Renault Kwid garners 1.65 lakh bookings in India; sales to touch 1 lakh soon

French auto-maker Renault's entry-level hatchback, the Kwid, is unstoppable in India. The small car with SUV-stance, which made its entry in the market in September last year, has raked in 1.65 lakh bookings so far, and is still going strong.

The demand is expected to go up with the arrival of the new Kwid 1.0 litre. Renault has sold over 80,000 units of the Kwid already and the company is expected to make 1 lakh sales of the hatchback soon. The Kwid with .8 litre engine currently commands a waiting period of three months in India. The company is said to be working to bring it down to one month. However, industry experts say that the waiting period is likely to go up.

Renault is currently looking at a production capacity of 10,000 units of the Kwid per month at its plant in Chennai. The Kwid is now available into engine options. It was originally launched with a 799cc three-cylinder petrol motor tuned to churn out 53bhp at 5,678rpm and a peak torque of 72Nm at 4,386rpm. The new avatar of the Kwid comes with a 999cc 3-cylinder engine that can churn out 67bhp of power at 5500rpm and 91Nm of torque at 4250rpm.

Renault Kwid, an entry-level car with total package of style and technology, houses a 7-inch touchscreen Media Nav system, digital Instrument cluster, one-touch lane change indicator and pro-sense seat belt pretensioners.

The Kwid comes with 98 percent localisation. It is priced starting at Rs. 2.64 lakh for the 0.8 litre Kwid and Rs. 3.82 lakh for the Kwid 1.0 litre variant.