Albeit a bit late, Renault is now closer to finally joining the sub-four metre compact SUV party with the Kiger and from what we know , it ticks all the right boxes. While it shares quite a bit with the Nissan Magnite, the Kiger is styled quite radically and gets a fair bit of practicality as well. After the Renault Kwid and Triber, the Kiger is the third global car from Groupe Renault to be launched in India first, followed by other markets. Prices and details about variants to be announced during its launch in February.
The front end of the Kiger is reminiscent of the Kwid facelift as it sports similar LED DRL strips on the top and LED headlights on the bumper. The larger than usual Renault logo on the two-slat grille also adds to the ‘butch’ SUV look. Moving on to the rear, it has a coupe-like sloping roofline with integrated spoiler, LED C-shape taillights and a skid plate. It’s not all show and no go – the Kiger gets functional roof rails which isn’t very common in the segment. In a major change from what we saw on the Kiger concept, the production-spec doesn’t get the DRLs that stretch across the width of the car and as expected, the chunky off-road tyres are now replaced with smaller tyres with newly designed alloys. Just like the Nissan Magnite, the Kiger gets a ground clearance of 205mm.
It will be available in six colour options along with a choice of getting a black roof across the range. It even gets five accessory packs — Smart+, Smart, SUV, Attractive and Essential. To sum up, one can immediately tell that Renault has really focused on making the Kiger look the part.
The Kiger has a dual tone dashboard with a panel that runs across the width of the cabin. It gets an 8-inch floating infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity with voice recognition and a 7-inch digital instrument cluster which looks very similar to the rather unique graphics and display theme that we saw earlier on the Magnite. The Kiger is also equipped with 3D Arkamys music system. Adding to the similarities with the Magnite, the start/stop button, controls for the AC and door locks among others that are situated on the centre console are identical. When it comes to space, Renault claims a best-in-class 29.1-litre cabin storage space and 405-litre boot space.
The Renault Kiger will be powered by a 1-litre turbo-petrol engine which is new to the Renault portfolio and we will probably learn about other engine options during its launch. The engine will be available with a five-speed manual, AMT and CVT options as well. The turbo-petrol unit is the same HRA0 engine that made its India debut only recently in the Nissan Magnite in which it puts out 98bhp and 160Nm of torque. The Kiger also gets three driving modes — Eco, Normal and Sport.
From what we know so far, the Kiger seems like a good package and if it is priced aggressively, it could pose as a threat to rivals like the Kia Sonet, Hyundai Venue, Tata Nexon, Nissan Magnite and Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza. More importantly, a buyer has another choice of compact SUV to choose from. Stay tuned for updates on Renault Kiger as more details will be disclosed during its launch in February.