Duster continues to drive Renault sales in June

Renault India on Tuesday said its June sales surged eight times helped by the popular compact Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) Duster, even as the auto sector continues to go through a slump.

The Duster accounted for more than 75 per cent of the cars Renault sold in June. Out of the 6,007 units sold by the company in June, Duster accounted for 4,523 units, the Scala 772 units, Pulse 497 units, and Fluence 215 units, Renault said.

Maruti Suzuki, India's largest car maker by sales on the other hand, yesterday reported a sharp decline in June sales by 12.6 per cent to 84,455 units against 96,597 units in the same month last year.

Auto sales have fallen for the eight straight month.    

However on a month-on-month basis Renault's sales fell marginally as did the Duster's. In May, the company had sold 6,013 units, more than 85 per cent of which were Duster sales.

Renault sold 5146 units of Duster in May.

"The Renault brand is continuing to see increasing visibility and acceptability among Indian customers, despite a challenging market," Renault India executive director, marketing & sales, Sumit Sawhney said in a statement.

The Duster comes at a starting price of Rs 7.99 lakh, while the top-end variant costs a little over Rs 12 lakh.

But Ford's big-ticket launch of the EcoSport at an aggressive starting price of Rs 5.59 lakh is seen eating into Duster's market share.

Like the Duster, the EcoSport is also a compact SUV, which is being looked at as a game changer by auto industry watchers.

Renault India in association with Japan-based Nissan has its manufacturing facility at Oragadam near Chennai with a capacity of four lakh units per annum.
 

(With inputs from PTI)