Nalin Mehta appointed Chief Operating Officer of Mahindra Renault Pvt. Ltd.

Mumbai: Mahindra Renault Pvt. Ltd. (MRPL), a joint venture between Mahindra & Mahindra and Renault S.A. of France, today announced the appointment of Mr. Nalin Mehta as Chief Operating Officer. As COO of MRPL, Mr. Mehta will oversee the Sales & Marketing, Supply Chain Management and Logistics and Quality functions of the company. He will be reporting to Mr. Rajesh Jejurikar, Managing Director, Mahindra Renault Private Limited.

The past one year has been very successful for MRPL with its maiden product, the Logan emerging as a strong competitor in the Indian passenger car space with a market share of 12% in the C segment. The Logan has also won several prestigious accolades from consumers as well as the media.

The Mahindra Renault Logan was launched in April 2007 and since then has performed exceedingly well despite stiff competition and tough market conditions. India’s first wide body passenger car has also received several distinctions since its launch eight months ago. With respect to product performance, the Logan outclassed all its competitors in the J.D. Power Asia Pacific 2007 India Initial Quality Study. The Logan was ranked as the ‘Best Entry Midsize Car in Initial Quality’, with a score of 65 PP100, i.e., problems per 100 vehicles ahead of other leading passenger cars, indicating a high level of satisfaction experienced by customers.

The 2007 four-wheeler total customer satisfaction study undertaken by leading market information provider, TNS, ranked the Mahindra Renault Logan Diesel at the top of the ‘Midsize Car – Diesel’ segment with an exceptional score of 96. The Logan Petrol achieved No. 2 position with 86 points in the Entry Midsize segment.

The Logan was also named the ‘Car of the Year 2007’ by HT Cars & Bikes, a supplement of the Hindustan Times and also recently won the Business Standard Motoring Jury Award 2008. The icing on the cake was the ‘Midsize Car of the Year’ Award received at the NDTV Profit Car India & Bike India Awards.

In February 2005 Mahindra & Mahindra and Renault decided to join forces to produce and commercialize the Logan in India. The joint venture is a 51:49 partnership between Mahindra & Mahindra and Renault.

The state-of-the-art Logan facility offers a body shop, stamping shop, a paint shop with a top quality pre-treatment and an assembly line specific for the Logan. The Mahindra Renault Logan was launched on April 3.

Source :- Machinist , 20th March'08.

Logan overtakes City, Verna and SX4 in Feb7 Mar, 2008

NEW DELHI: Utility vehicle major Mahindra & Mahindra’s (M&M) foray into the sedan segment is bearing fruit. It sold 2,753 units of Logan in February, claiming the second position in the segment, leaving behind its traditional mid-segment rival sedans like Honda City, Hyundai Verna and the Maruti Suzuki SX4.

Tata Motors’ Indigo sedan became the highest seller with sales of around 3,322 units in February on account of huge demand of its compact sedan launched in February, which avails concessional excise duty. It is priced at Rs 4.3 lakh, the lowest for any sedan, which had pushed its demand and sales last month. Honda had sold 2,310 units of City, Hyundai has sold 2,132 units of Verna while Maruti Suzuki has sold 1,953 units of SX4 in February.

Logan, after successive pricing and re-positioning in the market, now comes for Rs 4.5 lakh for petrol and Rs 5.75 lakh for diesel variant. According to analysts, it has posted a stronger performance due to high demand in commercial fleet operations and customers upgrading from the premium hatchback segment.

Mahindra Renault managing director Rajesh Jejurikar told ET, “Logan’s application in commercial fleet operations is a big booster for us. It has helped us to give the highest numbers since its launch. We have given the customers the options to own a big car at the price of a hatchback, which has been accepted well. Logan is emerging as a strongest contender in the mid-size car segment. There is huge a demand for the diesel variant which forms around 65% of our total sales due to its high fuel efficiency and now comes with a waiting period in some markets.”

The company had sold more than 22,500 units of Logan, since its launch in May last year. While it has ruled out any hatchback or a compact variant (under 4-metre length like the Indigo sedan) which is now taxed at concessional 12% excise (after the budget), against 24% for all other sedans, it will soon be launching a new brand campaign for Logan.

“We shall be informing the customers of the high-quality of this international car and its phenomenal fuel efficiency. With one of cheapest sedan, we are looking at significant increase in the market-share in the mid-size car segment,” Mr Jejurikar said. Logan’s improved sales in February increase the company’s market share to 16.8% against January’s 12% in mid-size car segment. The company fared well on its flagship model Scorpio too.

Source: The Economic Times 7th March 2008.