Renault, which shipped the first lot of Kwid to Mauritius last month from Chennai port, is aggressively tapping the island country as its first export market for the hatchback.
The company had earlier said that it would begin exports of the Kwid to SAARC countries. While the carmaker has shipped some units to Sri Lanka, full-fledged exports have started to Mauritius, according to foreign trade data.
Sumit Sawhney, CEO and MD, Renault India, had earlier said that the company was initially looking to export the Kwid into foreign markets and would ramp up volumes later. A total of 37 cars were shipped to Mauritius on February 5.
Meanwhile, with increased domestic demand for the Kwid, the carmaker was finding it difficult to ramp up the export volumes.
Based on the CMF-A platform and developed by the Renault-Nissan Alliance, the Kwid has received a tremendous response from Indian customers and there is a waiting time of four-six months at present.
Given the overwhelming response, Renault India aims to ramp up production of Kwid to 10,000 units this month. The Renault-Nissan factory in Oragadam, near Chennai, will soon begin the third shift to increase the output of Kwid.
The alliance plant of Renault and Nissan will begin third shift operations to increase production of Renault cars-most of which are Kwid. At present the factory works in two shifts and rolls out 1,000 cars a day. The increase in production will bring down the current waiting period to three months from the current six to seven months.
Apart from the SAARC region, Renault India would also be exporting the Kwid to Brazil, Africa and other parts of Latin America through the CKD route.
Source : BS Motoring
