COMMENTARY: The Logan: Where Luxury is a Dirty Word
By Dale McFeattersScripps Howard News Service
Henry Ford proved with his Model T that if you build a cheaper, simpler car, buyers will beat a path to your showroom door.
But it is in the DNA of both cars and their owners that a spartan econobox, which adequately serves to go from point A to point B, will inevitably morph into an overpowered SUV with all-leather interior and a soothing voice in the dash that instructs the driver how to get from point A to point B.
Now Renault has made a bold bid in what is called the "super budget" segment of the market, where the automaker oxymoronically promises that its Logan -- the Logan? -- "will compete with the best of the world's cheapest automobiles." At a price of $6,105 -- in Romania, to be sure, according to the Web site -- it's not an idle boast.
Renault has been selling the 2-year-old Logan mainly in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, but plans to begin building and selling it in "emerging markets" worldwide, perhaps as many as 800,000 of the vehicles annually within four years.
The world's major car companies are taking the super-cheap-market cars seriously. Manufacturers in China and India have produced $4,000 cars that, as The Wall Street Journal delicately puts it, "often don't have the safety, performance and environmental technologies required in more developed markets." In other words, simply being able to say your car is not a death trip has pretty strong marketing appeal.
The Journal described the Logan as having "an anonymous econocar exterior and a utilitarian interior with exposed screws and a coarse grey fabric on the ceiling." The head of the division that produces the Logan said, "We absolutely refused to put luxury in the car." And performance, too. With a 90-horsepower motor and four adults in the car, zero-to-60 would have to be clocked with a calendar.
But, to the surprise of the company, the Logan is appealing to more affluent buyers in France and Germany, where better-equipped versions, with options like power windows, CD players and air conditioning and a more powerful diesel engine, go for $13,000.
It's the old story: Give them a Model T and in no time the customers will want to go faster sooner, in more comfort and a choice of colors.
Contact Dale McFeatters at McFeattersD@SHNS.com. Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.shns.com