French auto major Renault is planning to launch a passenger car in India at below Rs. 4 lakh. The segment which is the biggest i terms of volumes and sales in the Indian car market.
Renault launched the Pulse small car at the 2012 Auto Expo and also showcased their next model the Duster SUV for the Indian market. Renault is looking for a bigger pie and plans to open 100 new outlets by end of 2012.
“Beyond Rs 4 lakh a car is our playing ground today (in India). We project to go below Rs 4 lakh,” Renault India Pvt Ltd country managing director Marc Nassif said. He was speaking on the sidelines of a programme to launch Pulse, a hatchback in B segment. According to Nassif, currently about 50 percent of Indian passenger cars cost between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 4 lakh.
Nassif said the plan of rolling out cars below Rs 4 lakh was part of its global strategy. On the sales target in India, he said: “We will aim to sell one lakh cars once we have our five cars on the roads and 100 outlets. It can be 2013 or 2014… that will depend on how the models are doing and the growth of the market.”
The car maker, which entered India in 2005, launched a luxury sedan, Fluence, in May 2010 and In September, it came up with a compact SUV, Koleos.
In the second half of this year, it will launch Duster, a SUV. and a new sedan based on the Pulse platform before 2012 ends. In 2011 Renault sold about 1,500 units of the Koleos and Fluence combined.
