The Renault Kwid has been riding high on success since its launch in the Indian car market. Priced between Rs. 2.56-3.53 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), the baby duster have managed to grab more than 70,000 confirmed bookings. Owing to drastic Chennai floods, the production of the car has been halted which resulted in waiting period of 9-10 months in certain cities.
Alongside the launch of Kwid, there were rumors regarding the development of 1.0 litre engine as it competitors the segment conqueror Maruti Suzuki Alto and Hyundai Eon offer powerful engines. Now the 1.0l Kwid which is scheduled to get sometime in next year might get Dual front airbags and ABS as standard.
Renault Kwid is undoubtedly a promising product but lacks even basic safety features. But now reacting to feedbacks from various channels, Renault India is pepping up to bring much needed essential safety features on the new variant. At present, only Kwid’s top variant gets optional driver side airbag and unfortunately it misses out on ABS, EBD. This is probably the correct step taken by Renault as from 2017 all the cars will be subjected to mandatory crash test under Bharat NVSAP regulations.
The baby duster is available in four variants- S, RxE, RxL and RxT and it is powered by a 3-cyinder 799cc petrol engine that churns out max power of 53.2bhp@5678rpm and 72 Nm of peak torque@4386rpm. Just to remind you, Kwid is India’s most efficient petrol car with the claimed efficiency of 25.17KMPL. The probability of getting an AMT gearbox is also quite high on the upcoming new variant.
