Renault

Renault Duster is the car, which has established the brand Renault in India and has made Renault a significant name in the country. Renault Duster was one of the most successful vehicles in 2012 and most liked as well.CarDekho Awards is the first of its kind viewer based award, where both nominees and winners have been chosen by CarDekho's viewers, thus CarDekho Award becomes more significant. Amit Jain- Founder, CarDekho.com and Mohit Yadav- AVP Sales, Corporate Sales and Strategy, CarDekho presented the trophy to Renault Team at their Chennai office.

Renault India, the automaker that has been on a roll ever since it launched the iconic Duster last year, was recently seen making headlines once again as it rolled out the gorgeous Scala CVT, which became the first car of its kind in India to feature the innovative X-Tronic automatic transmission gearbox under its hood. And today the automaker has yet again made the front page with the announcement of its future plans for India. Having already introduced 5 automobiles over the last 15 months, Renault India is now gearing up to expand its portfolio further in the country's market. With several new models being rumoured to be in the pipeline, two that have been all but officially confirmed are the multi-utility vehicle Renault Lodgy and the hatchback Renault Modus, which are speculated to break cover by early 2015.

Holding true to their word that they had given their Indian admirers last year in September at the launch ceremony of their beautiful sedan, Scala, that they would soon bring in an automatic version as well for the car, Renault has now lifted the covers off of Scala Automatic. With the car population on road growing exponentially with every passing day, and stop-and-go traffic becoming increasingly commonplace with the daily city commuters, automatic versions are being welcomed with open arms by routine car drivers. Although very gradual and right in its infancy at the moment in our country, it is this very drift in trends and demands that the French auto-giant is planning to capitalise on.

Determined to put up an extremely good show, and draw every eyeball away from its rivals and get them to glue solely on its own creation, Renault India has introduced not just any automatic model for its compact sedan but an automatic CVT version. And the reason why this special CVT feature is so worthy of the hype that it is getting at present is because it does away with the very basic drawbacks of petrol ATs. Famous, or rather infamous, for the drop in mileage and the hike in price that they tend to bring about, in other words, the traits that Renault Scala AT aims at eliminating, petrol automatics currently share not more than just 6% of the premium sedan market.

French automobile manufacturer Renault found just what it was looking for after they brought the Renault Duster to India. The Renault Duster did not only usher in the culture of compact SUVs in India, but also helped Renault establish a foothold in the Indian automobile market. Since its launch in July 2012, the Renault Duster went on to become one of the most sought after cars as it found its name amongst the top-selling SUVs in the country. This led many other car manufacturing companies to try their luck in this newly formed segment, i.e. compact SUVs. For example, Mahindra & Mahindra, who introduced their first compact SUV, the Quanto in October, which managed to find decent success initially. The next brand to add its name to this league is the much awaited Ford with its Ford EcoSport, which is considered Renault Duster's closest. With so many amazing cars being introduced in the market everyday, it will be quite exciting to watch the Renault Duster and Ford EcoSport fight it out to see who finally achieves victory in this battle. And as these two companies go all out to get ahead in this breathtaking battle, Renault Duster has gone ahead to up its 'X-factor'.

It seems that the season of price-hikes is here to stay. First the Japanese Honda, then the German Audi and now the Indian wing of the French auto-marque, Renault India have increased the price of their cars in India. Renault Duster, the first SUV from the French garage will now be available with a price-rise of Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 over its current ratings. And once again, it is the dwindling state of Indian currency in the international market and the increase in prices all over the economy that has been held responsible for the hike. Launched at a very exciting introductory cost of Rs 7.19 lakh for the entry-level petrol cars version and Rs 7.99 lakh (All prices are ex-showroom, New Delhi) for the diesel counterpart, the Renault Duster has recorded a ground-breaking success in the very first 3 months of its launch. Rolled out just this July, it has already crossed the sales figure of 20,000 and is still counting, only to the result that the Chennai based factory is now working triple shifts each day.  

And here drives in the Renault Scala with a lot of pomp and show… and why not! Renault India finally launched the Renault Scala, the fifth car in the Renault lineup this year marking the end of the first loop in India. A lot has already been said about the sedan but the real test is still around the corner, when the Scala will hit the streets. Scala came in both diesel as well as petrol versions. Petrol variant will be available in the RxE and RxL variants whereas diesel will be the RxL and RxZ variants.

With the sedan segment of the Indian automotive industry already on the verge of bursting with competition, it is going to be worth a sight when the latest participant - the all new car Renault Scala steps in coming September. While being a badge-engineered version of its brother vehicle Nissan Sunny, almost every feature of Renault Scala has been tweaked to give an individualistic feel to it. Expected to fall within the range of Rs 6.50 – 9.50 lakh, Renault Scala price in India brings it face to face with practically every renowned sedan marque including Volkwagen Vento, Hyundai Verna, Honda City, Ford Fiesta and Classic, Maruti Dzire and SX4, Toyota Etios, Mahindra Verito, Skoda Rapid, Fiat Linea and of course, Nissan Sunny.

Compact SUV or also known as Compact crossover, baby SUV and mini-SUV is a vehicle that has been designed on a platform of a sedan or a hatchback and has a body type of SUV. The concept in real sense was made popular by legendary car manufacturer BMW with its BMW X1 crossover. The Audi Q3 became the second entry in the segment just after the X1 crossover. These back to back launches of compact SUVs have created sensations in the auto circuits and also helped to form an all new segment, compact SUVs in India. The Renault Duster is the latest entrant in the compact SUV segment and as most of us aware it came as an entry level option. After these luxury babies Indian car fanatics were eagerly waiting for an affordable car. And Renault Duster, which is a powerful, affordable and fuel efficient urban-SUV, ended this wait. Because of these qualities Renault Duster has grabbed a huge response and bagged over 10k bookings within just 2 weeks after its launch. The positive response indicates larger possibilities for the compact SUVs in the country. And to take an advantage of this, most manufacturers are planning to launch their respective compact crossovers in next two years. Ford EcoSport, Maruti Suzuki XA Alpha , Chevrolet Trax, Mahindra Xylo Mini, Toyota Rush and Premier Rio are some major names that will hit Indian shores soon.

"Duster would be the most aggressive product from our stable, so far” had said the Renault India spokesperson Rajiv Mitra. Renault India isn’t just saying it but is all set to prove it as well. The all new Renault Duster price starts at Rs. 7.19 Lakh for the petrol base variant and Rs. 8.19 Lakh for the RxL. The Diesel (85bhp) variant RxE starts at a price of Rs. 7.99 Lakh and the 110bhp RxL is tagged at Rs. 9.99 Lakh. The top variant RxZ pack diesel is available at Rs. 11.29 Lakh.After the break up between Renault and Mahindra & Mahindra, Renault India is all determined to make a stable position for itself in the Indian market. They seek to stand among the top 3 international car manufacturers in India. The strategy forward for Renault in India is simple; build the brand popularity among consumers, set up a powerful dealer network and build a wide spread and efficient service network. Whether or not Renault India will be able to fulfill its aim, we’ll have to wait and watch... because now it doesn’t have to deal with the Indian manufacturers but also world players like Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda and the likes.

Renault India, the French giant subsidiary in India, is all set to roll out the much anticipated Renault Duster tomorrow in Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad. Later they will launch it in other cities as well. As a market strategy to attract buyers or to create a sensation among Indian consumers, the auto giant has already taken a lot of time to launch Duster.  The company unveiled Duster at the grand Indian Auto Expo 2012 and announced its launch in India. Here Duster bagged tremendous response from visitors and since then car buyers are waiting for its launch.