Renault to set-up its own dealer base in India

Renault India, a unit of France base automobile manufacturer Renault, said on Tuesday that it is planning to establish its own distribution network in the country as company is looking to restructure its JV with Mahindra & Mahindra. Company will start the process with establishment of 15 dealerships within next 12 to 18 months that will be increased to 150 dealerships in coming 30 months, said March Nassif, Renault’s India head.

India's largest SUV manufacturer Mahindra & Mahindra and Renault came together in year 2007 to set-up a joint venture (51% & 49% respectively). Both the companies have invested heavily to set-up an state-of-art manufacturing plant in Nashik, Maharashtra to manufacture the base-structure of Mahindra Renault Logan models with a capacity of 50,000 units per year.

In the last month auto show, held in New Delhi, Renault announced that it is planning to introduce a range of its car models in India within next 48 months. Company also showcased an array of its newly designed models including Fluence and the Koleos. The Fluence and the Koleos models will be manufactured at company's facility in Chennai where it will invest with its JV partner Nissan(Japan based). Renault-Nissan JV is in the process of establishing a passenger car plant in Chennai with a whooping capacity of 4,00,000 units.

Besides this Renault-Nissan JV also planning to launch an ultra low cost car with their partner Bajaj, by year 2012. This ultra low cost car will be manufactured at Renault's Chennai plant and most of the parts of the vehicle will be sourced by the Bajaj Auto to which it uses in its two-wheelers and three wheelers in India.

Popular sedan models in India includes Honda City, Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla and Fiat Linea.