The Renault Kwid: An Alto killer?

Renault is poised to attack India’s best selling car

This is what it has all been leading up to. At the unveiling of the Kwid, Renault boss Carlos Ghosn was candid enough to admit that among the five cars launched in India only one (the Duster) has been a hit. “But we have learned. We have not wasted our time.”

The Kwid is the fruit of that labour. Three years in the making by a team led by Gerard Detourbet, father of the Logan platform (which also underpins the Duster), the Kwid marks Renault’s biggest bet yet on India, a car targeted at the best selling Alto. It is a segment that still commands 25 per cent of all volumes and is absolutely dominated by Maruti Suzuki; the Eon hardly doing the numbers Hyundai would have hoped.

Priced at “between `3 and 4 lakh” the Kwid is obviously a low-cost car but on first glance it hardly looks low cost. Rather than making an Alto clone the Kwid has been styled to ape a crossover and the high ground clearance, butch detailing and black plastic cladding all around give it a very SUV-like stance.

Based on an all-new platform code-named CMF-A the Kwid will be launched around the festive season (September – October) and the sister Datsun Red-Go will come next year. The Kwid will have a whopping 97-98 per cent localisation at the start and has been designed and engineered in India, Chennai to be specific.

The engine is an all-new 800cc, three-cylinder, DOHC, 4-valve all-aluminium unit that is claimed to have best in class fuel efficiency. Power and torque figures haven’t been revealed but Detourbet says, “speaking of power, torque is irrational, you have to take into account the weight of the car.” For the record the Kwid tips the scales at 670kg, ten percent less weight than the Eon and 25kg less than the Alto. The all-new gearbox is a 5-speed manual (no AMT for now) and the ground clearance is a whopping 180mm (20mm more than the Alto).

There will be no diesel engines. Says Detourbet, “Personally I am an enemy of diesel. Today when you compare cost of a diesel engine with a petrol it is two times. With new (emission) regulations it will be 2.5 – 2.6, you will then pay more for the engine than the car.”

For all the SUV cues the Kwid rides on weedy 155-section 80-profile tyres that leave gaping gaps in the wheel wells (nicely masked by painting the well black). And these tyres are so heavily optimised for fuel efficiency that the Ceat rubber is even called ‘Milaze(!)’. And that’s where you will notice the cost-cutting with only three studs bolting the wheel to the hub (a la Nano). Poke around the (generous) boot and you will see bare metal with no carpeting around the strut towers and the insides of the tail gate (though there are two gas struts to keep it up).

Renault has quite obviously learned from the heavy criticism levelled at the Datsun Go and has stayed well clear of visible signs of cost cutting. The interiors too have decent quality plastic, at least as far as the class benchmarks go, is styled well, and features a 7-inch touch screen and navigation. There is no ABS but a driver’s side airbag is an option.

“I have my objective given by the president”, says Detourbet. “Not a lot. They send me a white page. Do what you want, when you want, how you want. I only want a result. That’s it.

The Kwid is the result and, on first impressions, Renault are on to a winner.

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