Renault India transformed the most lucrative yet competitive segment in India with the launch of Kwid hatchback. Ever since its launch in March 2016, the car has been a runaway success and the top selling product for French carmaker in India. Aggressive pricing, best in class space, tempting features and AMT gearbox makes it stand on top against the competitors. Owing to the grand success of Kwid, Renault now wants to focus on the mass market product for the Indian market.
One of the major reasons for Kwid’s success is the high localisation levels which help carmaker to price aggressively. Now, the Indian arm of Renault has decided to stop selling vehicles that are sold via semi-knocked down (SKD) route. The move could be strategic one as the higher local content result in the competitive price which could be a deal maker or breaker in the price-centric market like India.
Renault has decided to discontinue Koleos SUV and Fluence executive sedan as both of them were imported via SKD. The decision doesn’t come as a surprise at all as both have been dud sellers since launch and could not achieve the numbers due to unsuitable pricing. Koleos was way expensive than its competitors and hence it didn’t sell well.
The French carmaker has decided to focus on mainstream products that have at least 95 percent local content for small cars and 80 percent for big cars. With that, Renault also wants to take India among the top five automotive markets in the world. According to reports, the brand will invest around Rs. 3000 crores in the country in next three years for new launches and to meet its localisation needs.
Renault plans to five new cars in India in next five years starting from 2017 which also includes compact SUV. Thanks to Kwid, Renault has expanded its facilities from 205 to 270 in 2016 and also working on it’s after sales service.
