Renault Kwid to be exported to Brazil from next month: Latest Auto News, News – India Today
Renault Kwid to be exported to Brazil from next month
Renault will commence exporting its entry-level hatchback Kwid to Brazil from next month and is looking to increase production to Ten,000 units by March this year at its Oragadam plant to meet the domestic request.
Kwid, which received tremendous response in the domestic market with more than a lakh bookings in just four months since its launch, will be the 2nd Renault vehicle to be exported after Duster.
Renault, which has set a target of garnering five per cent market share by end of 2017, has already touched Four.Five per cent in February, an official told PTI.
“We will be making exports of Kwid to Brazil in parts embarking next month,” Renault India Country CEO and MD Sumit Sawhney told PTI.
He said the company was exporting “puny” numbers of its popular SUV Duster to Brazil and Kwid will be shipped as SKDs (semi-knocked down units).
Moreover, he said around one lakh bookings have already been received for Kwid in the domestic market itself.
Renault is also in plans to ramp up its production at its union factory with Nissan in Oragadam near Chennai.
Renault Kwid has a waiting period of five to six months and with the ramping up of production, the company hopes to bring it down to three months.
“Right now we are making about 6,000 units (per month). We want to increase it to 8,000 units (per month) and by March we will be crossing Ten,000 units,” he said.
On the market share, Sawhney said the hard was certain of registering five per cent share by end of two thousand sixteen itself in the backdrop of successful launches of Kwid and Duster.
“In December (2015) we had Four.Five per cent market share, then in January it was Trio.8 per cent. This month we have Four.Five per cent market. We are working very hard to achieve five per cent market share by the 2nd half of 2016,” he said.
On sales of Renault in 2016, he said the company would cross over one lakh sales in two thousand sixteen as against the total sales of 54,000 units in 2015.
The company during the Delhi Auto Expo had showcased its automatic variant of Duster (4×4 variant), besides the one-litre engine capacity Kwid cars.
“(With these launches this year) we will be selling more than one lakh cars this year,” he said the fresh variants of Kwid and Duster would be introduced in 2016.
As part of network expansion, the company would also increase the dealerships to 240, from the existing 205, by end of 2016, covering ninety six per cent of the market.
While stating that the success of Kwid was in the backdrop of its high localisation content at ninety eight per cent, he said the company was also working on taking up the local content levels in Duster from the present seventy per cent to eighty per cent by next year.
The Renault-Nissan plant at Oragadam near Chennai has been set up at investments of over Rs Four,500 crore and has the capacity to produce about Four.80 lakh units operating in three shifts.