Renault wasn't an important player in the Indian automobile industry until the arrival of the Kwid hatchback in September 2015. Though the company carved a space with the Duster, the volume sales for the company came after the Kwid. The pseudo-SUV hatchback has recorded 56,028 unit sales in the first half of FY 2016-17 and the number continues to get stronger month after month.
The small car breached 10,000 monthly sales barrier for the first time in August 2016 by finding 10,719 takers. In September 2016, Kwid continued the increased sales momentum with 10,558 takers. Renault India sold 12,300 units of its passenger vehicles last month, up 590 percent from 1,781 units sold in September 2015. It is evident that Kwid has single-handedly pushed-up the sales.
The Kwid has raked in 1.65 lakh bookings so far. In the first eight months of this calendar year, Renault India sold 65,000 units of the Kwid. By the end of 2016, the company is aiming to breach the 1 lakh car sales since its launch in India in 2008.
Launched in 799cc three-cylinder petrol motor, the Kwid's powertrain range now includes a 1.0 litre petrol mill. The former develops 53bhp at 5,678rpm and a peak torque of 72Nm at 4,386rpm, while the latter develops 67bhp of power at 5500rpm and 91Nm of torque at 4250rpm.
The 799cc version returns a claimed fuel efficiency of 25.17kmpl, while the Kwid 1.0 litre claims to deliver a mileage of 23.01 kmpl. The 0.8 litre Kwid is priced at Rs 2.64 lakh and the Kwid 1.0 litre variant will set you back by Rs 3.82 lakh. The completive pricing, along with fuel efficient motor, are the prime reasons for the huge sales of the Kwid. Apart from these, the Kwid also offers many segment leading features such as 7-inch touchscreen Media Nav system, digital Instrument cluster, one-touch lane change indicator pro-sense seat belt and much more.
