By Siva Parameswaran – World News Editor, The African Gazette French car maker Renault has exported the first lot of its ‘Kiger SUVs’ to South Africa from the South Indian port city of Chennai late Monday evening (August 2, 2021).
The lot of 760 vehicles are expected to be available in the South African market by mid-September this year. The ‘Kiger’ is considered a version of its counterpart – Nissan’s ‘Magnite,’ which was introduced in the South African market in June this year.
South Africa is the second export market for the brand, the first one being Nepal, according to the company. The overseas export of the brand began in June with its first lot being sent to the Himalayan country.
“The launch of Renault Kiger demonstrates the competence of India’s design, engineering, and world-class manufacturing capabilities. Renault’s diverse range of offerings in passenger vehicles has been consistently well-received by the people of South Africa.” Venkatram Mamillapalle Country CEO and Managing Director of Renault India told the media.
According to him, Renault is eyeing on exporting ‘Kiger’ to other parts of Africa as well soon. The company has Indonesia and other South Asian regions as its potential export market.
The export model comes with a 1.0 litre petrol model with a 5-speed manual gearbox, along with optional AMT and CVT automatic transmissions. The company claims it comes with various enhanced features like an 8-inch touchscreens display with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Four airbags are inbuilt on the top trim for safety.
‘Kiger’ is expected to cost from $7000-13,500 when the model hits the South African roads depending upon the variants.
“Renault’s diverse range of offerings in passenger vehicles has been consistently well-received by the people of South Africa. Our latest offering, the Renault Kiger will further bolster our existing portfolio in the country with its distinctive SUV look, great space, smart features, and world-class sporty engine.” Venkatram further said.
Economic recession coupled with the Covid-19 pandemic took a heavy toll on the car sales industry in South Africa. Industry figures from the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa shows a steep decline of about 30% in 2020 compared to the previous year. With the economy still struggling, it is expected to grow between 2 – 3% in the current fiscal year, according to the PWC’s economic outlook for South Africa in its July report this year. And, the automobile market is also expected to grow marginally.
Both the exporter and the importer of the Renault ‘Kiger’ says the brand rolling on South African roads would add to the economic growth in both nations.
Siva Parameswaran–World News Editor of the African Gazette, is a senior international journalist with over three decades of experience in all forms of journalism across diverse subjects. He has travelled widely covering war, elections, sports among others. His writings and Radio/TV programmes have been kept as reference materials world wide including Columbia and Cambridge universities. He teaches journalism and trains civil servants on the use of social media.
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