Post April 1, 2020 deadline, Renault India will sell only petrol-powered cars in India as it has chosen to not upgrade its diesel engines to meet BSVI emission norms
The upcoming BSVI emission norms have caused a lot of drama in the market, with almost every car manufacturer working overtime to prepare for the upcoming emission norms. Renault India is no different to this situation and has finally come out with a plan to align with the new emission standards.
Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of the Renault Triber, Venkatram Mamillapalle, country CEO and managing director said: “The technology that other car markers are adopting initially will only just meet the emission norms. When the next phase of emission norms are introduced, these vehicles will have to be upgraded and that could cost an additional Rs 2 lakh per car. It won’t make economic sense for a customer to pay Rs 3 lakh more than a petrol car to buy a vehicle powered by diesel,”
From this, it’s clear that the French carmaker has decided to let go of its diesel engine options for the Indian car market. Also, to make sure that the discontinuation of diesel engine options doesn’t affect the popularity of its models, the carmaker will add two more petrol engines to its portfolio in the next three years. These motors will be turbocharged units that will provide an optimum mix of performance and fuel efficiency.
It may be noted that Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL), the country’s largest carmaker, became the first auto manufacturer to announce its plans of discontinuing the diesel engine options of all its models by the 1 April 2020 deadline. Many other carmakers, like Renault, will follow suit and will axe their diesel-powered vehicles instead of making heavy investments to upgrade the oil-burners.
Also, it has come to light that Renault India will review its existing product portfolio next year and may discontinue the slow-selling Lodgy MPV. The company would even decide if it should pull the plug on the Renault Captur as it has pretty much failed to get a good response from the market. Mamillapalle even revealed that while the next-gen Duster will be launched in India, the Captur won’t return in an all-new avatar anytime soon.
Renault feels that soon, there will be a significant shift from two-wheelers to cars in rural India. In order to capitalize on it, the company, over the next three years, will focus on bolstering its sales and service network in rural India. This will see its total touch points across the country growing from 350 at present to 720. Currently, half of the available outlets are available in small towns but this ratio will increase to up to 70% in the next three years.