Renault India Phases Out MPV Lodgy, To Focus On Petrol Run Vehicles

French auto-major Renault India would focus on petrol run products and has lined up new variants of its existing models, besides a new “sub-4 metre SUV” in 2020, a top company official said on Tuesday. Renault India Operations, Country CEO, Venkatram Mamillapalle said the company would roll out the BS-VI range of products and an automatic transmission version of its latest car ‘Triber’ next year.

Speaking after rolling out the first lot of Triber range of cars to the South African market, he said the company was ending its K9K Diesel engine series “K9K diesel (engine) we are ending”, he told reporters. Mamillapalle said the company was also phasing out its Multi-Purpose Vehicle Lodgy from its stable and did not plan any renovation on the vehicle or even a BS-VI variant.

He said stocks of Lodgy cars had been sold out. “It is not the question that we want to end it... We don’t want to get into diesel, so Lodgy ends there. We are not going to r novate. All (future launches) will be gasoline, including (premium SUV) Captur”, he said.Renault India currently retails the KWID, Triber, Sports Utility Vehicle Duster and the premium SUV Captur.

On what was the contribution of diesel range of cars to the company in 2019, he said “50 per cent of sales volume was contributed from the Duster diesel engine range of cars. “In future it will be petrol Duster only”, he said. On future launches, he said the company would introduce a new variant of the Triber.

Apart from this, French auto major Renault recently said it will hike prices of its vehicles from January to offset rising input and material costs. The company said it would undertake “a substantial price increase” across its range of vehicles with effect from January 2020.

“The price increase is on the account of rising input and material costs,” Renault India said in a statement. The extent of price increase may vary for different models, it added.

The company currently sells a range of vehicles from entry level small car Kwid to SUV Captur, priced between Rs 2.3 lakh and Rs 12.99 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

Companies including Maruti Suzuki, Mercedes and Toyota have already said they would hike prices from January to offset rising input costs.

(With inputs from PTI)