Electric Cars Designed in India, for China
PARIS: Renault Nissan's global CEO says there
isn't much support in India, but China is keen on driving electrification of
cars Electric cars are the future for Renault
Nissan, and the company's research and development base in Chennai will
contribute to its affordable electric project, global CEO Carlos Ghosn said.
“Electric
car is going to be part of the future of our industry . We will develop
low-cost electric cars based on knowledge coming out of India, but deploy it in
China, because that is where the market exists. Government support is very
important and the Chinese government is very keen on driving electrification of
cars. In India, there is not much support for electric cars,“ Ghosn told ET on
the sidelines of the Paris Motor Show.
Ghosn added
that he had expected the United States to take the lead in the development of
electric cars for the future, but it is happening in China instead due to the
aggressive play by local manufacturers and the Chinese government's support. As
a result, Nissan, a leader in the space, is feeling the heat, he said.
“The Chinese
market is booming, and we are losing our leadership to a number of local
players who are coming out with cheap electric cars.So we are working towards
bringing in our own affordable electric cars for the Chinese market to make
sure we don't end up being overwhelmed with what's coming in,“ said Ghosn.
On the
future of autonomous cars, Ghosn said that all the car makers are working
towards the solution, but it will take another three-four years to see
substantial progress in that direction.Responding to a query on whether
self-driving cars could be a reality in emerging markets, Ghosn said: “You need
to have drivers respecting the rules. Autonomous car is going to stop at the
red light -would a user in Mumbai or Rio De Janerio stop? It will be first seen
in disciplined driving counties like US, Japan and Europe before one starts
expecting it in emerging markets.
“
Appreciating the performance of the Indian operations, Ghosn said that he is
very happy with the initial response to the Kwid, adding that the company's
first priority is to ensure that it becomes a “solid success“ and the second is
to bridge the gap between Kwid and Duster.
“There is a
lot of enhancement that we are doing on the project. Our first obligation is to
make sure that Kwid is perfectly fit for India. This car is going to go into
many emer is going to go into many emerging markets, so the intention is to not
limit ourselves to the present success of Kwid -we will be launching many new
products in the future on CMF-A platform,“ said Ghosn.Renault plans to launch
at least one new product every year in the next five years and a significant
part of it will be in the sub`10-lakh market. Riding on the success of Kwid,
Renault has more than doubled its market share in India at nearly 5% and share
in India at nearly 5% and expects volumes to more than double by the end of the
year to over 1.5 lakh units.
Source : Electric
Cars Designed in India, for China