“Whatever Comes From Us Will Be A Game-changer"

Sumit Sawhney, Country CEO & MD, Renault India

Learnings from KWID’s success.
We have been able to launch a global product on the new CMF-A (common module family - architecture) platform with 98 per cent localisation. There is a lot of opportunity in the sub 4 metre, under-7 lakh space, as this segment holds a significant part of the automotive market. The CMF-A (KWID) platform is very versatile and we are looking at products that best suit the Indian market. There are aggressive product plans for India.

Will KWID become the largest selling small car?
Thanks to KWID, our operation is ranked 7th in the global market in terms of sales volume in the period of January-August 2016. It was at 18th position same period last year. It has generated unprecedented success in its category. Exports of KWID to Sri Lanka and Nepal have commenced, and plans for launching Renault KWID in other SAARC countries including Bangladesh and Bhutan are underway. KWID’s sales have crossed the 1-lakh milestone with over 1.65 lakh bookings since its launch. KWID, one of India’s most successful cars, will become even more attractive with the new automated manual transmission technology.

Renault’s vision for the next five years.
With SUVs being our forte, whatever comes from Renault will be a game-changer and will redefine the segment or create a sub-segment. Renault plans to launch at least one new product every year in the coming five year.

Challenges that you face in India.
The biggest challenge for the industry is to move to BS-VI by 2020 directly which requires significant technology upgrade and additional investments by the automobile industry. The government wants us to do it in four years, which Europe took 11 years to do. The success of this proposal is dependent on fuel availability. A BS-VI vehicle cannot run on any other fuel, but a BS-IV vehicle can run on BS-VI fuel too.

Your current ranking in the domestic market.
We are on track with a 4.5 per cent market share this calendar year and at spot number six overall. Riding high on the success of Renault KWID, our year-to-date sales (Jan-Oct) stands at 111, 387 units. So, our roadmap for India is very clear. Renault wants to achieve over 5 per cent market and this is our immediate goal.