Renault has become the top selling European brand in India just 30 months after returning to the market following the dissolution of its ill-fated partnership with Mahindra.

The automaker sold 66,000 cars on the sub-continent last year to claim a 2.6% market share and now has its sights on 5% “in the medium term” – certainly before the end of the decade.

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Analysts believe annual sales of cars and light commercials in India could almost treble to 9m by 2020, making it the third largest market in the world after China and the US.

Renault currently has a five-model range in India – two saloons, the Fluence and Scala; two SUVs, the Koleos and Duster; and a B-segment hatchback based on the Nissan Micra and sold as the Pulse.

All are built at the Chennai factory Renault shares with alliance partner Nissan.

Chennai’s capacity has recently been expanded from 400,000 to 480,000 vehicles a year to cope with the growing alliance product range for India.

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As a sign of its intent in India, Renault made 30 specific changes to the Duster, sold in Europe as a Dacia, to make it suitable locally. Some of those changes have now been incorporated into versions sold in other markets.

Renault India plans to add a sixth model in 2015. This will be an A-segment car which will bring down the start point of its range from the equivalent of EUR5,000 today to around EUR3,500 – a critical price point here.

With derivatives, it will also allow Renault to cover around 75% of the market segments in India compared with 38% at the moment.

New India CEO, Sumit Sawhney, who took over from Marc Nassif on 1 February, believes that another SUV is all that might be needed to satisfy Renault’s needs in the immediate future.

Taking inspiration from the success of the Duster, which has become segment leader in India in just 18 months, Sawhney said another SUV “would be very interesting for us”.