After a strong showing recently at the 10th Auto Expo, Renault has gone ahead and made its intentions even clearer to the Indian market. It was already clear that the French automaker that has a strategic alliance with Nissan will bring in the Fluence and the Koleos to Indian roads in 2011 but how they would be selling the two cars was still a mystery. Lots of speculation did exist - some thought it would be through Nissan dealerships and others through Mahindra showrooms, but Renault has put in a bold move and moved things a notch higher. In an announcement made by Country General Manager and MD of Renault India, Marc Nassif, Renault has announced that they will be selling their Renault badged cars through independent Renault dealers come 2011.
The process for earmarking and sorting out the fine print of the dealerships will start soon and Renault hopes to start out by selling the Fluence and Koleos through a minimum of 10 to 15 dealers. Thereon the plan is to add at least 40 dealers every rolling 12 months. Though predictions weren't made on the kinds of sales figures Renault is expecting, they hope to capture a sizeable chunk of the Indian passenger car market through their dealerships where the emphasis will be on the quality of the network more than the quantity of sales. The French giant is keeping a very humble insight on its India operations though and has suggested that 'they would like to sell only how much they can digest'.
Further to the Fluence and the Koleos, Renault has also indicated that subsequently there will also be a B segment car for the masses. As far as their international EV range is concerned, Denmark and Brazil will be the first countries to get access to cars like the Twizy sometime in 2011.
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