Honda Mobilio Rival Renault Lodgy Spied For the First Time in India
Renault's Lodgy will be rivalling Maruti Ertiga, Toyota Innova and Chevrolet Enjoy in India besides Mobilio.www.renault.com

Renault started testing its Lodgy in India recently. Now the latest news is that the French auto maker will be bringing its Lodgy to India officially in early 2015.

Renault Lodgy, the upcoming Honda Mobilio rival will make its India debut in January 2015, says a new report on Zee News. It also added that the vehicle will be going into production at the Renault-Nissan Orgadam plant in December this year.

Underpinning Duster platform, Lodgy, which is already in sales in some of the international markets is spacious and big and the India specific version of the vehicle is likely to get power from the 1.5-litre K9K diesel engine in two states of tune. Other details of the vehicle are scanty at this point of time; however, rumours are that the French maker will price Lodgy competitively in the market, which can be expected to fall in the price range of ₹8-11 lakh.

Renault Lodgy's main rival Honda Mobilio will be making its market entry in India on 23 July. The Mobilio will be offered in both petrol and diesel engines in India. Under the skin, the petrol Mobilio will pack 1.5-litre i-VTEC petrol motor, which can churn out a power of 117 bhp, and the diesel variant will come with 98 bhp, 1.5-litre i-DTEC diesel unit, which powers Honda's popular City and Amaze. The engine will come mated to a five-speed manual and CVT gearbox. Honda, which is expecting a success like that of Amaze and City with Mobilio is likely to price its first MPV offering in the ₹6 lakh to ₹8.50 lakh brackets (ex-showroom).

In India, Duster SUV was the fortune changer of the French auto maker. With the launch of new Lodgy, the car maker would be expected to set yet another benchmark in the domestic auto market.

In another development, Renault recently launched a new edition of Duster as a part of its second anniversary in India. The new edition Duster gets power from 1.5l dCi engine, which can churn out a power of 83.3 bhp and 200 Nm of torque and comes mated to a five-speed manual transmission.