Chennai: Renault is doubling down on India with a push on exports. The French carmaker is targeting €2 billion worth annual exports from India by 2030, its global chief executive officer (CEO) Francois Provost said on Thursday. The move signals a sharper role for India in Renault’s global plans, as it looks to regain momentum in a key growth market.
Provost is spending the week in India reviewing Renault’s local operations, which he said is at the heart of the group’s strategic plan. He declined to reveal the current value of the company’s exports. “Current exports are low,” he said. Elaborating on the nature of future exports, the CEO said it will be less of cars and more of technologies and components.
Provost admitted the company had lost the momentum in India in recent years and was reworking its strategy. “Last month, we unveiled our new plan, futuREady,” he said, adding that India has a key role to play in it. FutuREady is a growth plan that the Renault group has come up with and it includes 36 product launches to consolidate its leadership in Europe and selected high growth markets such as South America and India.
India, he said, is one of the fastest growing automotive markets, accounting for 34% of the total volume growth in the regions that the Renault group operates.
“In India, we have a great ambition: make it one of Renault brand’s top three markets worldwide by 2030 and attain a market share of 5%,” he added. To make this possible, the group has made leadership changes bringing the entire value-chain under a single CEO, Stephane Deblaise.
The automotive major has also come up with an ‘India for India’ plan, under which it will embark on its largest-ever product renewal cycle in India with a portfolio expanding to seven multi-fuel models, from cars to SUVs, by 2030.
The company had recently bought over its former partner Nissan Motor Co’s stake in the manufacturing facility at Oragadam near Chennai and ramped up its design infrastructure investing a total of over ₹5,000 crore. The Oragadam facility has an annual capacity of 500,000 units. The company had sold 42,019 units in the domestic market and exported 15,696 units in FY26.
To drive sales, the company is bringing in two new platforms into India: the Renault Group Entry Platform (RGEP) for entry-level vehicles and Renault Group Modular Platform (RGMP) for SUVs and larger vehicles. Its recently re-launched Duster is built on the RGMP platform.
“Built on the earlier CMFA (common module family – small) platform, Kwid, Kiger and Triber, democratized mobility for more than 7.5 lakh Indian customers in the last decade. But the market is evolving and CMFA is evolving in RGEP,” Deblaise said. By 2030, four new products will be launched on CGMP platform and that includes Duster and Bridger, he added.
The company, Deblaise said, will leverage its 15,000 workers, 350 touch points, 450 service centres, and 130 or more suppliers. It will also tap the 6,000 engineers and IT professionals it has at its one of the largest engineering centres near Chennai to achieve its aspirations.
