Recently, French auto giant Renault launched its low-cost sedan called Logan in India along with Indian giant Mahindra and Mahindra at the later’s Nashik plant, which can roll out 12vehicles per hour. The joint venture is a win-win for both and is tilted as 51-49, with India’s M&M holding 51% stake. Under the current Mahindra-Renault joint venture, Mahindra will market the co-branded Logan cars.

The group finds India as an exciting place for doing business. The Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn who was on an India visit in consultation with the launch was highly impressed by the wide ranging creativity in India. And regarding his firm’s partnership with M&M, Ghosn said,

We get along very well with Mahindra and for the foreseeable future we will partner Mahindra. It’s possible we could work with Mahindra on a low-cost car. We will always talk to Mahindra on options.

‘Logan’, is an entry-level no frills sedan with prices starting at Rs 4.28 lakhs for the base petrol variant. It will roll out 50,000 units of the car this year from Mahindra’s Nasik facility set up at a cost of nearly Rs 700 crores. While the 1.4 litre petrol engine variant is priced at Rs 4.28 lakhs, the other one being 1.61 litre will be priced at Rs 5.69 lakhs. The 1.5 litre diesel engine car, which has two variants, is tagged at Rs 5.47 lakhs and Rs 6.44 lakhs.

The Mahindra-Renault-Nissan consortium’s common manufacturing plant at Oragadam, near Chennai will have a capacity to make 400,000 cars for Mahindra, Renault and Nissan in seven years’ time.

The joint venture will prove beneficial for both India and France. This is a clear sign of fast growing Indian market. Good times ahead!

via:The Hindu