French auto major Renault expects to increase market share in India, which is below the company’s global average, to over 3 per cent in 3-5 years.
The realisation of the target, however, would depend on the success of its future launches and market conditions in the country, the company said.
“Our global market share was around 3.2-3.3 per cent globally last year. So, as long as we are below 3.2 per cent market share in India we are not matching our global average,” Renault Chairman of Asia Pacific Region Gilles Normand told PTI on the sidelines of the Tokyo Motor Show. “So obviously our first objective is to reach this level as soon as it is possible,” he added.
The Indian passenger vehicle market stood at 27 lakh units last fiscal, 2012-13. Renault’s market share in the country currently stands at around 2.3 per cent.
Normand said though the company has not put a time-frame for achieving the desired market share in the country, it expects to match global market share in ‘the foreseeable future’
“I think we can reach this level in the foreseeable future. We can see it happening in the next 3-5 years depending upon the market and on the success of models which we will keep introducing in the market,” he said.
India is a very new market for Renault and the auto major wants to build everything at an ‘appropriate pace’, he added.
“We don’t want to be reckless, we don’t want to do crazy things. We want to build customer base and high quality products at appropriate pricing,” Normand said.
The company, which sells five models in the country, sold 35,000 units last year and expects to sell around 65,000-66,000 units in the current year, he said.
The French firm is also keen to tap the potential of the fast growing multi-utility vehicles (MUV) segment in India apart from having a presence in the sub-Rs 4 lakh car market.
“We are very serious about India,” Normand said, adding that the company is currently leveraging on its vehicle line-up before introducing new products. The company is now entering large scale business in India, he added.
“The objective now is to make sure that in the next introduction of cars, we want to enter the significant segments or growing segments where we are not present today,” Normand said.