Renault eyeing comeback in India with 'one-chef kitchen'

Renault-Nissan collaboration to continue, but operations will not be as integrated as before

- Nehal Chaliawala

French carmaker Renault, which has made little headway in India in 20 years, is taking another crack at what it considers a strategically important market.

The Paris-based carmaker claims to have learnt from its past mistakes. Renault India will be quick to respond to market needs, make consistent product launches and updates, and decision-making will be routed through one person, managing director Venkatram Mamillapalle said, contrasting it with the near-bureaucratic process earlier when it was married to Nissan.

"Today, we are one chef in the kitchen," he said, referring to Renault naming Stephane Deblaise as India CEO this week. He will take over from 1 September. "Everything goes into one person or one power centre, and from there, it gets distributed and then cascades back. So, the responsibility and responsiveness will be terrifically good, which wasn't the case earlier," he said.