Renault TriberNew Delhi: As Managing Director of Renault India, Venkatram mamillapalle believes the time has come for the French carmaker to walk the talk after a few years of being in the wilderness.
Asked if the brand aura has taken a hit in the process, he is candid with his response. “I will not hesitate in saying that there has been an impact because we were at about 2.8 per cent market share in 2019-20 and less than 1 per cent , marginally at 0.98 percent to be precise,” he told ET Auto.
There were many reasons for this setback beginning with the COVID outbreak in 2020 followed by the semiconductor shortage crisis, the Russian-Ukraine war and so on. There were also no investments happening in India because of adverse conditions back home in Europe which had to be addressed as top priority to set things in order.
We have to prove ourselves as well. It is not as if everything is readily available and a pipeline is placed from where you get all the investmentsVenkatram mamillapalle
Things are a lot different now and investments finally began coming in from 2023 leading to the launch of the all-new Trber on July 23. “This is the first vehicle and we have lined up three more in the next two years. We have to prove ourselves as well. It is not as if everything is readily available and a pipeline is placed from where you get all the investments,” cautioned Mamillapalle.
In the driver’s seat
A whole lot of changes have come in too with Renault acquiring Nissan’s 51 per cent stake in the manufacturing plant near Chennai which means it is now the solo driver. The company also recently inaugurated its design studio as well as threw open its premium ‘R Store’ retail outlets in Chennai and Mumbai with more to follow.With investments assured for the new products, Mamillapalle said the parent company has done its bit for the India operations to begin firing on all cylinders. “They have contributed to their side of the story and it now time for in India to prove that we will deliver. India is a growing market and we should show that we can perform,” he added.
We have packed it with a host of features, including safety, and priced it perfectly well. Now it is up to us to reach out to the customer with the right message where we have a good marketing plan in placeVenkatram mamillapalle
The Triber launch marks the beginning of this turnaround story and the next step is to “see how things go about and how we can manage”. The Renault India MD also made it clear that localisation and utilisation of capacity go side by side. They are not two different line items but come together. Exports, in turn, will depend on the pace of localisation. “If you do not localise, there is nothing called exports since it is a subset of your localisation. Plant efficiency, similarly, is part of your localisation efforts. So everything kicks off from the point of what you are doing in India and how competitive you are both on the auto components side as well as your manufacturing costs,” explained Mamillapalle.
India is the acid test
The bottomline, therefore, is this reality: if you are competitive in India, you are competitive across the world and wherever you are, you will make money if you can (make money) in India. “That is the simple rule of thumb,” he added.
These focus areas came into play during the development of the Triber which led to its competitive pricing. “We have packed it with a host of features, including safety, and priced it perfectly well. Now it is up to us to reach out to the customer with the right message where we have a good marketing plan in place,” said Mamillapalle.
The tailwinds in Renault’s favour which could give the Triber a boost are the spate of festive occasions beginning with Ganesh Chaturthi, Onam, Dussehra and then Diwali. “They are all sequenced this year and the Triber will be aligned with them. Remember, we have the wedding season as well which is great news,” he added.
Manufacturing engineering will play a key role at the backend where Renault will now be the pivot with the focus being on cost optimisation. As Mamillapalle explained, manufacturing is more related to manpower cost and there are two different aspects here: equipment uptime and manpower utilisation.
“The combination of these two gives you the efficiency and there are a lot of changes happening in the organisation that should help us. We will see the results of this optimisation of processes in the next two to three months,” he said.
Yes, you will struggle and face difficult times. But you will also learn in the process and constantly investigate in finding other options. Life follows the same cycles tooVenkatram mamillapalle
New template
This is particularly important in the context of Renault taking over from Nissan — which will be officially finalised in a few weeks from now — and putting a different process in place. “We have to see how efficiently we go forward and check out where we stand after the acquisition exercise is finally completed,” he added.
For instance, where the assembly line is intact, there is no point changing it. Likewise, where the press line is a five station, “you do not change it to four stations” even though it may be expensive. Some automakers have four station presses for the body while others could have five to six, depending upon the complexity of their designed bodies.
Eventually, it boils down to the DNA of each company. Where it was the DNA of Nissan that dominated the script till recently, Renault has now stepped into the picture and there will be some kind of optimisation happening. “I would say the players or the actors have not entered the scene yet. The acquisition process has to finish. Then you will see the actors demonstrating what needs to be done,” said Mamillapalle.
Until that happens, there will be no real performers on the stage. Once they come in (and this is a solo actor, Renault, as the custodian of the Chennai plant), they do their analysis and game theory as part of the systemic engineering exercise. Once the suggestions are “implemented at hyperspeed”, optimisation of capacity “on an overall basis” follows in due course.
Also Read: Govt waits for global OEMs to make electric cars in India
Clean fuel options
As for the choice of fuels in the future, it is now getting quite clear that India will let its automakers adopt a host of clean options beyond electric alone. This would typically mean hybrids, CNG, hydrogen, ethanol, LPG and so on.
“Well, someone can operate a hydrogen train but you cannot say that I want hydrogen on trains, trucks, cars and bicycles. So we need to take a decision for which the policymakers, OEMs etc have to come aligned and then execute the plan,” said Mamillapalle.
As for the present crisis in India’s EV arena involving rare earth magnets, it is no secret that one country, China, holds the maximum resources in electric and their “reluctance to supply” should ideally push other countries to create their own resources.
Also Read: Renault plans to boost India production with more SUVs, exports
Reluctant to redundant
According to the Renault India MD, this will then see dependency vanish over a period of time. “So the country which is holding the resources and is reluctant to share them will become redundant over over a period of time. They will then be ready to sell those same products in the market at half the price,” he continued.
In his view, this “reluctance in supplies” would be a good thing since dependent countries would learn to become self-reliant eventually. Sure, there will be huge challenges to be overcome in the interim period when production will be badly hit and revenue suffers too.
This scene is actually playing out in India where some top two-wheeler companied have stated that their production will come to a grinding halt in the coming weeks. “Yes, you will struggle and face difficult times. But you will also learn in the process and constantly investigate in finding other options. Life follows the same cycles too,” reasoned Mamillapalle.
