[Sarvodaya]

Renault does not have any strategy for the Indian Market. First Logan, Second Fluence and now Koleos. I wonder what sort of People have been appointed in the Management Board? Even their Cousin Peugot seems to have blundered their Indian Operations. Why cannot these French learn something from Japanese or Hyundai about Indian Automobile Market.

I feel the best pricing for Koleos is 18 Lakhs for base model (manual) and 20 Lakhs for the top end model AT being a CKD. They could have also localised about 20% (like tyres, alloys, batteries) to keep the Cost Down. Let us see what the upcoming Captiva and Mahindra Iodex (X 5 Oh Oh) will offer.

[bruiser]

What's wrong with Renault, firstly they come with such a nice looking car, Fluence, and then kill it with weird pricing and now Koleos. I guess they think just because they are Renault they can get away with anything.

I love Fluence,test drove it once and liked it, but the pricing is mad, Especially when they have stripped the diesel version of all the goodies they are offering on the petrol.

Moreover the competition in the market is fierce. I guess they will learn their lessons the hard way and start offering loaded products at a fair/competitive price.

[Fusion2006]

What is it with the Renault strategy of having only 1 variant, and that too Automatic?

Seems a strange way to try to build a premium brand image.

[swiftnfurious]

Looks like a partial thumbs down from ACI for Koleos. Below is the tweet from Hormazd.

http://twitpic.com/6i8vna - Drove Koleos. Super handling, packed with equipment but engine average & doesn't feel like 25lakh car

[Tin7262]

Its to do with the duty structure more than anything else. One has to wait for their local plant to start full operations and then possibly the pricing will get better. Of course if they were to learn from Toyota, I think Toyota sold the Qualis at lower than their cost price to keep this in check... look what the Qualis went on to do - established Toyota firmly on the India map! IMO, Renault need to revisit strategy given they are very late in entering India, unless we are missing their positioning of the product (from their eyes) and while its a big enough brand name in itself, its still not a Toyota, Honda, VW or a Merc.

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by Tin7262

Its to do with the duty structure more than anything else. One has to wait for their local plant to start full operations and then possibly the pricing will get better. Of course if they were to learn from Toyota, I think Toyota sold the Qualis at lower than their cost price to keep this in check... look what the Qualis went on to do - established Toyota firmly on the India map! IMO, Renault need to revisit strategy given they are very late in entering India, unless we are missing their positioning of the product (from their eyes) and while its a big enough brand name in itself, its still not a Toyota, Honda, VW or a Merc.

My question is, why launch it in the first place, with an inflated price-tag, and then 2 years later, drop the prices once the factory becomes operational and localization begins?

Why can't car manufacturers start assembly straight away and localize parts at the time of launch, even if it takes another 2 years?

If they bring in CBUs and sell them at an inflated price, and with time, and localization, drop the prices every few months, they will dent their reputation as a reliable car maker and people will not look forward to their products at all.

One can imagine, if the 25 lakh car doesn't feel worth 25 lakhs, the issue needs to be addressed before it turns out to be another flop. The Fluence hasn't really set the sales-charts on fire, and is, in fact, struggling to sell. The Koleos might just go down the same road.

Renault needs to revisit their strategy in India, before they end up packing bags and leaving, just like how Peugeot left the Indian market several years ago.

[999]

If I look wikipedia, they already withdrew renault koleos from UK due to poor sale of 3000 units. Atleast they should have thought it is trying to compete with X1 and likes !!
Renault Koleos - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[avishar]

I just saw on the news that the Koleos has been launched for 22.99 lakhs!150 bhp diesel.

Was quite surprised!

[2cents]

Seems like the idea is just to build a premium image with both Fluence and Koleos, and use it promote their first real product - the Modus.

[ethanhunt123]

This is for sure a image building car for Renault with all bells and whistles. I am sure even they dont expect people to pony up ~25L for this over a BMW X1 or the Audi Q3.

[rohanjf]

Since Koleos is discontinued in the UK, is this their strategy to get rid of the excess cars they manufactured for UK?
That might explain the price tag, since the cars meant for UK will have high standard parts and lots of bells and whistles.
And Renault do not have many other countries to dump their right-hand drive cars without letting the customers know about it.

[Selective]

I saw Renault Koleos on airport road (NH-7) near Chikka Jala Police station.There were around 10 of them (5 black, 5 silver) and I guess they were stopped by traffic police (for speeding?). The car looks small compared to Toyota Fortuner. Not sure how it's sales performance going to be with this price tag.

[shankar.balan]

Koleos Launch officially was on 13th Sep in Palace Grounds Bangalore
The Bangalore on road price is about 27.5 or so.

Todays Zigwheels carries a nice article. Last week there was a bunch of press invited to take a convoy of Koleos' to Kabini. The report from TOI is in todays paper.

Apparently it is very good, only their pricing is a bit mad. One thing I noted from the article is that apparently the 6 speed AT box tends to hunt between gears when driven off the tarmac.

Else it appears to be a superbly appointed vehicle and will definitely give Santa Fe and the likes a good run for their money in that segment.

[suhaas307]

Going by pictures, it doesn't seem to be a very large SUV. It's just a large cross-over sort of a car. It seems to be spec'd decently and is made of good quality. We were expecting it to be priced around 15-20 lakhs. 27 lakhs OTR is quite exorbitant, if you ask me. Especially for a Renault.

Renault perhaps needs to revisit their price strategy. It will not work.

[suman]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

The Bangalore on road price is about 27.5 or so.

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?