Renault is planning to more than double shipments of parts from India to its overseas factories, including those in Romania, Turkey and South Africa, with purchasing from the country expected to reach up to €250m ($320m) by 2013, compared with €75m this year. The plans were announced in the Indian media by the COO of the French carmaker’s subsidiary there, Sudhir Rao.
The move is reported to promise significant savings for Renault with costs for parts in the country up to 15% lower.
The establishment of new supplier contracts will also build a base for the carmaker’s plans for indigenous production that include a new $990m plant built with Nissan in Chennai for Micra production which was inaugurated in March and the development of a distribution network in the country.
In February Renault announced plans to set up the independent network in India within the next 30 months to support the movement of several new vehicles from its global portfolio.
It will launch the Fluence and Koleos models on the Indian market next year as part of a full range of small to luxury cars that it says will be complete within a 48-month timeframe. Three more, as yet unnamed vehicles, are due to be released in 2014, some of which will be based on platforms shared within the Renault-Nissan Alliance according to the company. The Fluence and Koleos will be produced at the Alliance plant in Chennai. It hopes to hit annual sales of 60,000 by that year.
The move is part of a revival of its plans with Nissan to enter the Indian market more forcefully, following the abandonment of its struggling joint venture with Mahindra to build the Logan there.
