The joint partnership between French Renault and Indian Mahindra & Mahindra will continue as the French car maker has no intentions of upsetting the Logan project.
However, it is still not clear if there will be any change in the retail strategy for the Logan sedan. At present, it is displayed along with the Scorpio in the Mahindra & Mahindra’s showrooms. Renault is clear, though, that it is working on an independent retail strategy for its future India products and it remains to be seen if the Logan will be part of this revised plan.
The only thing that has to be clarified for Renault is how to market and sell its products. Moreover, this is not an issue with Nissan because its retail plan is in place. Renault is working on something and is clear about an exclusive identity in the form of showrooms, advertising campaigns and so on.
Mahindra & Mahindra and Renault entered into a 51:49 partnership three years ago to manufacture the Logan. The Mahindra-Renault partnership saw a bright future for the Logan initially, but soon its dream shattered. The monthly sales of the Logan started to decrease gradually and losses last fiscal totalled nearly Rs 500 Crore.
The Indian SUV maker has found a way out to revive the Logan sedan. It believes that the way forward is to reduce the length of the Logan to four metres so that it qualifies as a small car in the Indian context and can avail of the lower eight per cent excise duty (instead of the current level of 20 per cent).
This is applicable to any car up to four metres long whose engine capacities do not exceed 1.2-litre for petrol and 1.5-litre in the case of diesel. Trimming the Logan will certainly help reduce its price tag by at least Rs 50,000. Moreover, according to Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of Nissan and Renault, the other solution lay in localisation of components which would play a key role in bringing down costs.
It now looks as if the partners are working overtime to sort out things. Carazoo.com hopes that Mahindra-Renault will come up with a new Logan in the upcoming 2010 Delhi Auto Show.
However, it is still not clear if there will be any change in the retail strategy for the Logan sedan. At present, it is displayed along with the Scorpio in the Mahindra & Mahindra’s showrooms. Renault is clear, though, that it is working on an independent retail strategy for its future India products and it remains to be seen if the Logan will be part of this revised plan.
The only thing that has to be clarified for Renault is how to market and sell its products. Moreover, this is not an issue with Nissan because its retail plan is in place. Renault is working on something and is clear about an exclusive identity in the form of showrooms, advertising campaigns and so on.
Mahindra & Mahindra and Renault entered into a 51:49 partnership three years ago to manufacture the Logan. The Mahindra-Renault partnership saw a bright future for the Logan initially, but soon its dream shattered. The monthly sales of the Logan started to decrease gradually and losses last fiscal totalled nearly Rs 500 Crore.
The Indian SUV maker has found a way out to revive the Logan sedan. It believes that the way forward is to reduce the length of the Logan to four metres so that it qualifies as a small car in the Indian context and can avail of the lower eight per cent excise duty (instead of the current level of 20 per cent).
This is applicable to any car up to four metres long whose engine capacities do not exceed 1.2-litre for petrol and 1.5-litre in the case of diesel. Trimming the Logan will certainly help reduce its price tag by at least Rs 50,000. Moreover, according to Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of Nissan and Renault, the other solution lay in localisation of components which would play a key role in bringing down costs.
It now looks as if the partners are working overtime to sort out things. Carazoo.com hopes that Mahindra-Renault will come up with a new Logan in the upcoming 2010 Delhi Auto Show.
posted by admin @ Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 0 Comments link to this post
