Renault India launches lowest-priced SUV

Carlos Ghosn, Renault Nissan’s chief executive, has coined the term “frugal engineering” to describe the manufacturing process used by the engineers to manufacture low-cost vehicles. Ghosn convinced the engineers of Dacia, the Romanian car manufacturer owned by Renault, to produce a low-priced car for the average European family that could not afford to buy a sedan. The engineers came up with Logan, which was born out of the European crisis and was a huge success in 2004. Renault later on produced several versions of Logan, including the Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) Duster, which it is introducing in India. Renault India will sell the 1.6 liter SUV petrol model at Rs720,000 (US$12,917.11), making it one of the lowest-priced SUVs in the world. The 1.5 liter diesel-powered SUV will be sold at Rs799,000 (US$14,334.41). (July 10, 2012)