The television advertisement, in the style of an action film, is designed to make the pulse race. A young woman, her hair flowing, swoops down in a helicopter over a truck carrying a car. She inspects the vehicle's ample boot space and wide back seat approvingly before jumping on board and rolling it off the truck. "India's fast, widebody car," the tagline reads as she races away.

The car that inspires this feat of daring is not a German luxury import but a homely Logan. Renault, the French carmaker, launched its low-cost global emerging-markets car in India in April, starting at about $10,000 (€7,400, £5,000). While few would describe the Logan as stylish or exciting, Renault has sold worldwide more than half a million of the low-priced cars, which dispense with many design features and gadgets common on other vehicles, since launching them in Romania in 2004. Since the Indian debut of the car, built there in a joint venture with Mumbai-based carmaker Mahindra & Mahindra, more than 20,000 people have test-driven it and Renault has sold about 2,800.