“India is the only country where you begin to see modern cars at this kind of price, Once you’ve done battle with the world’s best cheap car manufacturer, you can go into another country where there isn’t a Maruti Suzuki and be relatively comfortable.” This is what Gerard Detourbet said in a recent statement. Gerard is the man behind successful cars like Logan and other entry level cars and now Renault has gone back to the Logan creator to help them turn their fortunes in the country.
Renault-Nissan boss, Carlos Ghosn has set him up with a new mission, to create a $5,500 (Lesser than 3 Lakh INR) car which would be basically an India specific car and would be taken to similar automobile markets like Brazil and China and tap the potential these markets present.
Detourbet, aged 66, moved to Chennai sometime back and has been luring supply network, dealers and spare part suppliers from others for quite some time, quietly working to give Renault the product that they are looking out for. Renault brought in the Dacia Duster under its own badge and the CUV manages to clock over 5000 units a month in a country where people buy SUVs because of their size and manly factor.
Duster with its car like drive became an instant hit and is currently the bestseller for Renault. Ghosn is all set to explore all possible markets. Renault now is going to aim for the entry level market with products for the markets like India having rock-bottom prices compared to the rest of the world. Detourbet also stated that their new ‘sub-entry’ model launch will also spawn products for Nissan.
Producing a car costing $5,500 would be taking charge of the market in many parts of the world with the Brazilian markets being first on their list which has no product to offer in this price segment. Renault’s aggression and future tactics do talk a lot about their positive attitude and the results are already pouring in. But, would this new product click against Alto, Eon?
Renault is not going to be just written down like it was in the European markets. They just needed a breath of life , and they are very well on their route with gunning at cars like Eon and Alto in some years from now. All hail Detourbet. The man just refuses to stop.
Recently Renault was also caught testing their Modus hatch in India. Does it have any resemblance with this new development?
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Source : Economic Times
Richie Rich
