MUMBAI: The local unit of the French auto giant Renault, which could not make even a feeble mark here in its 13 years of operations here, is attempting a comeback that it accepts will be a long-haul given the formidable challenges, with the launch of a souped-up variant of its second most successful model the Triber.
However, on the pricing front it seems the company, which has a large manufacturing unit in Chennai, has got it right with the seven-seater built under the sub-4-meter category to draw in the tax benefits, coming in at Rs 6.29 lakh for the entry model which also has six airbags and the top-end coming in for Rs 9.16 lakh.
From 2.7% market share in 2019 which was one of its best periods, the company has been on a steady downhill drive and today has just about a third of that or 0.9% in a market 4.3 million units per annum market in 2024. In 2019 the market was only about 3.1 million units. This comes from a company in its best times said it wanted to corner 5% of the market by volume.
When asked about when he sees the company at least clawing back to the 2.7% market share, all Venkatram Mamillapalle, the managing director, who refused to even disclose whether the company is in profit or not, could say was that: “we are here to stay and we are here for the long haul.
“As we ramp up our presence in across all the segments—from A segment to C, which will happen over the next two years during which time the company plans to launch three more models, we should be fine. But whether by that time we should be able to claw back the lost market share or not, I cannot confirm now. But all I can tell you is that we are here to stay and for the long term,” he told TNIE here Wednesday after launching the new Triber variant.
For the troubles that the company has been facing in since 2019 when it launched the Triber and has since sold more than 2.15 lakh units combined, Mamillapalle said first it was the Covid that completely upset out operations, then came the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the resultant issues around sourcing chips and high-end parts and then came the resultant financial troubles of the parent in Europe, forcing the headquarters to solely focus on getting the European operation back in the feet. But thankfully, instead of the planned four year, they achieved the targets in two years.
This gave the headquarters the flexibility to step by step focus more on other key markets—first Korea which is also out of the woods now and then Latin America which is almost fully recovered and now India which is a key focus market for us now.
This was clear from the fact that we just opened the largest design centre outside Europe in Chennai which will have a 6000-people capacity and have inked a deal to buyout the 4.7 lakh units per annum joint venture plant with Nissan, in Chennai ( he hopes to complete the transaction in a few weeks).
“Since the pandemic we were on oxygen support, but thankfully that’s no longer the case now. We have enough cash support from the headquarters and is support for more products,” he said, adding this market remains a cornerstone of our global strategy, driven by a strong product pipeline, expanding export operations, and a renewed focus on customer satisfaction.
When asked about entering the electric mobility space, he said we have all the products in all fuel variants but we will enter the space when there is adequate ecosystem in place.
The seven-seater Triber comes with 21 additional safety features including six airbags as standard feature in all models, and an 8-inch wireless floating touchscreen, from the first variant launched in 2019. He attributed the competitive pricing side to the 95% local contents.