Don’t you think it’s unfair to gauge success by road presence for a vehicle launched in March 2023 and import ban mid year? Which is still going on btw, Toyota Indus closed their plants completely for an indefinite period, not sure what’s the status on Honda Atlas but I mean when production is halted or restricted, how will you see huge numbers of a car on the road?
RS justifies its price tag over Oriel easily. If you try and convert your Oriel into RS specs, the expenses would add up and make RS look value for money. Similar to how if you compare Altis 1.6 and Altis Grande, Grande seems like a much better deal, and they have made it so intentionally. Companies want their top spec variant to sell the most as obviously it brings them most revenue.
I would prefer RS over an Oriel any day, because I will have to spend a heck lot of money on Oriel to match its specs with RS (if someone wants that), it’s better to opt for RS right away. For some it wouldn’t matter, I think both opinions can co-exist. Just a matter of preferences.
You see more Oriel on roads simply because it’s cheaper. Gli is not better than Grande simply because you see more of it on roads. This, along with production constraints because RS has a lot more imported parts compared to Oriel, so it might have contributed to its low presence on roads. Just guessing, but I wouldn’t really judge the success on any vehicle based on its performance in 2022. This year was a political and economic shitshow lol.
