It seems Renault has big plans in place for India this year. The company has already launched its Pulse premium hatchback in the country and is now busy in promoting the vehicle aggressively. Just yesterday, the company launched the Pulse diesel, keeping the Indian’s love for diesel car in mind. For the rest of the year, Renault is planning to launch at least three new vehicles here.
The priority that Renault is giving to India was evident from the statement Mr. Marc Nassif, Managing Director, Renault India, made at the Auto Expo 2012 in Delhi. He said that to Renault, India is one of the highest priority markets and that they have plans for launching five new products in the market between mid-2011 and December 2012. It has already launched the Pulse premium hatchback in the market. The Duster MPV will hit the markets somewhere around Diwali. He also mentioned that the Duster will be manufactured in India and will have high local content. It will be made available in both petrol and diesel variants.
The new Pulse diesel variants that Renault has launched at the Auto Expo have been priced very competitively. The ex-showroom price of the Pulse RLX has been kept at Rs.5.77 lacs, while the Pulse RZX will cost Rs.6.25 lacs. The company believes that the newly launched Pulse variants will raise the bar as far as the premium hatchback segment is concerned.
Apart from launching new vehicles, Renault is also planning to open new showrooms all across the country. The company is planning to increase the number of showrooms in India to 100 from its existing 35, with 5 more being opened this month itself. Nassif also mentioned that Renault, in partnership with Nissan, has already started work on increasing the production capacity of their Alliance Plant in Chennai.
