French carmaker Renault aims to rank India among its top five global markets, ramping up its presence in the world’s third-largest passenger vehicle (PV) market with fresh models.
On January 26, the company reintroduced the highly anticipated mid-size SUV Duster, the first product under Renault International Gameplan 2027 in India and going forward, the carmaker plans new launches and updates annually to sustain the momentum.
“At one point in time, India used to be one of the top 3 or top 5 markets for the group. It went down to 10th or 12th position. Given the importance of the Indian market for the group, India should be among the top 5,” Bruno Vanel, Global Product Lead at Renault Brand told TNIE. Vanel stated that the rollout of the new CMF-B modular platform is important as it will underpin new models in the B and C segments.
“70-80% of production from India will be served in the domestic market. At about 4.3 million, India is the third-largest PV market in the world. It will become a 6 million market soon. So the first thing will be to produce cars in India for India and then to develop it for markets like Africa, the Gulf and Latin America,” said Vanel.
Renault is also eyeing a market share of 3-5% in the Indian PV market by 2030. Renault brand CEO and Chief Growth Officer Fabrice Cambolive said that they will increase the number of models in India because the market is big and there are a lot of growing segments. The company, however, is unlikely to launch an electric vehicle in the Indian market in the near future.
After peaking in FY2017 with sales of 135,123 units and nearly 4% market share, Renault India struggled to keep pace with rival automakers with its market share coming down to about 1% in the PV market.
But the company is now making India central to its global growth strategy, drawing up investments of Rs 5,400 crore to revive its presence. Renault has already taken full control of Renault Nissan Automotive India Pvt Ltd, turning the Chennai facility into a wholly owned hub to drive future launches.
Venkatram Mamillapalle, Managing Director, Renault India said that their plant in Chennai is now making 4.6-4.8 lakh cars with the current capacity of 48%, and this can be expanded to 70% production capacity. Mamillapalle added that the launch of the new Duster will give a major boost to Renault India’s manufacturing capacity and they would also manufacture left-hand drive cars to meet export demand.
The relaunch of Duster, the product which pioneered the mid-size SUV segment, comes at a time when carmakers have flooded this segment with new launches and upgrades. Just in the last few months, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Kia and Skoda launched products in the highly competitive segment. The mid-size SUV market currently stands at around 1 million units per year, accounting for about 40% of overall SUV sales in India.
Renault is confident that the brand appeal of Duster along with the new powertrains being offered, including a strong Hybrid E-Tech 160 powered by a 1.8L engine and 1.4 KWH battery, the safety and features the SUV is loaded with, and the model will strike a chord with car buyers.