French carmaker, Renault has reiterated its commitment to post an increase in volumes for the entire calendar year on the back of the demand of their new launches Triber and Kwid in India..
Renault India had reported a decline of 27% to sell 82,368 units in 2018. The company has sold 54,507 units between January and September 2019.
Renault India operations country CEO and managing director Venkatram Mamillapalle told ET, “I believe that we will surpass our 2018 volumes, thanks to Triber and Kwid…We believe the shyness of customers will go away with the air getting cleared on the GST, BS IV vehicles’ lifecycle…The confidence of customers should be there now.”
In September itself, the company had posted a 29% growth to sell 8345 vehicles in the domestic market, and expects to sustain the momentum going ahead. The company launched Triber on August 28, 2019, and the new Kwid earlier this week.
“We are hoping it (the festive season) should be good. We have seen good signs in the first month on the Triber…With respect to last year, we have seen a growth of 29% in September. And as far as August is concerned, we have seen a 46% jump. It is a huge jump in percentage terms but volume and sustenance is critical,” said Mamillapalle.
The increase in volumes at Renault has come at a time when passenger vehicle sales in the local market are estimated to have tanked by about 24% in September.
Mamillapalle said with the inauspicious ‘shradh’ period ending last month, deliveries have started picking up. This has helped circulate money in the system and enabled dealers to make fresh purchases.
‘Shradh’ is a two-week period in the Hindu calendar when consumers hold on to big-ticket purchases such as houses and automobiles. Besides, the slew of measures announced by the government from corporate tax rate cut, reduction in minimum alternate tax will spur companies to reduce vehicle prices and eventually help improve consumer sentiments, he said
