The seven-seater, sub-4-metre Renault Triber, which was launched in India on August 28, 2019, has been launched in South Africa. The first tranche of shipments of 600 made-in-India Tribers left Chennai Port on December 24, 2019. Renault India plans to expand Triber exports to other parts of Africa, ASEAN and SAARC countries soon.

According to Venkatram Mamillapalle, Country CEO and MD, Renault India Operations, “The Triber has already established itself as a breakthrough concept and has seen tremendous acceptance amongst a wide set of car buyers. With more than 28,000 Tribers already sold in India, we are proud to launch the Renault Triber in South Africa. We will continue this growth momentum and foresee potential growth and high demand from other African markets, ASEAN and SAARC countries alongside growing the Triber family in India.”

The Triber is the second model built on the CMF architecture to be exported from India, with the Kwid also being shipped to some international markets.

Commenting on the Triber’s introduction in South Africa, Venkatram Mamillapalle, country CEO and managing director, Renault India operations said, “The (South) African team is planning to sell about 200 units a month. We think it’ll enhance further and we are currently ‘capacitising’ for all the markets in India, from March onwards. We foresee export calling for about 20 percent additional volume.”

Mamillapalle added that he foresees better prospects for the model in its first year of sale in South Africa, “My best estimate is even though the people here in South Africa are saying 200 (units), I'm sure with the product acceptance and reception it’ll go much higher, so we’ve got to prepare for that. This year I would say that we should touch at least 3,000 unit exports to South Africa.”

In the first 10 months of FY2020, Renault India has exported a total of 12,892 units including 943 Tribers, which marks a 22.37% year-on-year export growth.