Kwid boosts Renault market share in India 

In India, Renault’s market share grew at 3.3 percent. Sales growth received a huge shot in the arm with Kwid boosting Renault sales.Since launch, Renault Kwid bookings have reached 120,000 lakh orders mark. Kwid sales since the start of the year have surpassed 23,000 units. For April 2016, Renault India reports 211 percent monthly domestic sales growth. Sales stood at 12,426 units, up from 4,001 units sold in April 2015.

Sumit Sawhney, Country CEO and Managing Director, Renault India Operations thanks customers for their confidence and trust in Renault, which has been reflected in continued monthly sales increase. At present, Renault India is one of the fastest growing auto brands here. Demand for Renault Kwid has poured in from metros, and smaller cities and towns. Renault India is confident of maintaining sales momentum while expanding sales and service network here.

Outside Europe, Renault has reported 4.7 percent sales increase in sales for Q1 2016 despite sales slowdown in Russia and Brazil. Africa, Middle East, and India Region reported strong sales.

In fact, Africa, Middle East, and India Region reported sales growth by up to 36.1 percent. The increase in sales also helped Renault report an improved market share, gaining 1.5 points to 4.6 percent.

No surprise then that the Kwid’s success sees Nissan India’s Datsun brand gear up for its Redi-Go launch, which is scheduled for the ongoing quarter. This will be yet another global launch under the Renault-Nissan Alliance in India. Based on Kwid, Redi-Go is being manufactured at the Renault-Nissan alliance plant in southern India. Datsun Redi-Go production is underway, and bookings have begun with 150 units recorded in the order books. This is the third Datsun car launch in India and produced at the Chennai plant.

Last week, Ambassador of Japan to India, Kenji Hiramatsu visited the Renault-Nissan Alliance plant at Oragadam, Chennai along with his wife, Patricia Clara Aguado Hiramatsu, Japanese embassy officials, Colin MacDonald, CEO & Managing Director of Renault-Nissan Alliance India Private Ltd (RNAIPL), and Consulate-General of Japan in Chennai. (Image above)

Kenji Hiramatsu said the plant is an impressive state-of-the-art facility with quality assurance mechanisms deployed. He also highlighted the plant’s contribution to creating local employment and building a strong vendor network that has created additional jobs.

The Chennai manufacturing plant is the largest Alliance production facility that came into operation in March 2010 at an initial investment of Rs 45 billion initial investment. Since then, an additional INR 16 billion has been pumped in. Production includes 32 Renault, Nissan and Datsun models and derivatives catering to domestic and international markets with upward of 650,000 units shipped to 106 countries until now.

The manufacturing plant and R&D facility are responsible for about 12,000 direct jobs in Tamil Nadu, and about 40,000 in the Indian supplier chain.

This article has first appeared in Rushlane.com