Renault Kwid set to make inroads into South Africa, Bhutan, Bangladesh in 2017

Renault Kwid, the hatchback that has established a strong hold on the Indian roads in just a year is now ready to set foot in the export markets like South Africa, Bhutan and Bangladesh in the New Year.

Renault, which is currently exporting Kwid to Sri Lanka, Mauritius, and Nepal, will soon add countries like Bhutan, Bangladesh and South Africa in the list, reports ET Auto. The Kwid will be exported from India. While the export to Bhutan and Bangladesh is expected to start during the second half of next year, Renault is also working on to launch the Kwid in South Africa in the first quarter of next year.

The Kwid, which is over a year-old in India, is currently available in 800cc, 1.0litre and AMT avatar in the country. It is being manufactured at the Chennai facility of the company in Chennai. The small car with 90 percent localisation has bagged over 1.65 lakh bookings and the sales crossed over 1 lakh in December.

It comes powered by a 799cc three-cylinder petrol motor, which is tuned to churn out 53bhp at 5,678rpm and a peak torque of 72Nm at 4,386rpm, mated to a five-speed manual gearbox. The car also returns ARAI-claimed fuel efficiency of 25.17kmpl.

On the other hand, the 1.0 litre variant of the model gets 999cc 3-cylinder engine that can churn out 67bhp of power at 5500rpm and 91Nm of torque at 4250rpm. The Kwid 1.0 litre claims to deliver a mileage of 23.01 kmpl. The new Kwid AMT, which was launched in November 2016, is available in the top-end RXT variant of the car, and comes powered by a 1.0-litre engine.