[Karthik Chandra]

Renault, the French car maker has taken the 4th spot from Honda for the Month of Apr'16 backed by the success of the Kwid.

Renault has recorded 210% growth over Apr'15 with 12426 units dispatched to the dealers and I guess the Kwid would have crossed the 10K barrier and stormed its way into the top 5



This proves that a company needs one good product to be able to scale up market share. Renault needs to back up the Kwid to maintain the surge

Maruti, Hyundai, Mahindra and Ford register good growth

Source: Management Punditz

[itinerant]

This is good news for Renault vehicle owners. Provided the company consolidates its post sale services, both in terms of quality and network.

[sakthishanmugam]

I think Renault had understood the pulse of Indian market and launched Kwid which offers all the required features for a middle class Indian family at a very affordable price tag . If Renault focuses on expanding their dealer network and on quality service, we should be able to witness Kwid raising above Alto.

[Dr.Naren]

Renault has shipped lot of kwids last month. When I went to do PDI today, I saw around 30 plus Kwids in yard.

[swiftdiesel]

As much as I like to applaud Renault for a sensible product, my gut feeling is that this spike will be short lived. The reason? Renault's after sales service. These lot of Kwid buyers will realise that once they go for service and then, I'm afraid, it's gonna go downhill.

Having been used to Maruti's superior service standards, I was terribly disappointed with the way Renault treats its customers. For a mere free service, with no complaints, these guys need an appointment booked more than a month in advance, failing which, you will be shown the door. The service advisors are so low on morale that a day spent there will turn you a pessimist. Overall, I find the sales and service advisors lacking enthusiasm; all of them appear like they're in a trance! After you've booked that coveted slot, you turn up at the service centre, there'll be no one around to attend. Yes, you gotta "request" these guys to kindly take in the car for service.

You're given the feeling like they're doing you a big favour servicing your car. Next comes the delivery schedule - 2 days! Yes, 2 days for these guys (at least in Chennai) for a simple free service. The service advisors will pull any string in the world to convey how tied up they are with an overload of vehicles for service. Any time and every time you step in, they parrot the same response - overload sir, we are working overtime! How many cars does Renault shift a month? Overall a sum of 5000 units? Well, a short discussion with these chaps will have you re-look the sales chart.

God help you if you had a complaint! Enough said. As of now, these first time Kwid buyers will be an unhappy lot in the coming months and people used to Maruti's prompt delivery schedules are in for a huge disappointment. That said, service quality is good and in fact the consumables are priced competitively.

If Renault doesn't get its servicing right, the Alto will have the Kwid for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

[autorahul]

Renault currently has only one hot seller. We all know how fickle that is. Just ask Ford. The segment where Kwid operates in is currently in state of slumber with Maruti and Hyundai not launching anything recently. Expect something especially from Hyundai with the next generation Eon, launching in Q3, to take serious chunk of buyers from Renault. Same with Honda, and the next gen Brio scheduled for next year. What Renault needs is a series of products that are good performers, to sustain this rank.

Hyundai isn't in the second position because of only 1 product. i10, i20, Creta have performed very well, and Eon and Verna continue to pull decent numbers. Likewise, Renault needs a portfolio here. Duster sales are slackening and increased competition in C-SUV segment will only further push its sales down. Renault needs a hatchback in Swift segment and in i20 segment, to get some serious volumes along with a compact sedan. It needs to get these numbers from a range of models, and not just 1.

[Equus]

There are many manufacturers without a large service network - why do they always want to go solo? How about Mahindra First Choice or Bosch or someone else - credible partners who have decent/better reach?

[hybridpetrol]

Kwid has turned the fortunes of Renault upside down. It must be an interesting growth story within Renault itself. Remember which car Renault launched first in India? The Fluence sedan, followed by Koleos SUV, both in D segment! Then came the Scala in C segment. Though there were customers for Sunny, very few actually bought Scala. Same fate with Pulse, when Micra actually was moderately popular.
Then came the Duster, to turn things around for Renault, making Renault stay for some time. Duster ruled a while, and then the twin Terrano took part of the share, while the sub 4m Ecosport did the rest. The final nail in the coffin was the launch of Creta, which is only further sealed by S-Cross & Vitara Brezza. With many similar CUVs slated to be launched in the next two years by other companies, the sales of Duster will only go down further.
Renault also had launched Lodgy which was compared along with Ertiga and faced huge inventory pile up, and went unnoticed among public.
However, it is the launch of Kwid that captured the attention of masses. The design is fresh, and those who want to buy an A segment hatchback, compare it with Alto and decide in the favour of Kwid, if they can wait for it. A year before, nobody believed that Renault's hatchback would sell 10K in number and give nighmares to Industry leaders. Think about this: Maruti is going to design the next gen Alto as a crossover! That is how much influence Kwid has created on the Indian Market. Kudos for the new No.4!

[jinojohnt]

For a mass market car like Kwid, the only way to sustain the initial buzz is to have a strong service network (that can equal, or even rival Maruti). I think this is going to be a herculean task for Renault. The Duster may not have needed too many service centers, even during its peak sales. Kwid is in a different league.

So here is what I think Renault should do (even if it sounds crazy).

1. Free up 'over the counter' sales of spare parts. Any body should be able to buy a Kwid spare part easily.
2. Provide free (or minimal cost) 'Kwid repair' training to any workshop who is willing. Learning to service a car is not rocket science, majority of components are similar across car brands. The common man knows that manufacturers who allow only authorized service centers to repair their cars are more concerned about profit than safety. You cannot be a volume player without opening up (Maruti is the best example)!

[girishglg]

Renault at no 4 is good new however I suspect that they will slip easily to no 5 or may be 6 over a period of time as they are sprinting on a one legged horse, the Kwid.

With no other new model in sight and the Kwid 1.0 and AMT coming by the year end at the most, Honda could quickly catch up with the BRV launch and higher Jazz and Amaze sales.

Tata has the potential in Tiago to make it a big seller, given that there is space in the B segment hatch with no new launches, but considering that it is them, it could easily be a case of dismal sales in the coming days.

Overall feel that Renault will be around in the 5th position and not higher till they come up with some more winners in their stable.

[just_in]

Wow! This is such great news. Ever since my dad bought a Renault lodgy I fell in love with the brand and its products. This is the first step Renault has taken towards making it have a market share of 10% . So happy for Renault and proud to be a Renault owner.

[GTO]

I'm going to happily eat my own words! What a terrific achievement. Congratulations to Team Renault. Two years back, if someone told me Renault will be at no. 4, I'd ask them what strong stuff they've been smoking.

Goes to show what a well-differentiated product at a good price can do to your fortunes. And unlike the Duster which had the first-mover advantage, here Renault has fought with Maruti & Hyundai in their home turf. Credit to Renault's (usually asleep) sales & marketing function for managing such volumes. As an example, see how Ford can't even sell competent cars with a VFM price tag.

Lots of work yet to be done though. Keep those thousands of Kwid owners happy (word of mouth will make you or kill you in India), make sure the Kwids run reliably well into 6 digits on the odometer, ramp up servicing facilities and yes, launch another product that can bring in volumes too. The Duster is losing ground and you can't remain a one-trick pony for long in India.

Better roll up your sleeves, Renault. The work has only just begun.

[RJ411]

It's good to hear that Renault has moved to no 4 and as customers competition is always good for us.

As GTO has mentioned it has only just begun. With the mass market segment conquered the should launch cars into every possible segment and keep the product line up fresh.By this they can ensure that the customer stays within their showroom.

Apart from 1.0L Kwid & Kaptur rumours there is no news about anything coming new. If they are complacent, then we have another Ford in the making (ONE CAR company).

[RavenAvi]

The Renault-Nissan alliance is all set to dethrone Mahindra & Mahindra from the number 3 spot and become the third largest carmaker in India this fiscal in terms of sheer production numbers, as it prepares to boost production at it's Oragadam facility by a whopping 70% in FY2017!

Boosted by the success of the Kwid and by strong export demand, the alliance's Chennai-based factory, which produces cars for Renault, Nissan and Datsun, is already under elaborate planning to increase it's production output to 1.6 lakh units for FY2016, catering primarily to the demand for 1.5 lakh Kwid cars. (link)

This will further be increased to ~3.66 lakh units for FY2017.

The super success of the Datsun Redi-GO entry-level car, which has garnered 10,000 bookings in less than 40 days from launch (link (Datsun Redi-GO : Official Review)), is also a big factor for increased production, as it sees an allocation of 65,000 units for this fiscal. The remaining capacity will be allocated to other cars and exports.

Renault-Nissan forecasts India to break into the top three markets for light vehicles by 2020, with an estimated output of 5.5 million units.Based on the internal estimates, the alliance is likely to increase its output to 4.8 lakh units by then if demand sustains.

Guillaume Sicard, president of Nissan Motor India and head of the Oragadam plant:

"The capacity utilisation will be higher than the Indian average while the output highest among the alliance's factories globally. The business model is perfect and profitable. We are here to perform on all aspects, be it producing for sister company, producing for exports and also to do well in the domestic market."

ET

[nowwhat?]

This is a fantastic achievement and what it means is that even if one has a few products, so long as one is tuned in to their customers, one can still make it to the top.

When we went to buy our Duster, the salesperson at the dealership was someone who I could relate to, was frank, did not employ any hard sale tactics and kept in touch with us for months afterwards.

When I took our Duster for service, I was shocked to find that their costs were low and service comparable if not better than Volkswagen whose car I also own. Recently when the Duster gave low fuel economy, not only did their Service Manager identify the problem (rats spoiling the air filter), but he drove some distance with me to prove that the fuel economy has improved. I was impressed to find that this Service Manager, a young chap from Coimbatore, took up Mechanical Engineering during his B.E. solely because he was interested in automobiles.

It was due to these reasons that I checked out the Kwid as soon as it came out and I have been mulling about buying one to drive around in my hometown even though there is really no dying need for me to buy one more car.