December 17, 2012: Engineers at the Renault-Nissan R&D Centre in Chennai are busy at developing Renault’s most affordable small car project. The small car is internally known as the ‘Global A’ project. The man at the helm of this project is Gerard Detourbet, a Renault veteran credited for developing the Logan, and other projects. The Logan, which was developed as a low-cost car by Renault, has seen success in many global markets.
Detourbet shifted to India after being appointed Alliance managing director for the Renault-Nissan Alliance A-segment development unit. The ‘Global A’ project may also be shared with Nissan. Detourbet’s main responsibility in his current role is to develop a small, A-segment vehicle on a shared platform with Nissan. The vehicle will be produced in India and sold in emerging markets, notably India, according to an earlier official statement from Renault.
According to sources, the entry level small car from Renault will be first launched in India, and may be launched in other emerging markets thereafter. The car is expected to hit the roads by 2014. It could be pitted against Maruti Suzuki’s Alto and other cars in that segment, in India.