Stephane Deblaise, chief executive of Renault Group in India, has assured sustained product excitement as Renault seeks to accelerate the brand's revival in the country. During the media drive event for the 1.0-litre Duster, he indicated a forthcoming year of new launches to leverage the SUV's revamp.
"Next year will be a blow-up of new products," Deblaise said, pointing to a refreshed entry range and further additions across the line-up. The pipeline begins with the Duster. An affordable automatic transmission variant with paddle shifters will plug the gap between the manual versions and the 1.3-litre dual-clutch automatic, which starts at an ex-showroom price of Rs 14.49 lakh. He did not reveal the engine or gearbox for the new automatic.
The automatic was not in the plan when the new Duster was launched in March this year, Deblaise said, but customer inquiries since then exposed too wide a gap above the entry manuals.
The French carmaker has paced the rollout deliberately. Renault does not overpromise, Deblaise said. It led with the 163hp 1.3-litre versions, brought the 1.0-litre next, and held back the 1.8-litre strong hybrid (expected to launch by Diwali) until it was ready. "You don't go back from hibernation to summer in one day," he said, and expects the recovery to build step by step.
The numbers so far carry the cost of that patience. Renault dispatched 5,028 Dusters between March and May, with monthly wholesales of 1,402, 2,359 and 1,267 units. Dispatches began only in the second half of March, and even April, the first full month, fell short of the opening months of the Tata Sierra and the second-generation Kia Seltos, which arrived with order books above 100,000 and drew launch dispatches of 7,003 and 10,639 units, respectively.
The wider intervention runs beyond the Duster. Renault plans seven models in India by 2030 on two new platforms, with the rebranded RGEP entry platform set to bring new engines and a factory-fitted CNG option to the Kwid, Triber and Kiger.
Deblaise, who became CEO last September, has also unified Renault's three Indian entities, covering sales, engineering and manufacturing, under one leadership structure, improving market understanding and response time.
Renault is developing global platforms and technologies from its Chennai engineering base, the largest the group operates outside France.
The company aims for €2 billion in annual exports from India by 2030, including vehicles such as the Bridger SUV, designed and built in India for global markets, with deliveries targeted by late 2027.