Made-in- India Renault Kwid makes it to Mozambique
Made-in- India Renault Kwid makes it to Mozambiquerenault.co.mz

French car-maker Renault's small car Kwid added a new feather in its cap by clocking 1.5 lakh bookings since its launch on Sept. 24 last year. The small car played a significant role in boosting the sales of Renault in markets like Africa, Middle-East and India in the first six months of 2016.

"In India, the Kwid enjoyed further success, with 1,50,000 orders since its launch, lifting its market share by 2.3 points to 3.8 percent," the company said, as reported by PTI. Renault India sold 61,895 units of the Kwid in the first half of this year. In Africa, Middle-East region and India, Renault's sales stood at 2,08,690 units in the first half of the year as against 1,51,041 in the corresponding period last year, up 38.2 per cent, Renault said in a statement.

"Our market share grew across all regions, with particularly strong momentum in Europe and the Africa Middle-East India area," said Thierry Koskas, Groupe Renault Executive Committee member and Executive Vice President (Sales and Marketing), reported the Financial Express.

The Kwid, with its pseudo SUV stance, made headlines at the time of the launch with a highly competitive pricing that starts at Rs. 2.57 lakh and goes up to Rs. 3.53 lakh for the top spec variant, (ex-showroom, Delhi). The small car currently commands over 4 months of waiting period and the company recently added third shift at its Chennai plant to bump up Kwid's production capacity to 10,000 units.

The Kwid is 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 and rivals Maruti Suzuki Alto and Hyundai Eon in India.

New variants of Kwid in the offing:

Renault is planning to add 1,000cc engine equipped Kwid variant and AMT transmission variant of the Kwid soon. Both the models were showcased at the Auto Expo 2016 and looks identical to the currently selling 800cc engine version in terms of design. The 1,000cc petrol unit is expected to develop over 65bhp mated to five-speed manual transmission. The 1.0-litre model is also expected to come with better safety features. The AMT will be only sold with 1,000cc engine equipped Kwid. The AMT transmission will be the same unit employed in the Maruti Suzuki AMT car manufactured by Fiat-owned Magneti Marelli.