Frenching the Indian auto market

As you twiddle your thumbs in a traffic jam on your way to work tomorrow do have a look around; the one thing you will not notice are French cars, unless you’re sitting in a Meeru/Cool Cab- which invariably are Logans- but that was never a French car in my books, only a really cheap car designed to sport a really cheap Romanian badge that was never really cheap in India.

Not that the French didn’t bother.

Back when the Indian car market was just opening up Peugeot were the first off the blocks and thanks to their experience in Africa they had, in the 309, a great hand-me-down. In the TUD5 diesel they had an engine that was the best of its time. And in their Indian partner, PAL, they had … a big problem. A litany of very big problems actually, not the least being labor unions determined to prove that India was no place to do business, and predictably it all ended in tears.

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Then came Renault, a fairytale marriage with Mahindra, a car that was hailed the world over and … the clash of cultures didn’t take long to surface. I’m not for a moment suggesting Renault should foot all the blame for the divorce but they didn’t really do themselves any favours by getting into dalliances left, right and centre. While the Mahindra matrimonial bed was still warm they tied the knot with Bajaj to do a Nano- a car that nobody at Renault thinks will happen and everybody at Bajaj says is on track. Alliance partner Nissan meanwhile got cozy with Ashok Leyland to do what, for a while, looked like another Nano but now’s been restricted to light commercial vehicles. And the foundation was set for the massive Renault-Nissan Alliance factory in Chennai to build Nissans and non-Mahindra Renaults. It simply could not work.

Now Renault, newly independent, readies itself for their second Indian innings. Which begs the question: are things going to be any different?

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To be perfectly honest in the Fluence, their first car, they have nothing path breaking. There’s nothing in it that heralds in an era of French flair, nothing to give the Toyota Corolla Altis a mild headache. It could have a Nissan badge for all you know, and their second vehicle- the Koleos- is a Nissan underneath those weird and quirky clothes. But, and here’s the difference, it doesn’t end there.

There’s a solid product plan which will see the new Clio next year and going by Renault’s new found design mojo should be quite a looker. And will be reasonably priced as underneath it’s a Nissan Micra that’s already being built and is heavily localized in India. That will be followed by the Clio sedan (think Indica-Indigo or Swift-Swift Dzire platform sharing tricks) underneath which will be the Micra sedan that’s already being tested in India.

And somewhere in between will come the Duster, an SUV in the same mould as the Scorpio - an honest-to-goodness, tough, rugged, sensibly priced off-roader that India will love. The French being masters of the diesel engine will sooner rather than later make the 1.5 dCi common-rail diesel engine in India that is already in the Logan and which, in varying power outputs, will power ALL Renault and Nissan vehicles.

There has never been such a solid product plan.

Predictably there’s the talk of dealerships providing a ‘business class experience at economy prices’ which might be true or you could take it with a pinch of salt and wonder with every car maker of consequence already in India haven’t the good dealers already been taken? I could give you a hundred reasons to be skeptical- like the bafflingly silly engine/trim mix for the Fluence that’s like jumping into battle with no ammo- but listening to the sensible talk by (familiar) young Indians in key roles I feel this time round they might just have the right attitude to clamber over their own hurdles.

As for Peugeot? Last year they became the last of the top ten car manufacturers to announce plans to (re-)enter India. And since then they’ve been scouting for a suitable site to set up their manufacturing operations while figuring out the cars to (re-)acquaint Indians with. Oh, and they’re already on their second chief of Indian operations. It’s going to take a lot more to convince me that the Lion has any hope of cracking it here.