The Hindu Business Line : Renault-Nissan will recruit 5,000 people in 3 years

Mumbai, Sept. 24 French carmaker Renault with its joint venture partner Nissan is looking to recruiting 5,000 people in India in three years, said Mr Sylvain Bilaine, Managing Director, Renault India.

“Our current manpower is just below 850. We have recently recruited around 50 people at senior level at our plant in Chennai. We will start production with 1000 people,” he said.

Renault-Nissan’s Rs 4,500-crore car plant with the annual capacity of 4 lakh will be commissioned in the first half of 2010.

Talking to the reporters on the sidelines of the inauguration of Renault Design India studio in Mumbai, Mr Bilaine said that Nissan’s auto component sourcing from India is close to € 200 million now. Earlier the company had set a target of sourcing components worth € 100 million but revised it due to the cost advantage in the context rising input cost across the globe. “We have a lot of pressure to get more (components) from India. We are negotiating very good deals, especially with casting and forging companies,” he said. Currently Renault has 55 suppliers.

“We have a logistics platform in Pune. We are now making shipment mostly to our facilities in South Africa, Turkey and Korea,” he said. About the cost advantage of sourcing from India, Mr Bilaine said the price difference helps company achieve net benefit of 15 percent.

About the ultra low cost car project, codenamed ULC, with Bajaj, he said that the manufacturing facility will come up in Pune. “Bajaj has a piece of land in Chakan,” he said. “We want the ULC project to have an annual capacity of 4 lakh. But we will not utilise the full capacity in the beginning,” Mr Bilaine said.

Mr Patrick le Quement, Senior Vice-President of Corporate Design, Renault inaugurated Renault’s design studio in Mumbai. This is the third design studio Renault has globally opened this year. The company opened one in Sao Paulo in Brazil and one in Bucharest in Rumania.

Renault opened a design centre in India with the objective of design development for the ULC car with Bajaj and cars that will be produced in Renault-Nissan greenfield plant in Chennai. “We are designing complete cars here. From start to finish, the studio will cover all aspects of car designing. This will be integrated with Renault’s Design’s overall design process,” said Mr Patrick le Quement.

“Within the next couple of years, there will be an expansion of design work in India. We will have have a design facility in Chennai too which will be closely working with our production team,” said Mr Patrick Lecharpy, Head Renault Design India.

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