JOIN USFrench auto major Renault Thursday said it is planning to launch a passenger car in India at below Rs.4 lakh.
"Beyond Rs.4 lakh a car is our playing ground today (in India). We project to go below Rs.4 lakh," Renault India Pvt Ltd country managing director Marc Nassif said here.
He was speaking on the sidelines of a programme to launch Pulse, a hatchback in B segment.
According to Nassif, currently about 50 percent of Indian passenger cars cost between Rs.2 lakh and Rs.4 lakh. The company launched the diesel version of Pulse, priced between Rs.5.77 lakh and Rs.6.25 lakh, in January.
Nassif said the plan of rolling out cars below Rs.4 lakh was part of its global strategy.
On the sales target in India, he said: "We will aim to sell one lakh cars once we have our five cars on the roads and 100 outlets. It can be 2013 or 2014… that will depend on how the models are doing and the growth of the market."
Among the company's five new cars, three are out in the market. The car maker, which entered India in 2005, launched a luxury sedan, Fluence, in May 2010. In September, it came up with a compact SUV, Koleos.
In the second half of this year, it will launch Duster, a SUV. The company will come out with a sedan before 2012 ends.
"Last year (2011) we sold about 1,500 cars (Koleos and Fluence)," Nassif said.
The company will open 100 outlets in the country by December 2012.