Greek automobile blog specializing on Renault products, renaultnewsgr.blogspot.com, carries renderings of future Dacia cars such as the Duster facelift, Lodgy MPV and the all-new Logan. The Duster facelift, according to the website, arrives in 2014 with a new front. Artist drawings of a Duster-based pickup truck, low-cost Citadine and the Logan MCV facelift are also presented in the same blog post.
If there are any mechanical or electronic supplements to the facelift, it is an educated guess that it will spread to the Renault version.
Renault brings the Duster to our market in mid-2012 with the 1.5-liter CRDI engine producing 85bhp power. The RHD model manufactured at the Renault-Nissan alliance plant in Chennai also features on the list of export models.
Talking exclusively to IndianAutosBlog.com during the Nissan Innovation Drive in Noida last week, Jerry Hardcastle, Nissan’s vice-president for vehicle design and development said the company isn’t rebadging every Renault or Nissan product in India. Renault’s rebadged Nissan Micra, Pulse, is touching down at the Auto Expo next month.
He said a few commercial vehicles in Europe have been badge engineered but the company will wait and watch how well the Duster is received in India before going in for a Nissan mini SUV.
Hardcastle added certain “differentiations” were an absolute must between products of the two companies and the biggest advantage of the alliance was to gauge the demand for a vehicle before a counterpart is launched. Hence there are no immediate plans for a Nissan Duster.
With the less-used strategy of pricing the diesel car cheaper than petrol, Renault did not make any significant impact in the D Segment market. Although, the pricing strategy was sound, consumers fled to rivals because they were offering more features. Renault launched the Fluence in June in two variants.
Customer clinics showed that diesel customers were economy-oriented while the petrol customer loved beige interiors and could stretch his budget without flinching.
Rectifying the error, Renault India has launched a ‘loaded’ variant of the Fluence diesel called the E4.
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The Dacia-badged Duster SUV is making competitors sweat in many parts of Europe. Despite its low-cost nature, it has outsold cars like the Volkswagen Polo, Europe’s best seller Volkswagen Golf and the Ford Fiesta in France.
The financially-unsettled Europe is buying the Duster by the thousands and has prompted the VW group to design a competitor. Ford will be eager to send out the EcoSport to stop the Duster in its tracks.
The Duster outsold many other cars in Spain to secure a position in the ten best selling cars of 2011. There’s still a while to go before the junior SUV hits India but the Duster fever has gripped auto enthusiasts already. The only roadblock for Renault is the lack of a closely-knit dealership network in India. Can they overcome the odds to make Duster the Verna or Figo of 2011?
The Renault-Nissan India chapter may not finish with the 4,500 crore facility setup in Oragadam, Chennai if a new report on LiveMint is accurate. It could mark the beginning as Renault maybe planning the next billion dollar investment in the developing Detroit of Asia – Gujarat.
The Renault Twizy electric vehicle is an inexpensive runabout the ULC could mimic
Renault is apparently discussing internally on a second manufacturing facility in Vadordra that can roll out 400,000 cars a year. Much of this factory’s volume, like its Chennai counterpart, is for export through neighboring ports.
The annual capacity in the Chennai plant can stretch up to 400,000 cars. Nissan plans to reach the limit by manufacturing the Micra, Sunny, Note replacement, NV200, Duster and assemble some Renault models. Sources have told IndianAutosBlog.com that Renault will manufacture a sedan on the V-Platform besides the Pulse hatchback next year in Oragadam. Production of the Micra accounts for the most capacity utilization.
If construction is underway in Gujarat in the next couple of years, the first car will roll out by the end of 2015. The company could invest in excess of 10,000 crore to setup the facility and prepare a vendor base that it can tap into for sourcing cheaper components for global Renault models.
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Here’s art work of the next generation Logan posted from Auto Bild by AutoBlog.rs. The new Logan, codenamed X52, is expected to be Dacia’s next project following the J92, a minivan European media is branding ‘Lodgy.’
The Logan successor is expected to move upmarket with revamped interiors, an aerodynamic design and more features. Its drastic makeover should be complete next year for a mid-to-late 2013 launch.
Will Renault drive the next generation Logan into India in 2014?
Renault’s low cost vehicle division Dacia known for its affordable and reliable engineering is developing a mini car called “Citadine” according to AutoBild Germany. As the name suggests the car will be an urban A-B type. The Renault group is aiming at sales volume of the VW group’s Up! with this sub-Sandero product.
Dacia is known for sharing the same platform right from Sandero hatchback to Duster SUV. The “Citadine” is also expected to share the same platform (B-Platform) to make it a cost effective exercise. The report is not discussing powertrains but we’re guessing the Micra’s three-pot petrol engine can suit the Citadine.
Like Nissan, Renault is also said to be working out options to occupy the segments below the Pulse (Micra clone). We’ve heard that their small car division begins work on a ULC on January 1, 2012. This is most likely to take on cars like the Tata Nano, Maruti Alto and Hyundai Eon.
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If a report on French newspaper La Tribune is right, Renault sets off developing a new ultra low-cost car on the 1st of January 2012 for a price of under 2 lakh rupees for emerging market places such as India, China and Brazil. An improved sibling with better emission and fuel economy ratings could make it to European markets a few years after the cost-down variant sees daylight. The launch time frame is not mentioned in the article but it is popular knowledge that it takes about four years for a mature car company to execute a project.
It is said that the low-price vehicle sits on a platform on which cars of different sizes can be built (top-hat technique). The company may ignore the Logan platform as it may prove to be too expensive for an Alto-type model. Developing a completely new platform could be the first chapter.
The report points out that many ideas could have sprouted during the discussions Renault held with Bajaj Auto during the birth of the ULC (Ultra Low-cost Car). The fate of the ULC outside Bajaj’s umbrella is not yet determined, but if this report holds any substance, Renault may have other plans in its mind for a Nano rival. We are waiting for an announcement during Auto Expo in January next year where Bajaj Auto will launch or exhibit the ULC.
The report adds that the project is headed by Renault’s small-car division boss Gerard Detourbet.
Image – 1992 Renault Zoom concept has no relation to the story.
