Renault and Bajaj Confirm Preliminary Deliberations on Low-Cost Car
28 July 2007
Renault and Bajaj Auto confirmed that they are in preliminary deliberations to jointly understand customer requirements and business potential for “very competitive vehicles”—i.e., small, low-cost (~US$3,000) cars in India.
If concluded favorably, this could lead to a long-term partnership between Renault and Bajaj for the development of the business so conceived, the companies said in a joint statement.
Bajaj Auto is a manufacturer of 2-wheelers and commercial vehicles with sales of more than 2.7 million units in FY07—including exports of 442,000 units—representing revenues of $2.3 billion (10070 Crore rupees).
Renault currently has two joint ventures in India with Mahindra & Mahindra with which the French company has two separate joint ventures. M&M reportedly is not interested in the low-cost car project, preferring to focus its long-term strategy on SUVs.
We are fortunate that we can rely on UAW + Big-3 to put enough pressure on our politicians to find 1001 ways to block import into USA for the next 100+ years.
Posted by: | 29 July 2007 at 03:03 PM
Renault already has the Dacia Logan, which has brought back Eastern European cheap chic. Is this going to be an Asia-version of that platform, or a different design altogether?
Posted by: NBK-Boston | 30 July 2007 at 08:20 AM