Venkatram Mamillapalle, CEO & MD, Renault India Operations
French auto major Renault’s India production plans for the calendar year 2023 has been hampered by the global semi-conductor shortage, said CEO and MD Venkatram Mamillapalle.
“We cannot say that semiconductor shortage issue is over. It is there a little bit. But it is not as bad as last year,” Mr. Mamillapalle said in an interview.
During CY22, Renault India sold over 1.14 lakh cars, of which 27,232 units were exported. For CY23, the company plans to retain the same numbers.
Asked about Renault’s plans for 2023, the MD said: “We are not launching any new cars in 2023. We keep refreshing our product line-up. We have recently upgraded our entire range (Kwid, Triber and Kiger) to meet the government’s BS-6 Step 2 emission norms along with enhanced safety features.”
Renault stopped producing its compact sport utility vehicle (SUV) Duster since February 2022, as the sales were declining. The company officials said that a new vehicle would be introduced soon, but it was not clear whether it would be under the Duster label.
Mr. Mamillapalle said that the auto major had announced a 4-5% increase in price of all variants due to increase in input costs, fluctuation in forex rate, inflation, and regulatory obligations.
“But we were the first ones to launch our cars with BS6 2.0 complaint engines, even as our peers are rolling out vehicle with BS6.1 emission norms. The competition will come out with BS6.2 emission norms by March or April,” he said.
To a question about the capex, he said that the firm was investing a sum of ₹5,300 crore in the alliance plant Renault Nissan Automotive India Pvt. Ltd., which would see the introduction of six new models including four SUVs and two small electric cars beginning 2025.
“This investment is very significant not only on products, but also on technologies like EV to capture the growing Indian market,” he said.
