The company has launched a concept of 'workshop in wheels' for providing services in the hinterland. Rivals too provide such services but these are mainly for basics like oiling and greasing.
With its new car Kwid becoming a volume driver and making inroads into smaller towns, carmaker Renault is looking to provide after-sales services in the lesser developed areas.
The company has launched a concept of 'workshop in wheels' for providing services in the hinterland. Rivals too provide such services but these are mainly for basics like oiling and greasing.
The set-up, which can be used for servicing other products of the company, has an attached canopy which opens up to let the customer sit in shade and spend time reading a newspaper or sipping tea while her/his car is being serviced inside the mobile workshop.
"The mobile workshop will have all the facilities for car servicing as in a conventional workshop," said Sumit Sawhney, country CEO and managing director - Renault (India). At present, around 10 mobile workshops are functioning, and the target is to take the numbers to about 25 by end of the year.
The company has adopted the mobile workshop strategy following the rise in sales of Kwid, which have been clocking 9,000 units per month for the past six months, pushing up the company's share in the Indian market from about 4.5% from under 2% earlier. Renault in 2014 had set a target of 5% till 2017. "We got into the volume game with Kwid," said Sawhney.
He said with Duster most of the sale orders came from metros and other big cities.
"However, with Kwid things are different. The orders are coming not only from metros and large cities, but also from small towns and rural areas," he said.
According to the company officials, Kwid's exports have already started with the first shipment sent to Sri Lanka in June followed by Nepal this month. Plans are on to export it to Bhutan and Bangladesh in the next few months.
Early next year, the will also be manufactured in Brazil and South Africa. "In its 118-year history, Renault never had a global launch outside of Europe. Today, Kwid is biggest 'Made In India' story with 98% localisation," Sawhney said. The car is priced Rs 2.93-4 lakh (ex-showroom, Mumbai).
Kwid has also started offer a 1.0 litre motor option for more powerful performance from the current month. At present, it has 800cc petrol motor. The new motor is pitted against the likes of Maruti Suzuki's Alto K10 and Hyundai Eon. Renault has so far sold over 75,000 units of Kwid since its launch in the country in September 2015.
However, despite Kwid's success, the company executives do not want to project Renault as a 'one-car wonder' company and wants to build a large portfolio across the segment. The company has plans to launch a new product each
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