UPDATE 1Renault to decide on small car with Bajaj soon
(Adds details, quotes)
NEW DELHI, Jan 10 (Reuters) - French car maker Renault
(RENA.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) will decide within the next six weeks whether to join
India’s Bajaj Auto in a venture to build a small car, a senior
company official said.
Bajaj (BJAT.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) on Tuesday unveiled a concept small car and
said it wants to make and sell it in India and abroad in
collaboration with Renault and Japan’s Nissan Motor Co
(7201.T: Quote, Profile, Research), which is 44 percent owned by Renault.
“We are presently doing a feasibility study … We hope we
will complete it in one-and-half months,” Renault’s India chief
Sylvain Bilaine told reporters on Thursday at an auto show in
the Indian capital.
“In a month or two we will know whether we are able to go
to the next step, which is full development and manufacturing.”
Small car sales, which make up more than two-thirds of
India’s domestic market, are expected to nearly double to 2
million units a year by 2010, helped by rising middle-class
incomes.
Tata Motors Ltd (TAMO.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) (TTM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) on Thursday launched its
much-awaited $2,500 car at the auto show, and global firms like
Volkswagen (VOWG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research), Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research), Honda Motor
Co (7267.T: Quote, Profile, Research) and Fiat (FIA.MI: Quote, Profile, Research) are also looking to build and
sell low-cost cars.
Bilaine said a Renault-Nissan-Bajaj car would be totally
different from the model showcased by Bajaj on Tuesday.
He said Renault was bullish on India and would invest at
least 44 billion rupees ($1.12 billion) by 2015 in a
manufacturing plant and a technology centre, both in the
southern city of Chennai. Continued…
