Renault Kwid completes one year since global reveal

Exactly a year ago to this day, Renault had the global premiere of the production model of its much-awaited hatchback Kwid in Chennai. The importance of this made-for-India Renault model was apparent, what with CEO Carlos Ghosn coming down to Chennai to reveal the low-cost entry-level compact car.

The Kwid, which was first showcased as a concept at the 2014 Auto Expo in Delhi, is the first car based on the Renault-Nissan Alliance’s Common Modular Family A-Segment (CMF-A) platform. With its stand-out SUV-like styling cues and first-in-class features like the touch-screen infotainment system, the Kwid was billed to be a game-changer in the Indian small car market. With the overwhelming response for the car since its commercial launch in September 2015, the Kwid has managed to capture the fancy of Indian car buyers – and disrupted the entry level hatchback market.

The Kwid bagged Autocar India’s Car of the Year 2016 title and also helped its creator Gérard Detourbet win Autocar Professional’s Man of the Year 2015, for leading the successful creation of the highly localised hatchback (98%) that represents Renault’s gutsy move in the Indian small car market.

Domestic sales figures for the Kwid reveal that the car has sold a total of 50,999 units till end-April 2016, the best performance by any Renault car in the country in the recent past. It continues to command a waiting of nearly six months.

As a result, Renault India has not only ramped up production to nearly 11,000 units every month at the Chennai plant but is also expanding its sales and service network to meet the strong demand.  

With its success in India, Renault, which always pegged the Kwid as a global car, recently announced that the hatchback will now also be assembled at its facility in Brazil at the Ayrton Senna industrial complex in Sao José dos Pinhais.

This version of the Kwid has been adapted by Renault Technology Americas, which is one of the seven Renault strategic engineering centres across the world, and is derived from the original Kwid developed by the Renault-Nissan Alliance’s technical centre in Chennai, India.

This has been possible thanks to the Alliance’s platform-based approach, which has enabled it to go further in the developing an international, flexible product offering based on component sharing and high-performance architecture.

Scrutiny for safety

Even as the Kwid has been a success story for the company in India, the recent crash tests conducted by automotive safety watchdog Global NCAP have pointed out to some need for improvement on the safety front.  

The Kwid was tested in three versions, including one with airbags, but each was rated as ‘zero star’ for adult safety. All the cars were tested for crash safety at a speed of 64kph at which the ‘unstable’ body shell on these cars collapsed, exposing the dummy occupants to life-threatening injuries.

However, Renault has confirmed that it will implement further improvements to the Kwid and Global NCAP will test these new evolutions in forthcoming crash tests. “We welcome Renault’s efforts to correct this and we look forward to testing another improved version with airbags. Renault has a strong record of achievement in safety in Europe and it should offer the same commitment to its customers in India,” David Ward, Secretary General of Global NCAP, had said while appreciating the company’s commitment towards safety.