Renault mulls Iran launch for low-cost small crossover

By Aditi Shah

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Carmaker Renault (RENA.PA) is weighing moves to introduce a variant of its new Indian-built Kwid mini-crossover to Iran, a senior executive told Reuters on Monday.

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 (VOWG_p.DE) 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French rivals Renault and PSA Peugeot Citroen (PEUP.PA) acknowledge they will need to upgrade their outdated offerings to defend the strong market positions they enjoyed before sanctions were tightened in 2011.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. Renault-Nissan eventually aims to exceed 1 million annual sales with several future models based on the new architecture.

Detourbet stressed that no decision had been made on new models for Iran or where they would be assembled, adding that plans would take "more than a month or two" to develop.

(Writing by Laurence Frost; Editing by Mark Potter)