[praveen_n]

Originally Posted by aikrish

Kwid comes across as a good looking car; A bit of premium touch in the segment - thanks to the sporty looks (Well, almost!).

However, I am disappointed with the 800cc displacement. With competitors riding on a 1000cc engine, Renault would have a lot of catching-up to do.

They have pitted looks against performance; Time will tell what factor drives sales numbers. Great competition nevertheless and consumers stand to benefit!

I guess the Kwid will compete against Alto 800 and Hyundai EON both of which has 800C Engines. Hence this might not be an issue.

[aikrish]

Originally Posted by praveen_n

I guess the Kwid will compete against Alto 800 and Hyundai EON both of which has 800C Engines. Hence this might not be an issue.

Exactly! Renault has missed a point or two by giving the edge to Alto K10 here, as both are priced in more or less the same range.

However, now Kwid has added a lot of color into this segment. Very attractive pricing too!

Itching to get my hands on this one.

[GTO]

This just in from Renault:

The Renault KWID has already achieved a major milestone by crossing 25,000 booking since its launch announcement.

The tier II and tier III cities have also shown tremendous response reaching out to the dealerships with inquiries and booking requests.

[aviat18]

Originally Posted by GTO

This just in from Renault:

This is an awesome news. MS' dominance will be shaken where it'll hurt the most. Hopefully, Renault will be able to back it up with their ASS.

[SandyX]

Dropped in at Renault Calicut, a good 70kms from home. There weren't any clients when i walked in, & in minutes the rush started. Booking count stands at 400 right now, & my car has been confirmed in the first lot expected around Oct 15th with delivery promised before the 20th. People were pressing on the body, and the roof didn't flex when someone well built did that. The red kwid is the test drive car. The actual drives will start in a week maybe.

This is the forward view with my 5'5 frame. It's always a good day with the hood in view. Seat texture would be quite a bit better with optional leatherette finish, coz right now it's sucking up all the light falling on it. A well built car, IMO.

[longhorn]

Renault dealers were very snobbish when the Duster was launched with a take it or leave it attitude. Moreover the manufacturer kept increasing prices almost every quarter making hay while the sun shone.That proved to be their undoing with the competition upping the ante they had to eat humble pie. Hope they have learnt their lesson this time around.

[thatsdileep]

Originally Posted by GTO

This just in from Renault:

That's a commendable effort from Renault in terms of marketing this product. But the job is far from done yet. It's in fact just getting started. Now it's all up to Renault how they will go through the sales process and keep all the buyers satisfied as this would be their first time in Indian market to be selling such a daunting no of vehicles in bulk. Beyond that ASS would be the most important aspect for them to at least keep a fair bit of market share going forward. Hope they've learnt from their past mistakes and they will pull up their socks to put up a better show.

[Karthik Chandra]

Originally Posted by GTO

This just in from Renault:

25K booking , Thats Renault's 6 months sales figure put together just before the Duster slump.

[PrideRed]

Originally Posted by aikrish

Kwid comes across as a good looking car; A bit of premium touch in the segment - thanks to the sporty looks (Well, almost!).

However, I am disappointed with the 800cc displacement. With competitors riding on a 1000cc engine, Renault would have a lot of catching-up to do.

They have pitted looks against performance; Time will tell what factor drives sales numbers. Great competition nevertheless and consumers stand to benefit!

Well Kwid is competing against Alto 800 and Eon, both of these come with 800 cc engine. Also Kwid has much better power to weight ratio, that away Kwid should perform much better than competition.

[GeneralJazz]

Originally Posted by SandyX

Dropped in at Renault Calicut, a good 70kms from home. There weren't any clients when i walked in, & in minutes the rush started. Booking count stands at 400 right now, & my car has been confirmed in the first lot expected around Oct 15th with delivery promised before the 20th. People were pressing on the body, and the roof didn't flex when someone well built did that. The red kwid is the test drive car. The actual drives will start in a week maybe.

This is the forward view with my 5'5 frame. It's always a good day with the hood in view. Seat texture would be quite a bit better with optional leatherette finish, coz right now it's sucking up all the light falling on it. A well built car, IMO.

Looks great! And to get to see the hood just completes it!

What about the TD? Can you get them to bring it to your home? You can really put it through its paces on those winding roads.

[hybridpetrol]

The Renault KWID has already achieved a major milestone by crossing 25,000 booking since its launch announcement.

The tier II and tier III cities have also shown tremendous response reaching out to the dealerships with inquiries and booking requests.

It is really a good news for Renault, because the majority of A segment customers are from tier II and tier III cities. If Renault can tap that, then it can really reduce the Alto's sales into half or less.
Imagine Alto coming down to four digit figure. It would be a major dent to Maruti.
We can also see all A segment cars offering huge discounts now. Today I saw an advertisement with Eon running up to 65K in discounts and offers!
Next few months sales would be interesting to watch!

[GeneralJazz]

Originally Posted by hybridpetrol

We can also see all A segment cars offering huge discounts now. Today I saw an advertisement with Eon running up to 65K in discounts and offers!
Next few months sales would be interesting to watch!

So they've started to panic eh! Cant wait to see the Wagon R Desperation Edition!

Sorry for the one liner, couldnt help it

[TheARUN]

I don't think Maruti would get too ruffled financially, the Alto was not making them too much money, as in the margins were anyways low. Where it will really hurt them is market share and number of units sold, if the Kwid does well that is

Most of the customers for the Kwid are sitting on the wall and watching how it will perform over the next few months, the Kwid if Renault plays its cards right this time, has the potential to shake the market

[sprue12]

One of my friends is working at Renault showroom in Chandigarh. Kwid is finally in the showroom today but TD for customers is not available at present. But my friend was able to drive it in their yard and the words are not encouraging at all. He said not to get my expectations high apart from the look of the vehicle!! But the same guy drives Renault Logan, so i guess he himself had high expectations on the front of performance. I cannot wait to get my hands on it

[Rajeevraj]

I am skeptical about the Kwid impacting the Alto in any manner-Especially in the near term. The 25,000 bookings is good news, but when I had visited last weekend and asked about delivery estimate, the SA said if you book now, you can expect delivery in Jan end or Feb. That is 4-5 months of waiting. And typically these estimates are best case and tend to drag further.

Putting the 25K bookings and the waiting period estimate together, it looks like Renault is currently equipped to roll out ~6000 units of the Kwid each month at max. That's just about what the Eon manages.

The other point is how many people will be willing to wait. If I am not wrong, Alto/Eon typically do not have any waiting time. In my view a first time buyer in the entry segment may not be willing to wait for 4-5 months. I don't think it is that good a product.

If Renault want to take a shot at the Alto, I think they should ramp production quickly and churn out at least 10-15K units a month and clear that wait queue quickly. 25K Kwids on the road 2 months after launch will create a good positive image and boost buyer confidence in the car and brand.