Murali Gopalan 
 
Mumbai: French carmaker Renault SA has maintained that it has a clear product and partner strategy for India.

On Monday, it announced that it was part of a three-way joint venture with Bajaj Auto and Nissan for a unique low-cost car which would first be produced in India and for other world markets thereafter.

Sylvain Bilaine, managing director of Renault India, says the company’s plans for passenger cars would be confined to its joint venture with Mahindra & Mahindra. Here, cars produced in Nashik (the Logan) and the new plant in Chennai will be retailed through the joint venture and badged Mahindra-Renault.

So even if Renault chooses to manufacture the Megane in Chennai, it will be retailed and branded through this route.

For the moment, the Logan is sold in the same showrooms that retail the Scorpio sport-utility vehicle.

M&M was part of the Chennai plan too but decided to drop out for a variety of reasons.

Subsequently, Renault and Nissan have teamed up in a 50:50 joint venture for the Rs4,500 crore project, which will see 400,000 vehicles roll out in the next 3-4 years.

Nissan will have its own dealers for cars that roll out of the Chennai facility and will not team up with Renault or use the Mahindra-Renault network.

Bilaine said the recently announced venture with Bajaj Auto was for a brand new product segment, which could not be considered as a conventional passenger car.

Bilaine said this kind of a vehicle would ideally need an exclusive distributorship chain as is the case of Smart, which is a Daimler product but sold separately.

The same holds true for Japan’s Kei cars, which have exclusive dealerships because they are distinct products for a certain type of customer.

“You do not need extravagant showrooms for these cars as is the case with their much bigger counterparts,” he said.

What is left for Renault now is a partner in the light commercial vehicle space. Indications are that this could be Bajaj Auto too but Bilaine said it was too early to comment.

Its global ally Nissan has already forged an alliance with Ashok Leyland.

Renault’s multi-partner strategy has come in for some flak from critics but the company clearly has a plan in place.

Source : DNAIndia