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French carmaker Renault has said it will launch a new hatchback at the Auto Expo 2012 (in January) that will compete with Maruti Suzuki's Swift.
“The Made-for-India B+ hatchback designed by our Mumbai centre will be launched in early 2012,” the Renault Executive Vice-President (Product Planning and Programme), Mr Philippe Klein, told reporters here on Tuesday.
Apart from the Swift, Renault's new hatchback – the third car that it has planned for India – will be pitted against models such as the Hyundai i20, Fiat Grande Punto, Skoda Fabia and Volkswagen Polo.
This segment, which has models from most manufacturers, accounted for about 45 per cent of all cars sold in May – at 65,400 units against a total of 148,425 cars.
Koleos SUV this year
Renault plans to launch the Koleos this year, a sports utility vehicle (SUV), to be premiered in a few days. India will be among the first countries to see the Koleos going on sale. It launched the Fluence luxury sedan in May.
“After the hatchback, our fourth car for the Indian market will be an SUV — Duster. We will launch it in the second half of 2012,” Mr Klein said. All the models will be assembled at the company's facility in Chennai.
In a press release, Renault said the Duster would be part of the five vehicles that the company planned to launch in India before end-2012. The compact car that the company would showcase at the Auto Expo would be built on an alliance (Renault-Nissan) platform.
The fifth model would be presented later. Along with the planned launches, Renault would have 100 dealerships by December 2012 from 14 now.
With a committed investment of Rs 4,500 crore by 2015, the alliance plant in Chennai, producing both Nissan and Renault vehicles on a single line, is now fully operational.
The second line will be installed by mid-2011 taking the capacity to four lakh cars a year. There are also plans to set up a powertrain assembly line, he added.
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