The waiting period of Renault's popular entry level hatchback, the Kwid, may get shorter soon as the company is looking to ensure speedy delivery of the model in India. The Kwid, which currently has a waiting period of three months, has received over 1.5 lakh bookings since its launch in September 2015.
As the French automaker gets ready to bring the new powerful variant of the Kwid — the Kwid 1.0 litre — the company is said to be working to reduce the waiting period of the current hot-selling model to one month. Renault has sold over 70,000 units of the Kwid in India so far, reports ET auto. The company has recently increased the production of the Kwid at its factory near Oragadam, Chennai, to meet the rising demand across the country. It is currently targeting a production capacity of 10,000 units.
Renault is expected to record its first ever double digit growth in the country this year, thanks to the outstanding response in favour of the Kwid. The vehicle is currently 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. It boasts fuel efficiency of 25.17kmpl.
In the new avatar, the Kwid will get 1,000cc petrol unit that is expected to develop over 65bhp mated to five-speed manual transmission. The car will also get Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) variant. Renault is also expected to offer safety features such as Dual SRS airbags and ABS as standard in the 1.0 litre variant of the Kwid.
Renault recorded 609.8 percent growth in the country in July, with sales of 11,968 units in July 2016 as against 1,686 units in the corresponding month last year. The sales of the Kwid last month stood at 9,897 units.
