Renault sees India as key market

French carmaker is gearing up to garner five per cent marketshare in India by 2016-end

Having forayed into India in 2005, Renault currently has six models on sale in the country. The French carmaker tasted success with Renault Duster SUV which not only carved out a niche for itself in India, but also laid a solid foundation for compact sports utility vehicle (SUV) segment. Recently, it added Renault Lodgy multipurpose vehicle (MPV) to its Indian lineup. The automaker is now gearing up to launch a small car this month as it intends to increase the marketshare. “India is a key market for Renault. We are gearing up to achieve five per cent market share in the Indian passenger vehicle segment by 2016 from the current 2 per cent,” Rafael Treguer, Vice-President (Sales & Marketing), Renault India, tells P Madhusudhan Reddy in an exclusive interview.

What is your take on Indian automobile market?

What I want to say is that Indian market is very competitive. Customers are very demanding here. At Renault, it’s our job to meet the expectations of the customers. Renault is now focusing on Indian market because it’s very important and key market for our growth strategy globally. We know we need to focus on engineering, design and things like that to attract Indian customers. We are already active in the country. And we are in the processing of building a strong foundation. We want to go for big expansion as India is a long-term bet for Renault.

What is the contribution from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to your overall sales?

Both the states account for seven per cent of our total sales in the country. Of them, 50 per cent come from Hyderabad alone. We sold 50,000 cars across India last fiscal. I was interacting with dealerships from Hyderabad and they say models such as Scala are receiving good response. So is also the new Renault Lodgy.

What is the near-term target for the company in India?

Our target is to reach five per cent market share by end of the year 2016. Our market share is around two per cent now. Renault India is geared up to achieve this goal. We have a big manufacturing plant in Chennai. Set up in association with our alliance partner Nissan, the plant can produce 4.8 lakh units a year. Besides, we also have a strong engineering team in the country to take care of designing and developing needs. Over 5,000 engineers work at our research and development centre. So, Renault India is a big organisation now with strong retail network. We are planning expand the retail network as well from 160 dealerships at present to 205 by end of this year. That means we will open one new outlet every week during course of the year. We know workshops are a key element of our ecosystem. So we are focusing on strengthening our workshops as well.

What kind of new models you are planning to launch?

Till now, we have five models in the country – Renault Pulse hatchback, sedans Scala and Fluence, and two SUVs in Duster and Koleos. We have just launched Renault Lodgy MPV, taking our lineup to six models in India. We will soon launch our small car which will hit the showrooms later this year. So, we will have two new models this year. Then we will see. We may expand our production capacity to cater to the demand for small car.

How does Renault Lodgy differentiate itself from the rivals such as Toyota Innova?

Response is good for Renault Lodgy and there are lots of inquiries coming in. However, we are not communicating about sales targets as of now. We are confident that customers will choose Lodgy over the competition because it has very strong features. We are in the processing of collating the data related to bookings though. Our engineers in India have been working on the Lodgy for the past couple of years to make it suitable for Indian roads. The model has a good level of ground clearance and comfort. Also, it has all ingredients that an MPV needs and more. We know Indian conditions are different when compared to other global markets. So, we improved interior and exterior design to suit the roads here. There are over 60 changes in Lodgy when compared the MPV in other markets.

Do you have any plans to enter into used car business?

Yes, we will launch our pre-owned business in a month or so. Initially, we will have pilot dealerships before expanding the business over next three years. We have drawn up complete strategy for the expansion. Currently, we are identifying the pilot dealerships. Many people are showing interest in this business and coming forward to set up used car showrooms. We will identify some and go ahead with the launch plans.