How Renault Logan Became Mahindra Verito

Monday, July 9, 2012

How Renault Logan Became Mahindra Verito

The Dacia Logan is a very famous car. It is one of the cheapest 3-box cars in the world and was developed after Renault bought Dacia. The Logan is an inexpensive no frills car and was made for developing markets, one of them being India. Renault started its India journey with the Logan. However the company had to tie up with Mahindra to reduce costs. The Renault brand was not famous in the country and the price was not as cheap. Tata Motors' Indigo was available at a cheaper price. The Logan bombed and sales were very low.

Renault was not happy at all. The Mahindra-Renault Logan was the only product on offer from the French automaker and it failed miserably. Renault had deep discussions with Mahindra and sold the rights of the Logan entirely to Mahindra, thereby withdrawing completely from the product. Mahindra re-launched the Logan as Verito and the sales picked up immediately to almost five times then what it was before. Now Mahindra has chopped off the boot to make the Verito less than 4-meters in length. This will help it classify as a small car. A sub 4-meter car having either a sub 1.5-litre diesel engine or a sub 1.2-litre petrol engine is classified as a small car and attracts an excise duty of 12% against 27%.

The Mahindra Verito is powered by a 1.5-litre diesel engine, which is the k9k motor. It produces 65 BHP and 160 Nm. The petrol engine in the Verito is a 1.4-litre unit producing 75 BHP and 110 Nm. A CNG version is offered to fleet operators and used by the taxi market, where the Verito is very popular. Mahindra is also developing an electric version of the Verito. The company acquired REVA, which is a pioneer in electric cars.

What about Renault? Renault started afresh in 2010. It launched the Koleos SUV and Fluence. This was followed by a re-badged Micra, called the Pulse. Sales have been nothing to talk about with less than 4000 units being sold last year. Now Renault launched the Duster compact crossover and has received 6000 bookings in 5 days!