MUMBAI: Renault recently infused Rs 500 crore into the Indian subsidiary and is considering investing another Rs 2,500-3,000 crore over the next four years to support a major product push that the French carmaker has planned for this growing automotive market. 

Renault India Pvt Ltd allotted 50 crore shares valuing Rs 10 each to Renault Group BV a few months ago, according to filings with the Registrar of Companies. It was the second recent investment in the Indian unit, after a Rs 1,100 crore equity infusion in December 2015. 

Encouraged by the success of the Kwid small car, Renault is working out an aggressive product strategy for India. It plans to introduce one new product every year and bring SUVs, MPVs, crossovers and sedans priced under Rs 8 lakh to challenge the market dominance of Maruti Suzuki BSE 1.10 % and Hyundai Motor India. A large part of the planned investment will be in products and R&D resources, as manufacturing capacity is already in place.

"The sense of confidence in India is very high," said a person with knowledge of the company's plans. "The brand's presence in the top three global markets — China, US and Japan — is fairly modest. Now it has got a headstart in India, which is set to become the third largest market in the world in the coming decade. With a CMF-A platform, there are lot more segments the brand plans to address in coming years." 

CMF-A is a modular platform that can be easily tweaked to suit products in different segments. That will suit its India plans. Renault is seeking to bridge the gap between the Kwid and the Duster SUV with more B-segment cars in the sub-Rs 8 lakh market, as well as drive in a more premium SUV — internally codenamed HHA, it is likely to be launched during the festive season of next year and take on models such as the Mahindra XUV 500. At Renault, the message to the Indian team is clear, "think big", Bernard Cambier, the company's chairman for the Africa-Middle East-India Region, said during a recent interaction with Indian media. 

"I am fighting for investments and more models. We have a big engineering centre, robust purchasing department, the aim is to work towards more 100 per cent localised Indian models. Clearly the longterm ambition is to be in the top 3 — the podium — if not, then you are not a serious challenger," Cambier said, while declining to divulge specific information on products or investments. 

Source : Renault may invest Rs 3,000 crore to back new launches in India

Hyundai Motor India Limited revealed the new launch date for its new SUV, the Tucson. The SUV that sits between the Creta and the Santa Fe will enter market on November 14.

The Korean carmaker was originally scheduled to launch the Tucson on October 24. The launch date was then postponed citing unavoidable reasons by the carmaker.

The Tucson is a new name in India. Hyundai had sold the first generation of the Tucson in India during the 2005-2010 timeframe. It was discontinued due to poor sales owing to steep pricing. The new version is in its third generation and comes with Fluidic 2.0 design philosophy in line with other new Hyundai cars.

The face of the SUV is highlighted by a large hexagonal grille in chrome. It is flanked by sweptback LED headlamps. Tucson has more rounded body panels in line with Santa Fe. The raked rear windscreen is complemented by slim sleek tail lamps. Hyundai Tucson measures 4,475mm in length, 1,850mm in width and 1,645mm in height and comes with a wheelbase of 2,670mm.

The SUV is built on a new platform that offers larger cabin space according to Hyundai. The interior will get leather upholstery for the seats, while instrument panel and steering wheel will get leather wrapping. The India-spec version is also expected to get Android Auto feature, 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system and six airbags.

Hyundai Tucson will be powered by a 2.0-litre CRDi diesel engine tuned in two state of tunes -- 135bhp and 180bhp -- mated to either a six-speed manual or automatic transmission.

Hyundai dealers have already started taking bookings for the new SUV for a token amount of Rs 25,000. The Tucson is expected to get a starting price of Rs 18 lakh.

Source : Hyundai Tucson SUV confirmed for India launch on November 14

HYDERABAD: Japanese car major Honda plans to introduce new products, including SUV and bigger sedans, as well as add more features in future models to regain lost ground in the Indian market. 

Aware of the change in market dynamics with a big shift from A and B segments to premium side, the company is gearing up to meet the new demand in India. 

"The market is changing. We are seeing a big shift from A, B categories to upper segment and that's why Maruti and Hyundai are also trying to move to the premium side. So, we are also carefully monitoring this segment movement," Honda Cars India President and CEO Yoichiro Ueno told PTI. 

Besides, there is growth in the SUV segment so that's also a big change, he added. 

Asked if the company plans to launch a new SUV model soon, Ueno said: "You can expect, yes," he said. 

When asked if the model could be HR-V, he said: "It really depends on customers' voice. If there is a lot of demand or request, then we might look at it." 

Admitting that the gap between products in different segments has not helped the company, Ueno said: "There is a lot of demand to upgrade from City to bigger cars and unfortunately, we don't have a bigger car... Especially the dealers are requesting. They don't want to lose these City customers to other brands." 

Ueno added: "We are receiving a lot of request to reinforce the SUV market, we have CR-V but practically City is the flagship model." 

Stressing on the need to be nimble-footed and deliver products which customers want in a fast changing market, Ueno said: "We think it is very important to catch up." 

When asked if the company plans to develop models specifically for Indian market, Ueno said: "At the moment, our strategy is to bring global models rather than exclusively develop for any specific market." 

The shift in demand from diesel to petrol in India has also resulted in the company losing ground and it was late to adapt to the changes. 

"Unfortunately, from end of last year to this year, there was mismatching of the inventory. Our inventory was not matching the market demand," he said. 

However, by July this year, "dealer supplies normalised and so the situation is now coming back to normal". 

In April-September this fiscal, the company's domestic sales were down 23 per cent at 74,855 units while its sales in September fell 18.77 per cent to 15,034 units. 

On Honda's current product line-up, Ueno said the BR-V is doing well and "it's on track" of the target set by the company. However it is not doing as well as some other brands. I think we might be able to increase sales". 

He admitted that there is a mismatch in the company's product line-up and expectations of the customers. 

"Currently, we are concentrating on really matching price with the competitors. Maybe, the specifications are not meeting the customers' expectations. So, such kinds of discrepancies I think are happening," he said. 

Ueno felt that the company cannot afford to give up on volume products like Brio and Amaze and would like to reposition them in the market with better features. 

"They are big volume market (products). However, maybe, the positioning in the segment can be aligned. Honda cars have been on the premium side within the segments. I think we can do it," he said. 

Honda is receiving a lot of feedback from customers that it should have more features even if the the price might be on the higher side. 

"For the future models, we are planning to add more features. We were thinking that Indian car market is price sensitive. However, customer expectations have to be balanced," Ueno made it clear. 

According to the CEO, the company has just taken a price hike and most probably will take a call again on the issue only next year. 

"Exchange rate is tough. So, if it continues to be so, then slight adjustment may be necessary, but definitely not this year. We have just increased the prices. This year, we won't touch the prices. Next year due to GST, there might be a one-time alignment," he said. 

Asked if the company would keep selling MPV Mobilio, he said: "We will continue. Sales are gradually increasing. So, we will keep it."

HYDERABAD: Luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz India, which had record sales in 2015, expects the figures to be flat this year due to the continuing uncertainty about diesel vehicles as well the tax scenario under GST.

Given this background, the company is geared up to launch four more models before December and appoint three more dealers to drive volumes, Mercedes India MD and CEO Roland Folger said here today.

Late August, the Supreme Court lifted nine-month-old ban on sale of 2-litre and above diesel models in the National Capital Region after companies agreed to pay 1 per cent green cess to the government.

"Last year, we sold a record 13,502 vehicles, a growth of more than 32 per cent over 2014. This year hopefully it is going to be roughly in the same range," Folger said.

When asked about capacity, he said the 20,000-unit Pune plant has enough capacity to produce for the next two to three years.

"Events like the diesel car ban in Delhi-NCR and GST now are bringing factor of uncertainty into our overall planning and we tried to deal with it the best way possible. By September we have petrol versions for all our models," Folger added.

On GST, he said there are many theories floating in the market with regard to the car prices once the tax regimen is implemented. He, however, did not elaborate on them.

In the September quarter, Mercedes sales marginally declined to 3,327 units from 3,420 units a year ago.

Since last December through this August, none of the auto companies could sell most of their models in Delhi NCR, which is the country's largest auto market, following the Supreme Court ban on above 2-litre diesel models.

Since the Delhi-NCR market gives around 30 per cent of volume to Mercedes, this forced the company to introduce petrol variants of all its models.

The ban had Mercedes' sales declining by 1.5 per cent to 9,924 units from 10,079 units in the first nine months of this year, while for the September quarter its sales declined 2.7 per cent primarily due to higher base effect and the apex court's ban.

"We had said that we would be launching 12 new products this year and 10 new outlets. This (Silver Star in Hyderabad opened today) is the seventh outlet, which means three more outlets. In terms of products, we have launched eight and four more are in the pipeline," he said without giving details.

Source : Mercedes sees flat sales on uncertainty over diesel cars, GST

CHENNAI: Japanese car maker Nissan Motor last month shipped out 11,999 cars made at its Indian plant near here, the company's Indian subsidiary said on Monday.

In a statement, Nissan Motor India said that in September it shipped out 11,999 Nissan and Datsun-branded cars which was 20 per cent higher than what it has exported in September last year.

"Our strategy to use our plant in India as an export hub underlines our significant presence here and also demonstrates our long-term plans for growth," Guillaume Sicard, President, Nissan India Operations, was quoted as saying in the statement.

Nissan earlier this year also announced the start of exports of the Datsun redi-GO to South Africa, Sri Lanka and Nepal, in addition to the Datsun GO and GO+. 

Source : Nissan Motor shipped 11,999 cars out of India in September