Auto Expo 2014: Renault Unveils Concept Car KWID
European car maker Renault delivered its vote of aplomb to the approaching of the ailing Indian auto bazaar by application the New Delhi auto appearance to barrage a all-around abstraction car for the aboriginal time alfresco Europe.
Renault, which makes the acutely accepted “Duster” sports-utility vehicle, or SUV, in India, launched the “KWID” on Wednesday in the nation’s capital, at an accident accustomed to be the better car appearance in Asia. The KWID, according to the aggregation account is a bunched five-seater SUV with a multimedia dashboard that can serve the tech-savvy and family-oriented Indian consumer.
“This is the aboriginal time we accept called to acknowledge a abstraction car alfresco Europe and this is an affecting assurance of our charge to India,” Gilles Normand, chief carnality admiral and administrator of Renault’s operations in the Asia-Pacific region, said in a statement.
The French car maker, whose India operations are based in Chennai in southern India, is benumbed a beachcomber of acceptance for its acknowledged Duster, and is additionally showcasing added models such as the “Koleos,” a exceptional SUV that could retail at a abject amount of 2.26 actor Indian rupees ($36,000), and “Zoe,” an electric car.
“Renault is a actual adolescent cast in India and in beneath than 18 months, we accept been able to put a 100,000 cars” on Indian anchorage admitting the abatement in the industry, Sumit Sawhney, country CEO for Renault, told International Business Times on the sidelines of the event, calling the Duster a “segment breaker” and a “volume pillar.”
“Getting into the appropriate articulation at the appropriate amount with the appropriate product,” has helped Renault carve out a abode for itself in the awash Indian market, according to Sawhney.
The aggregation is the ninth-largest architect in the country and is aggravating to authorize its cast and networks on the ground, Sawhney said, to abound added in India, which is one of the fastest growing auto countries in the world. However, the industry ran into asperous acclimate in 2013, adversity its aboriginal abatement in advance in about a decade, as the country has struggled with a slowing abridgement and aerial inflation.
“”The Indian customer has an advance mindset and not an amount mindset” back it comes to affairs a car, Sawhney said, abacus that the Indian bazaar is abreast for cartage with “cross-over capabilities” as Indian buyers are more application cars for weekend getaways and recreational purposes.
India is an arising bazaar and it will eventually advance to accept electric cars, he told IBTimes, apropos to the company’s accommodation to advertise “Zoe,” the company’s electric car at the accident in New Delhi.
“2014 is a testing time for the Indian auto industry,” Sawhney said, “with elections about the bend and a lot of ambiguity on the bread-and-butter front. So, we attending advanced to things convalescent post-election.”
