Renault India sees uptrend in demand for Lodgy from fleet segment

French auto company Renault's Indian subsidiary, Renault India on Wednesday said it is targeting to close this year selling over 100,000 units in the domestic market while seeing an uptrend in demand for its multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) Lodgy from the fleet segment.

Renault India CEO and Managing Director Sumit Sawhney also said that Renault India will ship its models to Bhutan and Bangladesh this year. The company has already been exporting its models to South Africa and Sri Lanka.

"We will be closing this year selling over 100,000 units in the domestic market. Till date we have sold 80,000 units," Sawhney told reporters here.

He also said the company's MPV Lodgy is seeing an increased demand from the fleet owners segment and this week, the company will start installing speed governors in the model.

Sawhney said end of last year, the company launched the fleet model Lodgy and the company hopes the vehicle will be a good fleet car.

According to him, Lodgy will be a good replacement for a fleet owner looking out to replace his old vehicle with a new one.

Without naming any models or their manufacturers, he said some models that were in the Lodgy segment are no more in production and hence, Lodgy now seems to be having brighter prospects.

Sawhney said Renault India will be launching its premium sports utility vehicle (SUV) Captur during the fourth quarter of the current calendar year.

He said Captur with a crossover design DNA will be creating a new segment in the SUV market.

Over one million Captur vehicles have been sold till date globally, Sawhney said.

Queried about the local content in Captur, he said the company is looking at 75-80 per cent localization of components and is working towards that number.

About company's plans for electric vehicles in India, Sawhney said there should be a clear policy roadmap from the government and also infrastructure.

--IANS

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