At the launch of the Renault Fluence E4 D in Delhi yesterday, the top management of Renault India fielded questions on the Fluence's future and Renault India's immediate plans.
With the updated K9K diesel engine coming in, what happens to the older engine?
The previous engine continues with the new one because both are very different to each other in terms of drivability. As you can see in the chart below, the previous engine was very robust and the power delivery was limited to a shorter range whereas the new engine delivers power in a more linear way and the torque kicks in at a lower rpm and even goes higher than before.
Are there any plans to introduce an automatic version in the diesel variant?
We are moving according to what public demands. As of now, there are no plans to introduce an automatic in the diesel variants and the CVT transmission will be limited to the petrol variant.
How much growth in term of sales are you expecting this year?
In 2012 we have been selling roughly 1,000 cars a month. We are expecting an increase of about 20% this year. On a global scale, we sold 500,000 cars last year. This year we will be introducing a new vehicle i.e. Duster and will focus on increasing our network throughout India and before 2013, we will have about 100 dealerships across India as compared to 40 that we have now.
You also have the Koleos’s engine available here which is much more powerful, so why didn’t you put that on this new variant?
We do have a management team that considers everything before making any decisions but right now we are moving according to what the public demands from us. Indian public demands the perfect blend of power and fuel efficiency, which is very well provided with this new engine.
