Renault launches Kwid with price starting at Rs 2.57 lakh

French auto major Renault on Thursday launched one of the most awaited cars of this year 'Kwid' in India with introductory price starting at Rs 2.57 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

The hatchback, which would come in four variants and two options, is priced between Rs 2.57 lakh and Rs 3.53 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

The vehicle is equipped with various segment leading features and is also the country's most fuel efficient petrol car. 

The small car directly rival against the likes of the already established brands including Maruti Alto, Hyundai Eon, Maruti Celerio, Datsun Go and Maruti Suzuki WagonR. The small car comes in four trim levels- Standard, RxE, RxL and RxT. Dimensionally, the Kwid measures 3,679mm in length, 1,579mm in width, 1,471mm in height, and it comes with a wheelbase of 2422mm. The vehicle has a segment leading ground clearance of 180mm, which ensures hassle free driving even on rough roads. The Kwid offers an excellent boot space of 300-litres, which can be further extended up to 115-litres by folding the rear seats. 

Renault Kwid will draw power from 799cc 3-cylinder petrol motor, which is tuned to churn out 54PS and a peak torque of 72Nm. The model is expected to offer the best-in class mileage at 25.17kmpl. As for transmissions, Kwid is likely to include both manual and automated manual transmission (AMT) options. The Kwid is also rumoured to include a1.0-litre petrol engine in its engine line-up later this year.

Renault Kwid, a small hatch designed like an SUV is expected to be launched infour variants -- Standard, RxE, RxL and RxT. From what we hear, the new small car in the Indian market will be available in five exterior body shades of Fiery Red, Ice Cool White, Planet Grey, Moonlight Silver and Outback Bronze.

 

In terms of dimensions, Renault Kwid measures 3679mm long, 1579mm tall and 1471mm wide. It has an impressive wheelbase of 2422mm with class leading ground clearance of 180 mm and a boot capacity of 300 litre.

Renault Kwid will come with the segment's first ever touchscreen Media-Nav Navigation System with a seven-inch display, digital instrument console, alloy wheels, chrome door handles, chrome touched tail lights, roof rails and side body cladding.

 

“Kwid is astutely designed, loaded with class leading features and comes at a compelling price point. No car can be compared to Kwid at this point in time,” Renault India Operations’ country CEO and managing director Sumit Sawhney told reporters in New Delhi.

The company has taken the localization level to 98% in Kwid, the highest ever by an auto manufacturer in India at the onset of launch, he added.

Renault Kwid Prices (ex-showroom, Delhi)

Renault Kwid Std (Base) - Rs. 2.56 lakh

Renault Kwid RxE - Rs.2.88 lakh

Renault Kwid RxE (O) - Rs. 2.94 lakh

Renault Kwid RxL - Rs. 3.11 lakh

Renault Kwid RxT - Rs. 3.44 lakh

Renault Kwid RxT (O)- Rs. 3.53 lakh

Ford launches its first compact sedan Figo Aspire at Rs 4.9 lakhs

Ford India launched its first compact sedan Figo Aspire in India today at a starting price of Rs. 4.89 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).

With several segment-first features such as 6 airbags, 6-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox, leather seats, etc, the Ford Figo Aspire takes on the likes of Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire, Hyundai Xcent, Honda Amaze, Tata Zest and others in the sub-4 metre sedan segment. The Ford Figo Aspire has become the first car in its league to offer driver and front-passenger airbags standard across all variants.

It will replace the company's ageing Fiesta Classic sedan in the Indian market, which had seen sluggish sales due to a proliferation of compact sedans like Maruti Swift Dzire, Honda Amaze and Hyundai Xcent in the last three years. Sub-four-metre sedans due to their shorter length get excise duty benefits and are priced significantly less than full sized bigger sedans.

The new sub-compact sedan is offered with three engine options - a 1.5-litre Ti-VCT petrol (110bhp), a 1.2-litre Ti-VCT petrol (87bhp) and a 1.5-litre TDCi diesel (99bhp). While the 1.2-litre petrol and 1.5-litre diesel-engined variants will get a 5-speed manual gearbox, the 1.5-litre petrol model will come equipped with a 6-speed dual clutch automatic gearbox.

"There are many high end features that we are offering with the Figo aspire like six airbags and leather seats that are not on offer in this category," said Nigel Harris, president and managing director, Ford India. "It will also be exported out of here world over and Sanand will be a world class export hub. This is not a compromised car."

Figo Aspire is powered by a 1.2 litre petrol engine that belts out 88 PS power and 112 NM of torque and has a rated fuel economy of 18.2 kpl. The 1.5 litre diesel engine gives 100 PS power and 215 NM of torque with a fuel economy of 25.83 kpl. For a first, Ford is offering dual airbags as a standard feature in the Figo Aspire. The top end variant of the car is also equipped with six airbags - a first in this segment. 

The company will follow up the sedan with a hatchback version in the next few months that will replace the existing Figo small car. Compact cars is the largest segment in the Indian market accounting for 45% of overall sales or almost 1.1 million cars per annum. The segment is expected to grow to around 1.8 million cars per annum by 2018. Globally small cars are expected to account for 60% of overall sales in the near future.

In India, around 350,000 units of compact sedans are sold every year with Maruti Dzire the dominant leader with around 200,000 unit sales annually.

FIAT launches Avventura in India

Fiat Group Automobiles India, the fully owned subsidiary of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, today launched compact sports utility vehicle Avventura at a price starting from Rs 5.99 lakh.

The new Avventura is a compact crossover model from Fiat India. It is based on the Punto platform and shares majority of its underpinnings and interior with the former. It is the Italian automaker’s entry into the now trending hatchback-based compact crossover segment which has been getting a lot of attention from Indian buyers lately. Other players in this segment at the moment include the Volkswagen Cross Polo and the Toyota Etios Cross.

Fiat is planning to go on the offensive in 2014 for India to turn around its fortunes and the first in the scheme of things will be the Fiat Punto Avventura, which as the name suggests is a ‘tougher’ variant of the Grande Punto.

Fiat Avventura price list (ex-showroom Delhi) is as below:

Fiat Avventura Petrol Price In India

Fiat Avventura Active Petrol is priced at Rs. 5.99 Lakhs

Fiat Avventura Dynamic Petrol is priced at Rs. 7.05 Lakhs

Fiat Avventura Diesel Price In India

Fiat Avventura Active Diesel is priced at Rs. 6.89 Lakhs

Fiat Avventura Dynamic Diesel  is priced at Rs. 7.65 Lakhs

Fiat Avventura Emotion Diesel is priced at Rs. 8.17 Lakhs

Honda launches Mobilio in India at a price tag of Rs. 6.49 lakh

Japanese car maker Honda has launched its much awaited seven seater MPV, the Mobilio. The vehicle is available at a price of Rs. 6.49 lakh (Ex-showroom Delhi for petrol base variant) and Rs. 7.89 lakh (Ex-showroom Delhi for the diesel base variant).

The company has made Honda Mobilio available in three exciting trims i.e. the E, the S and the V.

Honda Cars India president and CEO Hironori Kanayama said, “The launch of Honda Mobilio follows the success of Honda Amaze and the new City, which led to our exceptional growth of 83 per cent in the previous financial year.”

Developed at the company’s R&D centres in Bangkok exclusively for the Asian markets, particularly Indonesia and India. During the fiscal 2013-14, Honda Cars India reported 83 per cent increase in sales at 1,34,339 units as against 73,483 units during the previous year. Honda India aims to sell 300,000 units annually by March 2017. 

Mobilio, is competing with Maruti Suzuki Ertiga, Toyota Innova, Chevrolet Enjoy and Nissan Evalia in the MPV Segment.

Mobilio will be offered in both petrol and diesel versions, the 1.5 litre 16Vi.DTEC 4 cylinder petrol engine generates the max power of 119 bhp at 6600 rpm, produces the torque of 145Nm at 4800 rpm. The price of petrol variant starts from INR 6.49 lakhs for the base model Mobilio E, and will go upto 8.76 lakhs for the top end variant which is called Honda Mobilio V.  

The diesel model will be powered by the 1.5 litre 16 Vi. DTEC diesel engine, with max power of 100 bhp at 3600 rpm and a peak torque of 200 Nm at 1750 rpm. 

The 1.5 litre i-DTEC diesel engine of the Mobilio, based on Honda’s latest Earth Dreams Technology, delivers a power of 100 ps@3600 rpm, maximum torque of 200 Nm@1750 rpm and fuel economy of 24.2 kmpl as per test data. The 1.5 litre i-VTEC petrol engine delivers a maximum power of 119 ps@6600 rpm, maximum torque of 145 Nm@4600 rpm and fuel economy of 17.3 kmpl. The price of diesel variant starts from INR 7.89 lakhs for the base model Mobilio E, and will go upto 10.86 lakhs for the top end variant which is called Honda Mobilio RS.