At the end of May, the Renault-Nissan alliance debuted one of the most interesting products from the partnership that began 16 years ago - the Renault Kwid. The little A-segment model will first be sold in India at an incredibly cheap starting price. Within the next year, the Kwid will get a brother, built by Nissan under the Datsun brand.
Before all else, here is what many prospective buyers have been waiting for: the 2015 Renault Kwid will cost 300,000 rupees (€4,200 or $4,700 at current exchange rates) when the ordering books open in India. The first Renault-Nissan alliance model to be underpinned by the CMF-A vehicle architecture, the Kwid has a lot going on for it.
Alliance numero uno Carlos Ghosn will take it from here: “Today in India’s A-segment, you have attractive cars, or you have innovative cars or you have affordable cars. But until now, you could not find all three attributes in one car. Renault Kwid will change that.” Truth be told, it’s hard to think of an A-segment crossover hatchback with a satellite navigation function offered at such a low price.
Measuring 3.68 meters (12 feet) in length and 1.58 m (5.1 ft) in width, this is a tiny city dweller that boasts “best-in-class load capacity” and it’s “well positioned in terms of fuel consumption.” Speaking of which, a 0.8L three-cylinder engine is under the hood. Producing a rumored 57 PS (42 kW / 56 HP), the little lump will be mated as standard to a five-speed manual. Word on the street is an automatic will follow shortly.
A bigger petrol engine and a turbo diesel “might” follow according to a recent rumor. Enough about the Kwid... or not. According to Renault-Nissan, the Japanese side of the alliance will launch their first CMF-A platform model “within the next 12 months.” The still unnamed A-segment car will wear Datsun badges.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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