dropping price, atleast initially.

No offense here, but I think the French need to unlearn that they can get away in India by selling their products as expensively as their scented water companies do.

[mxx]

Originally Posted by harimakesh

Leaving import duty, the sales tax alone is very high in Germany. However in Eurozone Petrol engine OR diesel engine pricewise makes no big difference. Infact diesel fuel is marginally expensive in Eurozone.

Only in India the notion of diesel engined vehicles are more expensive as manufacturer form a cartel and exploit buyers taking advantage of subsidized diesel prices.

Not really. There is approx rs.75k difference between petrol and diesel in same trim for duster. Or if you see uk pricing for yeti, you will see that there is significant price difference between the 2 fuel choices.
Technically diesel engines are more expensive to build due to the way it works (eg: higher compression), and then all modern diesels are turbocharged, so again extra costs for these systems.

[hvs]

beyond 7~8L Duster will be a DUD

[shankar.balan]

from all accounts it seems that Renault Nissan will use India as the manufacturing base for their exports of RHD Dusters to the UK.
So they may indeed be able to keep their prices attractive, considering their stated committment to this market and the work being put in on localization for this vehicle.

Originally Posted by mxx

Unless the Indian operations doubles up as export base, they wont have enough volumes to push down the profit per vehicle drastically.

[ObsessedByFIAT]

looks like all the junta which was eagerly reading and posting on this thread are now busy with the XUV 500 reviews!!!

Hey come on Renault, give us some info (at least teasers for that matter!!) on the launch, pricing and specs of this car .... !!

[Ragul]

I think the Duster fans will get lucky because of the XUV500 pricing. They will have to price competitively lower to attract customers.

--Ragul

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Ragul

I think the Duster fans will get lucky because of the XUV500 pricing. They will have to price competitively lower to attract customers.

--Ragul

In the race to reduce the price, hope they dont cut down on equipment list
and reduce the steel gauge! That is my only worry. For a competitive price they should not compromise on quality.

But another logic is counter intuitive. Since Duster will also be exported, quality should be good,
They cannot have one quality level for rest of the world and one for India.

[Fusion2006]

Originally Posted by ampere

...

They cannot have one quality level for rest of the world and one for India.

Why not? It wouldn't be the first time an MNC has done that!