First look: Renault Kwid

The Kwid is Renault’s ticket to the high volume hatchback segment of the Indian market. The French carmaker will launch the new hatchback around the festive season to strengthen their foothold here.

Renault Kwid is the first car based on the new CMF-A platform, which will eventually underpin all the compact cars in the Renault-Nissan family. The hatchback is built to Indian tastes with the hopes of taking on the segment leaders from Maruti and Hyundai.

With its flared wheel arches and squat stance, the Kwid comes across as a small UV more than an entry-level hatchback. In reality it is not a big car, it just appears so with a very clever design. The black elements like the front grille and ORVMs are part of the cost saving measures, but they create a nice dual-tone effect, giving the car a premium rugged look.

It has an aggressive face with a large grille and an even larger bumper that has fog lamp housing and a mesh air dam. The headlamp cluster appears premium with the dual barrel setup and blacked-out interior, but the inner section is just for the turn blinkers. The side profile is similar to that of an SUV, the wheel arches and similar matte black rub rails are a first in this segment. There are no alloy-wheels even on the top-end, since this is still a budget car.

The rear section of the Kwid is relatively simple. It is clutter-free and the black bumper merges with the design and does not come across as a cost saving measure. There is also a small spoiler on the top, which may be standard across variants.

The interior looks surprisingly premium considering this an A-segment car. There is a lot of component sharing with the bigger cars in Renault’s range and the result is a piano black cabin with chrome inserts that looks upmarket. The overall features list isn’t impressive; there is only a driver side airbag (that too as an optional extra on the top-end variant), only the front row gets power windows and no electrical adjustment for the ORVMs. However, there is an impressive seven-inch touch-screen music system with navigation as standard equipment on the top-spec version.

With the CMF-A platform, Renault has managed to maximise space inside the cabin. There is enough knee room and headroom at the rear and though Renault did not announce the exact number, they claim segment leading boot space.

The Kwid will be powered by an 800cc three-cylinder petrol engine. It won’t fare very highly on refinement but is expected to be one of the more efficient units. The car is expected to produce 57bhp and will use a five-speed manual transmission to power the front wheels.

At the time of the unveiling, Renault announced that the top-end will be priced under Rs 4 lakh (ex-showroom). That would be a super competitive price and would put the Kwid bang against the likes of the Maruti Alto K10, Hyundai Eon, Datsun Go and the Chevrolet Beat.