[ethanhunt123]

I repeat, at that price why would anyone go for a Renault over a X1/Fortuner. Goodies be damned, people in India still care a lot about brand value and snob value (me included).

[designersf]

Originally Posted by suman

So they've gone & done another Fluence on the pricing

Just cannot get over it, do they really expect bookings at that price considering that even the Santa Fe has been discounted now?

Ex-Showroom of Santa Fe in Bengalooru is Rs 23,77,785 for the 4WD model. So its not so bad for the Koleos.

[nareshtrao]

Quite disappointing looks. Captiva is far better looking and Santa Fe is fairly appointed (though Manual only). Price is another reason to give this a pass.

I have been on the look out for a well loaded SUV with Auto Box for some time. However not interested in Koleos at all. Not sure if anyone will be keen to even test drive. I would rather wait for Captiva revised or if patience permits, Fortuner Automatic which is due in 2012

[raghavv]

Originally Posted by nareshtrao

Quite disappointing looks. Captiva is far better looking and Santa Fe is fairly appointed (though Manual only). Price is another reason to give this a pass.

I have been on the look out for a well loaded SUV with Auto Box for some time. However not interested in Koleos at all. Not sure if anyone will be keen to even test drive. I would rather wait for Captiva revised or if patience permits, Fortuner Automatic which is due in 2012

Naresh, I am also on the same boat. Planning to pick a 7 seater automatic softroader with a diesel heart. I test drove a Captiva LTZ, though OK to drive did not find it appealing (interiors and exteriors both). In pics and specs, Renault Koleos seems superior to Captiva. I am giving it a miss because of lack of 7 seats. One vehicle that I am eagerly waiting is Outlander diesel. That should be next in line for Mitsu after they do a 7 seater update to petrol Outlander. Fortuner would remain a 'No' till it has Innova's interiors.

SUV seems to be the good option looking at Bangalore speed breakers. I scrape my Civic daily on Sarjapur road.

[avishar]

Saw the ad in the paper.Dont know whats renault's game plan here,its like they are taking everything too easily.Maybe Renault thinks that taking the top down approach will automatically give them a good brand image which will rub of on their smaller cars,but if their big cars dont sell or atleast dont look like good deals,they are going to have tough time selling anything at any price point.

These new manufacturers Renualt,Nissan and the grand-old-man-of Indian-motoring Mitsu really need to make some proactive steps now.On one hand they talk about thousands of crores of investments and grand plans and on the other had they fail to build a proper dealer network or keep well informed courteous salesmen!Need to get their basics right and move on their feet,Indian car market is tough to crack.

[shankar.balan]

All these Manufacturers who are known for VFM on their home turf seem to think they can land up in a "virgin" market like India and price their vehicles at huge premia!

Of course our import policies have a lot to do with this but by now, having seen the low sales of so many of these over priced vehicles, one would think that their production, marketing and sales honchos would have learned a thing or two and made some effort at indigenization/ localization!

all this top down business is fine - but only at somewhat realistic prices.

im constantly hassled that it is only in our country with its skewed priorities do we have to pay exorbitant moneys for what, in other parts of the world are considered mere utility vehicles. Of course this Koleos has all that BOSE stuff and all that, but for a standard utility buyer the BOSE system is quite low on the priority list.
they could have atleast launched a lower spec version like an MT with a normal system and offered it at atleast 4 lacs cheaper.

despite their touting that they appreciate the Indian VFM consciousness etc they still bring in only one variant which is really expensive. they must be all quite MAD if you ask me!

This endless chase by all these manufacturers for the "Holy Grail" of "Premium" is going to result in them all drinking from the wrong chalice and falling down dead!

[Ricky_63]

Just spoke to the Gurgaon dealer for a Test Drive, as the features were impressive as was the drive shown on You Tube.

The guy at the Showroom seemed to have come straight from some village, as the only thing he knew was that it comes in 3 colors & has 3 months waiting !!!

Me : 3 months waiting ? S.A : Yass Saar !! Test drive ki gaadi aave gi 15 din ke baad...delivery milegi 3 months ke baad. Nayi hai na ji !!

I was so badly put off....if this is Renaults idea of sales staff, I wonder how long they will last !! Bad taste in the mouth on the very first interaction.

[motorworks]

Renault started on the wrong foot with the logan and continues to do the same with the Fluence and the Koleos. I saw the fluence in flesh and it only looked as big as a Linea! It has no business to be priced in the 14-15 lakh price bracket. And now the Koleos, have seen the pictures and it does not look like a 25+ lakh soft roader. One is better off getting a captiva or waiting for a fortuner.
Renault and Nissan have both got their strategies wrong till date. Nissan priced the Micra higher than the swift and the Figo and lost the plot and will do the same now with the awkard looking Sunny. Renault will follow suit with such pricing strateigies even with their india manufactured cars! I would be surprised if they manage to price the Duster sensibly.

[raul]

Originally Posted by motorworks

Renault started on the wrong foot with the logan and continues to do the same with the Fluence and the Koleos. I saw the fluence in flesh and it only looked as big as a Linea! It has no business to be priced in the 14-15 lakh price bracket. And now the Koleos, have seen the pictures and it does not look like a 25+ lakh soft roader. One is better off getting a captiva or waiting for a fortuner.
Renault and Nissan have both got their strategies wrong till date. Nissan priced the Micra higher than the swift and the Figo and lost the plot and will do the same now with the awkard looking Sunny. Renault will follow suit with such pricing strateigies even with their india manufactured cars! I would be surprised if they manage to price the Duster sensibly.

While the criticism on pricing is fair and some of the other points are not accurate.

The Fluence is significantly larger than the Linea - the pricing and positioning is off though. I never thought of a Fortuner as a SUV in the same lines as Captiva, CRV etc. The RAV4 is Toyota's answer to the small SUV.

The Kaleos is in the same group. They can't really be compared. Fortuner has many shortcomings especially in the comfort and interiors department and the platfrom itself is limited by its genesis in this class IMHO. However one can't argue with success.

Renault needs to understand the market better and price appropriately.

[moinakg]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

im constantly hassled that it is only in our country with its skewed priorities do we have to pay exorbitant moneys for what, in other parts of the world are considered mere utility vehicles. Of course this Koleos has all that BOSE stuff and all that, but for a standard utility buyer the BOSE system is quite low on the priority list.

BOSE is an overpriced over-hyped brand IMHO. Stripping out the BOSE stuff from the vehicle will shave off at least 1L from the price I think.

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

This endless chase by all these manufacturers for the "Holy Grail" of "Premium" is going to result in them all drinking from the wrong chalice and falling down dead!

Quite agree. All this premium dance is tiring. Hopefully these guys will learn in the long term.

[HKap]

Originally Posted by moinakg

BOSE is an overpriced over-hyped brand IMHO. Stripping out the BOSE stuff from the vehicle will shave off at least 1L from the price I think.

Quite agree. All this premium dance is tiring. Hopefully these guys will learn in the long term.

I agree. The problem though is that as a country we still do not see a car as a necessity. Like it or not its still considered a luxury. Im also not sure what percentage of this premium tag is related to the duty structure. Im sure the gross margins in india must be higher but sooner or later they will have to look for volumes and thats when we will see local manufacturing and cheaper cars.

[rohanjf]

Will stripping out the Bose system reduce the price by only 1 L? Well, I think the price of the system itself is 1 L. And since it is bundled with the rest of the car, it would be 2L!
The same way, if Renault goes on removing some features, they can reduce the ex-showroom price by twice the worth of those features.

[Ricky_63]

The warranty certainly falls short of expectations. Nowadays, 100k kms warranty is expected off of a Diesel.

How was the driving experience ?? I am told it is an able handler. Is the Autobox sluggish ? And now the inevitable - "Mileage kitna deti hai" ??

P.S. They should keep the BOSE audio as an option & reduce the price. Not everyone is a fan of BOSE audio, especially considering the cost.








Cheers

[Digital Vampire]

Renault has made yet another sales dud. Epic fail on the pricing!!!

[raul]

I think Renault is trying to address a brand problem after the fiasco with the Mahindra and Logan.

The Fluence and Koleos are probably trying to address the brand problem, they don't want to be seen as low cost car makers, and both these car launches do positively impact the brand image, but tweaking the pricing and features slightly in the current market context can get them better numbers than now.

Launching for instance the Duster at a the price we hear about immediately after Logan would risk marginalizing them as low cost car makers - both are Dacia cars and not Renault like the Kaleos and Fluence - and definitely affect their ability to build their business here and sell higher segment cars. So in many ways the strategy makes sense but needs tweaking.