Reference Auto

French car maker Renault SA is going the Honda way it seems, by unveiling its plan to launch Micra-lookalike Pulse in the country sometime in January.

Like Honda, it is taking its own time to realise the mood of Indian buyers, and in the latest plan, the car maker is likely to roll out the Pulse for a price of around Rs 6 lakh, which is a tad higher for a compact hatchback.

Renault will have to vie with competitors like Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and Hyundai Motor (which already have a strong infrastructure as well as a country-wide network) to sell its cars in Asia’s third largest car market.

The Pulse will be Renault's third car in India and the first in the highly-selling compact cars market, which comprises almost 70 per cent of car sales in the country.

But a first view of the Pulse does give us an impression that it is another Micra being offered at the same or even a higher price.

Renault and Nissan (maker of the Micra) are joint venture partners, both being headed by Carlos Gosn and Renault needs to differentiate its product as well as the price from Nissan in order to see decent sales for its Pulse.

The Pulse, however, shares its platform with the Micra. The Pulse’s K9 diesel engine will be the same as the Micra’s as well as the Logan’s.

But the Pulse that is slated to come to India could be propelled by a new 1.5-litre diesel engine and deliver a mileage of 23 km per litre, which could become the car’s USP.

But Renault’s weak marketing network across the country and its severing of ties with the Mahindra Group could put the car maker in a situation where it may have to scurry to find customers for its Pulse.

Renault and the Mahindras had tied up to make the sedan Logan, which despite being a top-class car, failed to garner adequate numbers.

This saw Mahindra and Renault part ways and Mahnidra, which is now making the Logan alone, has renamed it Verito.

The Pulse will be first unveiled at the Delhi auto show in January, where further details such as technical, financial as well as other information will be available.

But Renault is determined to rev up its presence in the country substantially, and as part of its expansion plans, is contemplating rolling out five of its models in the country within a year.

“India is a key market for Renault along with Brazil and Russia. Pulse is designed and produced for the Indian people,” Carlos Tavares, COO of Renault, said.

He has set an ambitious target for India, saying that his company planned to sell one lakh vehicles in the country by 2013.

The Renault Pulse will be manufactured at a factory near Chennai which Renault jointly owns with Nissan. The factory opened in March last year and had an initial annual capacity of two lakh cars.

Renault now sells the Fluence sedan and Koleos sport utility vehicle or SUV in the country and plans to roll out its SUV Duster by the middle of next year.

But Renault’s Pulse is unlikely to do substantially well owing to its Micra look, steep pricing plan and poor network in the country and Renault will have to offer much more besides coming up with some marketing ingenuity to see sales of the Pulse spurt.