Renault Kwid Facelift launching on 1st October, 2019

Renault India’s final launch for 2019 will be a facelifted version of its best-selling car – the Kwid budget hatchback. The facelifted Kwid has already been spied without camouflage, and if you haven’t seen it yet, you can check it out here. The car gets a major stylistic makeover at the front and rear. The headlamps move to the front bumpers, a-la-Tata Harrier, and this new trend of cars having their headlamps on bumpers and the conventional headlamp position giving way to LED DRLs, has finally hit the budget hatchback segment. The Kwid will continue to be positioned as an affordable hatchback, which is also Renault’s least priced car. It’ll continue to battle the likes of the Maruti Alto twins, the upcoming Maruti S-Presso, Hyundai Santro and the Tata Tiago, among another entry-level hatchbacks.

The Kwid is based on the Renault-Nissan CMF-A platform, which is a low cost car platform designed for emerging markets such as India, South America, Brazin and South Africa. The facelifted model will continue to use the same platform, which it shares with the Datsun RediGO – another low cost hatchback that the Renault-Nissan group sells in India. While the looks of the facelifted Kwid get a major makeover, mechanicals are likely to be carried over from the outgoing model.

The car will be offered with two engines, both triple cylinder, naturally aspirated units. The smaller engine will be an 800cc unit with 54 Bhp-68 Nm while the bigger engine will displace 1 liter and make 67 Bhp-91 Nm. Both engines will get 5 speed manual gearboxes as standard while the bigger engine will also be offered with a 5 speed AMT option.

On the inside, the facelifted Kwid will get a refresh as well. A few additional features could also be packed in to make the hatchback more attractive. Top-end trims are likely to get twin airbags and ABS as standard safety options while the touchscreen MediaNAV infotainment interface with navigation, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay will be one of the big selling points of the new car.

Lower trims will get ABS, a driver’s airbag, reverse parking sensors, ISOFIX child seat mounting points and speed alerts as standard safety features mandated under the Bharat New Vehicle Safety Assessment Program (BNVSAP). In terms of pricing, expect the facelifted Kwid to be priced similar to the outgoing model. A starting price tag of under Rs. 3 lakh is what the car is expected to be positioned at. An all-electric version of the Kwid will follow sometime in 2022.