Renault India to start exports of Kwid

Renault India will commence exports of its Kwid hatchback in March 2016, with the first market to be Sri Lanka. This will be followed by other SAARC markets including Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.

Speaking to our sister publication Autocar Professional at the sidelines of the Make in India Week in Mumbai, Sumit Sawhney, managing director, Renault India, said: "After receiving a great response for the Kwid here, we are now planning to aggressively export the car to other international markets. We will export to the SAARC markets first, starting with Sri Lanka."

Commenting on the huge potential that Renault sees in this region, Sawhney said that though initial volumes would be low given the current duty structures, these markets would emerge as big volume drivers in the future.

Apart from these markets, Renault will also export the Kwid to Brazil and other parts of Latin America. The other market which would get the Kwid this year is Africa, added Sawhney. Based on the CMF-A platform and developed by the Renault-Nissan Alliance, the hatchback will be a perfect example of 'Make in India' for the world, with localisation levels of over 98 percent. The Kwid will be shipped as CBUs to the SAARC region, while Latin American and African market are set to receive the model via the CKD route.

"With such high levels of localisation, the decision to export the Kwid provides a lot of opportunities for our suppliers as well, as spares and kits come in the picture," Sawhney said. Reiterating the company's plan to ramp up the Kwid's production, Sawhney said that Renault India plans to increase production to 10,000 units by March 2016 and bring down the current waiting period by almost 35-40 percent. The current average waiting period for the Kwid in the domestic market is around 4 to 5 months depending on the variants.
 

Shourya Harwani