Renault India today announced breaching the 5 lakh sales milestone, making it one of the fastest car manufacturers to achieve this feat in the country. The company, which began its local operations around 2010, says that Renault India has made some significant progress in the country in this short time, it has a clear long-term 'India strategy'. Although Renault first entered India as part of a joint venture with Mahindra, launching the Logan sedan, the first standalone Renault car to go on sale in India was the Fluence. However, the car that has played a major role in the company achieving this sales milestone, this early, is the Renault Kwid.
The Fluence sedan was the first car to be launched in the country by Renault India
Commenting on achieving this major sales milestone, Sumit Sawhney, Country CEO and MD, Renault India Operations said, "India is a strategic market for the success of Renault's medium-term plan. Being local in India is very important and that's why we have a state of the art manufacturing facility, a world-class technology centre and we are the only global brand to have 2 design centres in India."
Currently, the company offers four models in India - Kwid, Duster, Lodgy, and the Captur, and it is the former two that have been major volume generators for the company as of now. In fact, the Kwid alone accounts for more than 2.75 lakh units, out of the 5 lakh cars the company has sold in India.
The Renault Duster has been one of the top-sellers in the company's line-up
Talking about the company's future strategy, Sawhney said, "Going forward, we will continue with our product offensive strategy in India and will work towards substantially growing the Renault brand in India. We plan to bring several new innovations in products and services for the diversified Indian market. Together with launching products of global repute, it is important to have a strong 'India strategy', offering customers a compelling value proposition. Our growth strategy hinges strongly on launching products that cater to the volume and growing segments of the Indian automotive industry, with heavy emphasis on localisation."
Renault Captur received a new Radiant Red colour commemorating the 5 lakh milestone
Additionally, the company is also working on expanding its sales network in India. In fact, Renault has already expanded its network presence to more than 350 facilities across India, making it one of the fastest network ramp-ups in recent times. Also, to commemorate the 5 lakh sales milestone, on Kwid, Renault has announced a special finance offer of 3.99 per cent rate of interest, for a limited period. Duster saw the introduction of 2 new variants, one in Petrol - RXS and one in AMT diesel - RXS AMT, and introduced a new Radiant Red colour on Captur.
