Renault India might be busy with the launch of Renault Captur in the Indian market but that doesn’t stop the company from making other key policy decisions. Renault in a strategic move has discontinued four outgoing models to make place for the Renault Captur in its portfolio.
Renault cars like Pulse, Scala, Fluence and Koleos have become a part of history in the Indian automotive market. The French automaker has discontinued these four models due to the lack of interest shown by the Indian customers over the years. The Renault India brand is soon going to launch the Renault Captur in the Indian country. It came to India some six years ago and has arguably been the mind behind the compact SUV segment.
Renault Duster forced all other major companies to build compact SUV’s which were then not available in India. The competition by Renault in India resulted in the conceptualisation of Ford Ecosport, Tata Nexon and Maruti Brezza. With its new car Renault Captur it is hoping for a similar change. The Renault Captur sits a segment above the Duster and rivals the likes of Hyundai Creta and the Jeep Compass.
Why Renault India discontinued the Pulse, Scala, Fluence and Koleos before Renault Captur in India?
Renault India saw initial success when the Pulse and Scala in the country and it hopes for the same with the Renault Captur. The two cars were widely appreciated. The Pulse had a more powerful engine than its competitors in the hatchback segment and drove sales for the brand. The Renault Scala still has class-leading space in the C-segment sedan category and can still rival the likes of Honda City and Maruti Ciaz when we talk about the roomier cabin.
The mechanical and the features have always been a priority to the company and the same is being said about the Renault Captur. What did go wrong, however, was that Renault India in the six years of its operations in India never launched a facelift. The Scala and Pulse are still the same cars apart from minor changes to the headlamps or tail lamps. We hope the company does not do that to the Renault Captur and keeps giving it minor changes from time to time. The features of the Scala and Pulse are not 2017 standard and the interiors look pretty 2010.
The cars soon felt outdated and buying these Renaults started making little sense to the Indian buyer. The fluence too which is similarly priced to the Renault Captur was overpriced for what it offered and the looks department had too much going on. Renault Koleos was another compact SUV before the Renault Duster or the Renault Captur but went wrong with the pricing.
Renault Captur’s younger siblings Pulse and Scala were essentially the same cars as Nissan Micra and Sunny.
Before launching the Renault Captur the Renault and Nissan brand used to share the R&D facility and the four cars were the result of this partnership. The Scala and the Pulse from Renault India were built along with the Micra and Sunny from Nissan. These four cars were based on two different platforms and were jointly made as a part of Renault-Nissan’s strategic partnership. One of these platforms will be featured on the soon to be launched Renault Captur.
The Nissan Micra and Nissan Sunny both did better than the Renault Pulse and Renault Scala. The reason was that both the Nissan cars were launched prior to the Renault India brand and had already established a god market space. Along with that Nissan made sure to offer facelifts more often than the Renault cars. However, Renault India had a similar advantage with the Duster over Nissan’s Terrano which was launched much later after Duster had established itself. The Renault Captur is also hoping to bank on the same advantages as it has no Nissan competitor.
Renault India after discontinuing the Scala, Pulse, Fluence and Koleos will focus on the soon to be launched Renault Captur, Renault Lodgy, Duster and the Renault Kwid. The Lodgy and the Duster are built on the same platform while the Kwid is immensely popular among the smallest cars in the country. Renault Captur is built on the same platform as of Renault Duster but is 14mm longer than the latter.
Read more about the Renualt Captur here:
Renault Captur | After Duster, Renault India is Again Eyeing to Capture Indian Market Through Captur
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