Renault & Datsun enter the Alto territory

With advanced features and aggressive pricing, Kwid and RediGo look set to take on Maruti's Alto

Bookings for the recently unveiled Datsun RediGo were not supposed to open until next month. But, the floor was thrown open last weekend as dealers found it too tempting to let go of a chance to cash in on consumer excitement over the compact car.

The RediGo has seen nearly 150 bookings in four days from Mumbai alone despite there not being even a display model at any of the Nissan-Datsun dealerships. The car can be booked for Rs 11,000 and it will be commercially launched on June 1 with prices starting at Rs 2.5 lakh.

Its sister model on a common platform, the  Renault Kwid, is already sitting on a pile of bookings that swelled to 120,000 since its September 2015 launch.

The French company has more than trebled the Kwid's production to 10,000 cars a month to bring down the waiting period, but demand continues to outstrip supply.

These cars have infused fresh competition for segment leader Maruti Suzuki Alto, which has had a free run for several years.

Maruti Suzuki's largest volume churner, and its only sub-Rs 3 lakh car, is gearing up to face perhaps its toughest challenge. The RediGo and the Kwid are positioned as direct challengers to the Alto armed with new-age styling and features unusual for this segment.

Touch-screen infotainment, in-built maps, GPS navigation with voice commands, bluetooth connectivity and digital speedometers are features usually seen in expensive cars but are offered in the Kwid.

Datsun has not revealed the details of creature comforts in the RediGo but since the car is built for the youth the market expects it to debut with all the bells and whistles seen in the Kwid.

Both challengers have zeroed in on Maruti Alto’s unique selling proposition: mileage. The Kwid runs for a little over 25 km on a litre of petrol, while the Alto does 22 km. The RediGo is expected to deliver around 26 km per litre.  Renault was quick to announce plans of putting a 1,000 cc engine in the Kwid and an automatic manual transmission (AMT), both of which are available in the Alto. The RediGo is believed to have similar derivatives. However, the car market leader is not losing sleep just yet. “Entry segment customers gain a lot of confidence if the product or offering has shown good performance in 1-2 years of running. The initial euphoria may subside if the product fails to live up to expectations in the first two years,” said a Maruti Suzuki spokesperson.

The Delhi-based company says the entry of new players has not impacted the demand for the Alto given Maruti Suzuki’s massive distribution reach, which at 1,800 dealers is more than nine times than that of Renault. Nissan-Datsun is around the same level as Renault but is adding dealerships at a faster pace. Over 65 per cent of the 21,000 Altos sold in a month are the 800cc variant, which indicates the demand for small and affordable entry-level cars.

With car penetration at 19 per 1,000 individuals in India against 800 in the US and over 600 in Europe, the country provides room for growth for all players in the segment.

CLOSE ON THE WHEELS

• The RediGo has seen nearly 150 bookings in four days from Mumbai alone
   
• It can be booked for Rs 11,000 and will be commercially launched on June 1
   
• Renault Kwid is already with bookings that swelled to 120k since its launch
   
• These are positioned as direct challengers to the Alto armed with new-age styling and features unusual for this segment