Hot News – Renault to fight it out at the Indian marketplace alone

Renault has taken its own sweet time to take a decision and we feel it is not only the right decision but the best – Renault will establish its own dealerships in India to market its products. It is expected to have 12 dealers at the time of the launch of Koleos and Fluence in 2011

. ‘Better late than never right’ holds true here. Renault’s alliance with Mahindra could have never succeeded because the two companies share completely different mindsets and strategies. Renault would have been better off sharing facilities with Nissan rather. However, the present decision to fight it out alone is a brave attempt and would take Renault to success in the long term.

Renault announced its roadmap for India and put up one of the best stalls (Er, we mean the cars) at the Auto Expo that stunned the visitors. People came to know that Renault makes stylish and great cars and Renault’s brand image also received a big boost. Renault will be launching the Koleos and Fluence within 24 months and a full range of its vehicles within 48 months. Renault will be locally assembling its vehicles at the Oragadam plant shared with Nissan. The CKD operations will reduce the price tag of these cars considerably and take them into contention right away unlike Nissan which has been fighting with poor sales from day1 due to overpriced products.

However, Renault will maintain its relationship with Mahindra for the Logan sedan. The two companies are contemplating on an extensive reskin for the model to make it more appealing. Renault is even considering bringing the length of the Logan to under 4 metres and give it an all new 1.2L engine. We are not quite sure what will eventually happen but if Renault are looking at a facelift, why not bring in the Sandero that is based on the same platofrm as the Logan? The Sandero will make a good hatchback for India and will be the best option for Mahindra-Renault.

Going one step above, Renault will build its next-generation small car based on the V-platform that is the base for Nissan’s small cars. The availability of a readymade vendor base for the components would work in favour of Renault and once the design is done, the localisation would take place considerably fast and hopefully, the small car should be out in 3 years from now. Rumours are circulating that the new small car would be the next-gen Clio and that India could serve as the production base for this small car.

“During the recent New Delhi AutoExpo we had announced our roadmap for introducing several cars from our international portfolio in the Indian market. Today we would like to reaffirm our intention to be a long term player in India, by announcing our plans to set up an exclusive Distribution Network for Renault cars that will be introduced in the Indian market. We will create an extensive nationwide distribution network in the next 30 months, to ensure our customers are assured of seamless service,” Marc NASSIF, Country General Manager and MD of Renault India, said in a statement.

“Our experience at the New Delhi AutoExpo has been extremely positive and the feedback we got from the thousands of visitors to our pavilion shows that there is a good market for cars from the Renault range. We have carried out extensive customer surveys and have identified the right cars from our global range for introduction in the Indian market,” he added.

“Renault cars have always been applauded for their design, styling, drive comfort and fuel efficiency, and we are absolutely confident that our proposed range will meet the expectations of the Indian customer. We plan to launch the Fluence and the Koleos in 2011, and these two cars will be produced at the Alliance greenfield manufacturing facility in Chennai. Our range will have Small to Luxury cars and will be a mix of Renault models and some based on platforms shared within the Renault Nissan Alliance.”

We are happy about Renault’s announcement and this could only mean that the alliance would go from strength to strength. Renault-Nissan alliance breaking into the top 3 auto makers in the world? You never know what will happen.

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