On the sidelines of inaugurating 4 outlets and delivering around 100 cars in Pune on the auspicious day of Gudi Padwa (April 8), Sumit Sawhney, MD, Renault India, stated that the company would focus on sub-4m under-7 lakh space in the short and medium terms (that doesn’t mean that there won’t be a premium product launch).
The Renault Kwid has been a runaway success in the cut throat small car segment and this has given the company enough confidence to extend its presence to other relevant mass market sub-segments. Mr. Sawhney said that the sub-4m products account for roughly 70% of the sales in the Indian car market of which, the Kwid only covers about 24%, so there is ample room for the company to come up with new products.
The plan to have a comprehensive coverage of the sub-4 m segment will start with the introduction of the Kwid 1.0-litre which, he said, will definitely be launched before Diwali. The bigger engined variant will soon be augmented with an AMT variant.
Renault India had previously announced that it will launch at least one new product every year for the next few years. It’s safe to assume that most of these products would play within the INR 4-7 lakh category.
The Renault-Nissan Alliance’s highly versatile locally developed CMF-A modular platform that underpins the Kwid would play a crucial role in French automaker’s Indian product plan. It’s worth noting that Carlos Ghosn, CEO and Chairman of the Alliance, has confirmed that the said platform is flexible enough to adopt compact crossover and sedan top-hats.
