'Renault Hopes Things Change For Auto Sector After Polls'

Marc Nassif, Country Head, MD, Renault India, has been driving sales of the brand for more than five years in this country. In two years, he has managed to open more than 100 dealerships and propel the success of Renault to over 80,000 cars in the same period. He prepares to now focus on the next two years. While the Duster has been a roaring success, how does he see the future for the company, especially when the European Union is going to raise its duties on cars made in India from January. Here are excerpts of the interview:

After a prolonged slowdown, how do you see the market in India?
India has money, unlike Europe, which is really going through a cash crunch. The slowdown in India is a result of other factors, which are policy related and are macroeconomic in nature, and Renault hopes things change for the industry after the national elections. Meanwhile, we need to continue to plan for the long run.

Exports have been Renault's sweet spot, what new markets do you see making a greater impact?
We are serious about Indonesia and have started exporting there. We like markets like Nepal, which is keen on us setting up dealerships there. Malaysia and Burma are the other options. The reason that I talk about these countries is because Renault India will eventually look beyond exporting only to Europe. From next year, the duty on Indian exported cars is going to go up in that region - I guess it will rise by 10 per cent - we are already planning to find new markets that will be profitable for us.

What are your product plans? I hear rumours of two new vehicles in the next 15 months and a small car too?
I cannot tell you about new launches. But I can tell you that the next launches will communicate our core brand message of "value". The Duster has been successful and it has got a great fan following, so we launched "the gang of Dusters" - a adventure club for Duster enthusiasts. We will reach a total of 100,000 cars produced in India in a couple of months. There is interest in the brand and we have captured some mindshare in the country. There are several questions and things that we are working on for our future vehicles; we are working on automatic transmissions and other applications such as 4-by-4 capabilities that will benefit our buyers. But all these are under study.

What is your opinion on connected cars?
There are some OEMs which are doing that here. We are looking at the social connect, here we can do a lot more to participate with customers and dealers. Connected cars are already a part of the Renault portfolio in Europe, it is only time that these will become common place.

How are dealers going to be a potent force for Renault?
There are a lot of processes that Renault has created to address quick service for customers. We will soon have 100 3S (sales, service and spares) by the end of the year. With customer service you either win it or lose it; winning it means people will buy your brand again in five years. Renault has been certifying all technicians and sales teams. For us in terms of becoming popular I must say what Royal Enfield has done in this country, we must learn from. The bike company is iconic and has the value tag all over it. If we can achieve this through our dealer then we have done our job. That is why we are focused on this goal and less on speaking about immediate success.

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