Renault To Bring In New SUVs To Gain Market Share
On Wednesday, the company introduced Triber's updated version, its first launch in over four years, and the first of four new models Renault plans to bring in the fiercely competitive Indian car market over the next two years.
PUNE: Renault, the French carmaker, on Wednesday said it plans to introduce more SUVs to its model portfolio to gain market share in the world’s third biggest car market and increase exports from India.
With its ‘Renault Rethink’ plan, the automaker bought off complete control of its JV plant with Nissan, Japanese automaker, in Chennai and committed $600 million in fresh investments.
“Under our new plan with more investment, Renault aims to grow local sales and exports from India after taking over alliance partner Nissan Motor's share in the jointly-owned plant,” Venkatram Mamillapalle, MD at Renault India told media on the sidelines of a 7-seater Renault Triber facelift launch in Mumbai.
"We are going on the product offensive launches moving forward," he said.
On Wednesday, the company introduced Triber's updated version, its first launch in over four years, and the first of four new models Renault plans to bring in the fiercely competitive Indian car market over the next two years.
Mamillapalle said the company would bring in new compact and mid-sized SUVs to accelerate sales competing against the likes of Maruti, Hyundai, Kia, Mahindra, Tata Motors, Toyota among others.
At present Renault sells three models - a small car Kwid, a small SUV Kiger, and a small seven-seater Triber, its top selling Indian model.
While India accounts for less than 2 per cent of Renault's global sales, it is one of five cost-competitive international hubs the automaker is counting on to boost sales outside of its home market of Europe.
Absence of new models and a lineup skewed towards small cars, which is rapidly shrinking, Renault's share of the Indian car market had been reduced to less than 1 per cent from over 3 per cent five years ago, according to auto industry data.
According to experts, SUVs and three-row family cars made up about 65 per cent of India's annual car sales of 4.3 million units last financial year. Small cars accounted for the rest, with their share shrinking from over 60 per cent five years ago.
At present the Chennai factory, now fully owned by Renault, runs at about 50 per cent of its annual capacity of around 4.8 lakh units.
Renault was counting on the Indian market for growth and new export markets beyond Southeast Asia and South Africa to help bring the factory's utilization to 80-100 per cent in a couple of years, Mamillapalle said.