Renault is now joining the bandwagon of car companies like Hyundai, Toyota and Honda who are pitching very high in capturing the Indian markets by developing an all new car platform just for ‘we people’. Carlos Tavares, the global chief operating officer of Renault, said the company was working out “all options” to give a push to its India plans. “India is one of the key markets for us along with Brazil and Russia,” Tavares said after unveiling the company’s first small car, Pulse. The Pulse is just a sister model of the already existing Nissan Micra apart from some minor modifications to the front and the rear ends. He added that, “It could happen that we develop a new platform for this market. All possibilities are open.”
The rival players like Hyundai and Toyota have recently launched ‘specific for India’ models in the past like the EON from Hyundai, the Etios and the Etios Liva from Toyota and the Brio from Honda. Maruti Suzuki, the leader in compact car sales segment is also developing a new model from scratch. Renault has been trying to grab a market share right since it partnered with Mahindra and launched the Logan. The JV didn’t work out after which Renault went out on its own and launched the Fluence, the Koleos and the Pulse. The future launches include the Duster, expected by mid-2012.
