According to a senior company official, Renault is looking for a local supplier-based electric vehicle system in India to help them offer vehicles at affordable prices. Renault does not want to burden customers with the high costs typically associated with an electric vehicle (EV), according to the official, who added that the company is focusing on the mass market, with a focus on the middle and upper-middle classes.

"We need a lot of local suppliers for EVs because we want to go with a system based on local suppliers." As a result, the cost of acquisition (for a buyer) becomes competitive," Venkatram Mamillapalle, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Renault India Operations, told PTI recently.

"So, we want to be very sensible because we are more adaptable to the mass market. We need to focus on the middle and upper-middle class segment and take care of their ability to invest and have a more reasonable cost of ownership," he added.

Sounding confident that the growth in the domestic automobile market is "inevitable" with passenger vehicles sales expected to be 3.8-4 million this year, he said it is very important that infrastructure supports the whole passenger car industry as well as the truck industry.

The work on the Rs 5,300 crore-investment plan announced by the Renault-Nissan Alliance in India in February this year for six new cars -- three each from Renault and Nissan -- has started and is well on track, he added.