Renault mulls Iran launch of crossover

(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Carmaker Renault is weighing moves to introduce a variant of its new Indian-built Kwid mini-crossover to Iran, a senior executive said yesterday.

The model has already drawn interest from potential Iranian partners, said Gerard Detourbet, the Renault-Nissan alliance vice-president who developed the Kwid's new low-cost architecture.

"This kind of car could be a good match for the (Iranian) market," Detourbet said in an interview. "We have already presented the car to people, and they are interested," the Renault executive said. "But between the interest and the decision to do it, there is still some time."

Carmakers including Volkswagen are scrambling to rebuild their business in Iran following the country's breakthrough deal with Western powers to curb its nuclear activities in return for a lifting of sanctions.

French rivals Renault and PSA Peugeot Citroen acknowledge they will need to upgrade their outdated offerings to defend the strong market positions they enjoyed before sanctions were tightened in 2011.

Renault, whose Iranian sales of first-generation Logan sedans have dwindled, unveiled the Kwid in India in May based on Detourbet's "CMF-A" vehicle platform.