In the last financial year, Renault India posted a 12 per cent growth by selling 89,534 units as compared to the 79,654 units sold in the FY19
The recent months have been pretty bad for the auto sector. The prolonged sales slowdown and the lockdown in the last week of the previous financial year led to some massive drop in car sales in March 2020. Even if you look at the sales of the last financial year, almost all manufacturers, including biggies like Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai, have witnessed a de-growth. Renault India, however, has managed to buck the trend.
In the previous financial year, Renault India sold a total of 89,534 vehicles. In comparison, the carmaker sold 79,654 units. The gain of almost 10,000 units has led to a 12 per cent growth. Interestingly, however, if you look at the sales figures of the models sold by company, you’ll find that almost all of them have suffered from a huge drop in popularity.
Starting with the Renault Kwid, the entry-level hatchback sold 46,766 units in the previous financial year. In comparison, it had sold 64,913 units in the financial year 2019. This corresponds to a massive 28 per cent drop. Other than the general drop in demand, a reason for the falling popularity of the hatchback could be the introduction of the Maruti S-Presso last year.
The Renault Lodgy sold 352 copies in the previous financial year. This corresponds to a massive 60 per cent drop in comparison to 880 units sold in FY19. Even the Duster, which used to be the most popular model in the carmaker’s lineup until a few years ago, sold 7,837 units. This is a 24 per cent drop from 10,319 units sold in FY19.
| Manufacturer | FY 2019-20 Sales Growth |
| Fiat | -49% |
| Ford | -29% |
| Honda | -44% |
| Hyundai | -11% |
| Renault | 12% |
| Mahindra | -24% |
| Maruti Suzuki | -18% |
| Nissan | -51% |
| Tata | -71% |
| Toyota | -24% |
| Volkswagen | -26% |
Finally, the model that witnessed the biggest downfall among all Renault cars is the Captur. The crossover could sell merely 719 copies. This has led to a huge 80 per cent drop from 3,542 units sold in FY19.
While all the above models have suffered from huge dips in their demand, the model that has been responsible for helping its carmaker register a positive sales growth is the Triber. The entry-level MPV that was launched last year sold a total of 33,860 copies. The demand for the Kwid-based model has alone ensured that the Indian subsidiary of the French carmaker becomes the only car manufacturer in India to record a positive sales growth in the last fiscal.