Wednesday, October 07, 2015
By Kriti Gupta
Renualt KWID garners more than 25,000 booking over fortnight
Renault India's new entry level hatchback Kwid has got off to a good start having managed to get 25,000 bookings within two weeks since launch. Taking on popular entry-level models such as Maruti Suzuki Alto and Hyundai Eon, Kwid has managed to attract customers thanks to its aggressive pricing (Rs 2.56 lakh to Rs 3.53 lakh) and SUV styling. The vehicle has appealed across age profile and geographies, a Renault official said. ET learns, of the 25,000 bookings that Renault Kwid has received almost 35% of them have come from the tier II and tier III cities such as Rajkot, Nagpur, Nashik, Jalandhar, Ludhiana among other towns. Almost 40% of buyers are below the age of 28 and approximately 15% of the buyers are female buyers.
Sumit Sawhney, MD of Renault India told ET, "We have been able to create a lot of excitement, across demographic and across geographies, it is truly a game changer. Booking number is a true recognition of consumers on Renault brand. Kwid's fuel economy and low cost of maintenance are being widely cited by prospective buyers in choosing the vehicle." Sold across 175 outlets across the country (which will be expanded 210 before the end of 2015), the company had experimented with a product specific App and virtual showrooms to reach out to the customers where there are no showrooms. The company claims that over 2,30,000 people have downloaded the Kwid App, which enables the consumer to not only understand the product better but also making a booking through an App.
The product has shaken up the entry level car space (Rs sub-4 lakh market), which makes up for 25% of the overall market. Prior to the launch of Kwid, the volumes in the segment have remained benign due to sluggish macro-economic environment. Kwid is likely to add sizeable incremental volumes. Maruti Suzuki sells approximately 20,000 to 23,000 units of Alto and Hyundai sells about 4,000 to 6,000 units of Eon in a month. Developed on an all new platform - CMF-A, the Kwid is the first of many offerings that Renault-Nissan alliance plans to build on this emerging market architecture. Kwid holds a distinction of being the first product which has been designed and developed from scratch in India, with over 98% local content.
Courtesy: Economic Times
