Mahindra-Renault partnership announcement by mid April
French automaker Renault is close to an agreement with Indian utility vehicle maker Mahindra to refurbish the rapidly vanishing Logan in India.
Ashish Sinharoy, a Mumbai-based spokesman for Renault -
We’ve reached agreement on almost every critical element of the negotiation. The conclusion of the talks will be announced by mid-April.
What Mr.Sinharoy is referring to when saying "agreement" could be manufacturing a re-bodied Logan at the Nashik facility of Mahindra. The car was spied yesterday in India, built using almost the same components with a compressed boot.
The Renault Logan is over 4 meters in length and shortening it by 25cm will qualify it for a lower excise duty slab resulting in a cheaper price tag for the end user. Sinharoy agrees Renault is skeptical of re-engineering the car for a single country.
Mahindra Renault' Logan competes with the likes of the Swift Dzire, Tata Indigo, Ford Ikon, etc. Despite being in a high demand segment, it recorded a loss of $108 million last year with sales down by almost 48 percent compared to the same time last year.
Source - Businessweek