[charthom]

Originally Posted by noopster

I strolled in a little hesitantly, since I'd been waiting at the doorway for about 15 minutes and nobody had shown the slightest interest in me. A couple of important-looking guys wearing ties and talking busily on their bluetooth earpieces (I HATE those things!) gave me a glance then forgot all about me.

When I entered, the important-looking men glanced up briefly.

Hilarious account Noopster- very appropriately and timely presented. They just launched a new product. Looks like they are already on the wrong foot.

Reminded me of my experiences at EVM motors(VW dealer in Cochin).

Fluence has the potential to be a Corolla killer. Will it?-time only can answer.

The car makers make cars of their fancy-not to the demand of the customer.The show room people are dazzled by their own glamour. Where do we stand? What rights/choices do we have? It is only competition can shake them up. And strong customer reaction. No wonder new launches seldom sell well.

[Abhi_Automobile]

I know that Renault people will hate me for saying this but I cannot resist:

I think time has come (already) to start thinking of giving 1+ lakh kind of discounts on either of the models. Its the company's fault anyway. The deisel in its present form should have boasted a price tag of 11.99 ex-showroom anyway. They stupidly (over)priced it at 12.99.

Did they get those chairs from typical early nineties <PUNJABI WEDDING> in Delhi? Full paisa vasool.

[kaiserketkar]

Originally Posted by noopster

.. noticed a new Renault showroom just around the corner from VW..

LOL noopster! that is one really sad experience, funny because of the way you narrated it, but sad all the same.
sad because the indian customer is being take for granted by renault.... again.
sad because every new entrant in the market seems to be making the same mistakes again and again. or is it maybe that the same dealers keep picking up all the new dealerships and continue their repulsive culture everywhere?

when i read the t-bhp review by my thoughts were "i hope renault fails again, for under-estimating the customer" and after reading your account, i see their dealers are doing a pretty good job of ensuring they do!

[noopster]

Folks, we finally have our first Fluence ownership report on the forums. From the looks of it, member Dheeraj is loving his new AT Fluence petrol. Good for him!

[Abhi_Automobile]

Has anybody started observing any discounts from Renault? Oh, and BTW, am I the only one who thinks that the Fluence is good looking car.

With the launch of Jetta, the fate has been sealed for Fluence. Anybody who is looking for a classy, high quality car will straightaway go to VW (or Skoda) showroom. The VW brand in India is infinitely more premium than Renault (I think it has more upmarket image than the Japs too now, among the 'common' brands).

However, if they slash the prices (which will not happen since they launched the car recently) or dealer discounts (which may happen coz I don't see the care selling very well) the car may look a like a 'good quality' VFM offering (Cruze is king of VFM but quality is suspect). A Fluence at 13-13.5 lacs OTR Delhi sounds like delicious to me. I will observing this for a while (and finally buy a Vento, most probably).

Disclaimer: I am priced out for 'Jetta/Laura'. Civic is old (and petrol only), Altis is 'poor in quality'. Cruze VFM but interiors low rent. Observing the C+ segment space. I'll drop to C segment if I can't find anything great here (and at my price point)

[ethanhunt123]

If Cruze interiors are Low Rent, how can you like Fluence "Diesel" interiors. Fluence Petrol looks classy from inside, but Diesel looks so stripped in front of it. And Cruze is so much better to drive.

[Abhi_Automobile]

Originally Posted by ethanhunt123

If Cruze interiors are Low Rent, how can you like Fluence "Diesel" interiors. Fluence Petrol looks classy from inside, but Diesel looks so stripped in front of it. And Cruze is so much better to drive.

I found the quality and materials used on the Fluence better than Cruze. And the materials are same for diesel and petrol. Just that since diesel model is stripped of features and has an 'all black' interiors, it looks quite basic.

Having said than, neither of them is patch of quality offered by VW. That's why I said that I may eventually go back and buy the tried and tested Vento. Just that currently its my market research time so considering all the options. I don't have the moolah for Jetta/Laura (unless they come up with Laura 'classic' TDI; but that's being overtly optimistic)

[swiftnfurious]

Trad in Autocar that the upgraded Fluence Diesel is coming out in November & will feature exactly like the top end petrol, probably for an additional 80,000/-

Upgraded Fluence diesel this Nov | Autocar India

[ethanhunt123]

Welcome news. I wonder what stopped Renault from doing this since beginning, Diesel Fluence looked very stripped especially when compared to its Petrol brother.

[Abhi_Automobile]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Trad in Autocar that the upgraded Fluence Diesel is coming out in November & will feature exactly like the top end petrol, probably for an additional 80,000/-

Upgraded Fluence diesel this Nov | Autocar India

Welcome move. In business, sometimes I wonder why do people stick to wrong decisions, once they have been taken. It was strategical mistake to launch the Fluence diesel in the 'cheapified interior'. One question, does this percolate to each and every Fluence? Meaning, the basic version too? That is the one I expect to sell the maximum...so it makes sense to upgrade its look and feel, as well.

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by ethanhunt123

Welcome news. I wonder what stopped Renault from doing this since beginning, Diesel Fluence looked very stripped especially when compared to its Petrol brother.

Originally Posted by Abhi_Automobile

Welcome move. In business, sometimes I wonder why do people stick to wrong decisions, once they have been taken. It was strategical mistake to launch the Fluence diesel in the 'cheapified interior'. One question, does this percolate to each and every Fluence? Meaning, the basic version too? That is the one I expect to sell the maximum...so it makes sense to upgrade its look and feel, as well.

I feel that this move was to set the price range in customer's mind. Probably they wanted to restrict the price of the Diesel variant being compared to some other cars. [One of the very reasons why Swift never had a ZDi variant in last gen]. There is no other logic which I can relate to. Now the advertisement has been given as Diesel comes @ 12.99 & when people go to check out the car, they will find another version which is higher priced, but may stretch their budget.

If we see, TATA brought a 2WD of Aria & is extensively marketing the price. So I guess its basically to convince the customers on pricing.

[ethanhunt123]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

I feel that this move was to set the price range in customer's mind. Probably they wanted to restrict the price of the Diesel variant being compared to some other cars. [One of the very reasons why Swift never had a ZDi variant in last gen]. There is no other logic which I can relate to. Now the advertisement has been given as Diesel comes @ 12.99 & when people go to check out the car, they will find another version which is higher priced, but may stretch their budget.

If we see, TATA brought a 2WD of Aria & is extensively marketing the price. So I guess its basically to convince the customers on pricing.

If they wanted a lower starting price, they could have kept the low variant but introduced the higher variant from the beginning like they have done now. My take is that they misjudged the India market thinking they can promote Fluence at 12.99L with the missing features and get away with it. When the prospective customer visited their showroom and saw the stripped diesel with no option of higher variant in Diesel, he promptly walked out.

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by ethanhunt123

If they wanted a lower starting price, they could have kept the low variant but introduced the higher variant from the beginning like they have done now.

Renault is trying to establish a premium branding for their cars I believe, looking at the Fluence & Koleos prices. So probably they didn't want to bring in a lower specced / priced variant for Fluence. The same way they decided to bring only the top specced Auto variant in Koleos. I am sure it's not at a problem for them to bring in lower specced variant / manual variant since its a CBU. I guess all these boil down to how they actually wanted to place the products & their prices.

[andromeda]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Renault is trying to establish a premium branding for their cars I believe, looking at the Fluence & Koleos prices. So probably they didn't want to bring in a lower specced / priced variant for Fluence. The same way they decided to bring only the top specced Auto variant in Koleos. I am sure it's not at a problem for them to bring in lower specced variant / manual variant since its a CBU. I guess all these boil down to how they actually wanted to place the products & their prices.

Agree with you on where/how Renault want to be seen themselves as.
But unfortunately that might not be feasible in the current scenario. In India, for the majority of the public the brand-recall of Renault starts and pretty much ends with 'Logan' (and of course the Formula 1 racing). I had been to the Palace Orchards showroom to checkout the Fluence and got an indication the sales guys are interested mostly in pushing the Petrol sales. The OTR price for the petrol is 18+ lakhs and that pretty much the amount we get a Fortuner (Diesel, by the way). Felt no point in taking the test drive and walked out. In addition to ABS/EBD/Airbags, they need to give basic things like electric seat adjuster/recliner, etc.

In my opinion, India market is unforgiving. Once a brand-recall is established in the minds of the people, changing it is next to impossible. Ask the Tatas about how difficult they are finding to sell their wonderful product called ARIA.

[StarrySky]

I understand the point about building a premium brand image - but is it really helping? For Renault, it seems to be a chicken-n-egg problem. The general public will notice these supposedly premium cars only when they see some of them on-road. Given the current "premium" pricing and the lack of "premium brand image", that's not happening. If the same situation continues for a while, they will probably build the image of a company that makes "expensive cars that don't sell" which is not exactly the image that they are looking for.