Mauritius becomes first export market for made-in-India Renault Kwid

Renault has commenced exports of the made-in-India Kwid.

Mauritius has become the first international market for the game-changing hatchback after the first lot was shipped to the island country last month from Chennai port.

Autocar Professional had reported last month that the exports of the Kwid would start from SAARC countries, with Sri Lanka being the first market. Though the carmaker has shipped some units of the car to Sri Lanka, full-fledged exports have started from Mauritius, according to export data records.

A total of 37 cars were shipped to Mauritius on February 5. The low volumes are likely to be a trend for Kwid’s exports as even Sumit Sawhney, MD, Renault India, had explained that the company is initially looking to seed the Kwid into foreign markets and would ramp up volumes later. “The way I see SAARC is today it is an opportunity and tomorrow volumes,” he had said on the sidelines of the Make-in-India week held at Mumbai last month. Additionally, the large pent-up domestic demand for the Kwid would also make it difficult to ramp up export volumes at the moment.

Based on the CMF-A platform and developed by the Renault-Nissan Alliance, the Kwid has received a tremendous response from Indian customers and there is a waiting of 4-6 months on the car at present. Given the overwhelming response, Renault India is set to ramp up production to 10,000 units this month and bring down the current waiting period by almost 35-40 percent.

Apart from the SAARC region, Renault India would also be exporting the Kwid to Brazil and other parts of Latin America through the CKD route. The other market which would get the Kwid this year is Africa.