“India will play an important role in Renault-Nissan’s future projects, but local plans will not be finalized before a global deal is reached on restructuring the alliance,” said one of the sources.
In India, domestic carmaker Tata Motors, which dominates sales of electric cars, as well as foreign players like Stellaantis, Hyundai Motor and SAIC’s MG Motor are launching EVs.
Renault already makes a version of the Kwid EV in China that is sold in that market as the City K-ZE and exported to France as the Dacia Spring. The Spring, the second best-selling EV in France in 2022, has a range of 230 kilometers and a starting price of 20,800 euros ($21,869) before government incentives.
The first person said that to qualify for the incentives in India, Renault would have to manufacture the car at its sister plant and source components in South India. The India plant is majority owned by Nissan.
Nissan declined to comment.
Renault currently produces the Kwid hatchback, Kiger SUV and the seven-seater Triber in India. Its sales are projected to fall 9% to about 87,000 units in 2022, and its market share will drop to just over 2%.
As a part of the India reboot, Renault also plans to invest in renovating and upgrading some of its key dealerships in major cities, the person said. The company said that it has 500 sales outlets in India.