Renault’s Kwid hatchback launched in India

The French auto giant’s much awaited entry level hatchback ‘Kwid’ was launched in New Delhi on Thursday. This is Renault’s first foray in to the entry level segment in India which is dominated by Industry majors Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and TATA motors with their respective models, Alto, Eon and Nano.

The SUV shaped hatchback with its stunning looks and revolutionary design is expected to be a game changer and its most competitive and irresistible pricing has taken many industry analysts by surprise. With a claimed mileage of 25.17 Kmpl, it is promoted as one of India’s most fuel efficient petrol cars. It will be powered by an 800 cc engine and the basic variants will come without Air conditioning, power steering and power windows. The price range will be from 2.56 Lakh INR for the most basic variant to 3.53 Lakh for the top end. Sumit Sawhney, CEO and MD, Renault India said during the launch that Renault is offering the best compact hatchback to its customers and that the car has been designed and developed by its global teams including from India, making it a truly international car. He further said that the Kwid is expected to be a Game changer and will be sold in the emerging markets of Latin America and Africa. It has taken around 3 years for Renault to finalize the design and composition and arrive at the current competitive pricing and Renault’s in-house engineering and development centres in France, Japan and India were involved in the process.

The tweet “With the #RenaultKWID, you can leave your maintenance worries behind as it has the best-in-class in maintenance part costs! #LiveForMore” was released through Renault’s India twitter handle on Thursday.

Kwid is also the first model to roll out from Renault using the CMF-A platform jointly developed with group company Nissan and with an investment of more than 2000 Crore Rupees.

Some of the noticeable and crowd-pleasing features are a high ground clearance, a masculine and aggressive Renault front grille, rectangular headlamps and strong wheel arches. Looking from the side, you would be easily forgiven for taking the Kwid for an SUV. It will be interesting to see and validate the on road performance of this car that will ultimately decide its success in India and elsewhere.

Vijay Ram