Renault India CEO and MD Venkatram Mamillapalle on Monday said that with the launch of its three new models, the country will emerge as its third largest market by 2030.
At present, India is the fifth largest market globally for the carmaker, where it sold over 87,000 units last year and crossed one million production mark recently.
Renault plans to introduce three new models including a ‘Made in India’ mass-market electric vehicle (EV) which is expected to hit the market by 2025.
Renault-Nissan Alliance has announced a Rs 5,300 crore investment in India to introduce six new models.
“The investment of about Rs 5,300 crore will be used from the ‘Make in India’ concept requirements, developing the car from Europe to the Indian requirements, modifying the whole platform,” Mamillapalle said.
The company has over 8,000 engineers working at its R&D centre in Chennai.
Mamillapalle said the automaker plans to ramp-up localisation levels in a phased manner before rolling-out the ‘Made in India’ mass market EV.
Renault is targeting close to about 90% localisation levels in a phased manner for the EV, which is expected to hit the market by 2025.
The company’s current localisation level for existing models — Kwid, Kiger and Triber — stands at 90-95%.
According to Mamillapalle, Renault India wants to localise extensively for its Made in India EV.
“I am not going to reach a high local content level on day one. However, we have a roadmap that when my volume grows, I have around 80% local content in the EV,” he said.
As of now, 40% content is imported.
Mamillapalle said that Renault plans to price the upcoming EV at an affordable range to increase its mass market appeal.
