Ultra-low cost car will be launched by mid-2012
Amid reports of Renault threatening to pull out of the ultra-low cost car project with Bajaj if it does not meet their expectations, it must be said that Bajaj Auto MD Rajiv Bajaj, when asked about the deal by a journalist at a press conference on May 18 where the financials of the company for 2010-11 were released, had stated quite categorically that though they were manufacturing the ultra-low cost car, Renault-Nissan were at liberty to reject it if the product did not meet their specifications.
“The car would be launched in mid-2012, but at some point if Renault-Nissan do not like what they see, they are free to walk away,” he said at the press conference. He also clarified that they were building a platform and not just the car and it was not being built exclusively for Renault-Nissan.
When asked if they had shown the prototype to Renault-Nissan, Bajaj had said it was a “confidential matter between two partners” and not open to public gaze. He had also stated that, as agreed between Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn and himself in July 2009, Bajaj Auto would manufacture the car and Renault-Nissan would market it. As and when the project achieved a satisfactory milestone, it
