In keeping with other auto manufacturers such as Mercedes Benz India Limited and General Motors India, Renault India Private Limited, which is a fully owned subsidiary of Renault S.A.S. has announced a price increase of 1.5 per cent across different models. Five vehicles are being currently sold by the French auto maker in the Indian market: hatchback Pulse, mid-size sedan Scala, SUV Duster, premium sedan Fluence and premium SUV Koleos.
While talking about the reasons for price rise, Sumit Sawhney, Executive Director of Sales & Marketing at Renault India, said “We have to follow suit with the rest of the industry as input costs have gone up tremendously. We tried to absorb the increase as much as possible but now we are forced to pass on some of the burden to our customers as high input cost coupled with high inflation are all eating in to our bottom line. But at the same time we have tried our best to keep it at a level where it should not impact demand and we are sure that customers would still see a lot of value in our products.” The standard increase of 1.5 per cent will be implemented across the range of vehicles from 1st January 2013.
Within a time period of 18 months, Renault India has been able to set up more than 75 dealerships across India. Renault launched its first vehicle, the Fluence during June 2011 in India, and currently offers the full range of its products within this short time. More dealerships are also expected to be operational by the end of this year. Renault cars are currently being produced in a plant located in Oragadam, which is on the outskirts of Chennai. The manufacturing facility has a maximum capacity of producing 400,000 units per year.
