India Made Renault Kwid With 1.0-Litre Engine Unveiled in Brazil

The India made Renault Kwid has been unveiled in Brazil with a 1.0-litre engine and was introduced in the Latin American nation by company CEO Carlos Ghosn. Exported from Renault's Chennai facility, the Brazilian Kwid will be locally assembled at Renault's Sao Jose dos Pinhais plant later this year. Compared to the domestic version, the Brazil spec Kwid is reportedly stronger and had more safety tech, meeting the Latin NCAP safety norms. Prices for the hatchback are yet to be announced.

The overall styling remains the same as the Indian Kwid, save for the alloy wheels

The Brazil-spec Kwid has been tweaked by the Renault Technologies Americas calibrating the same to meet the local market requirements, while the design gets mild changes as well from Renault Design Latin America. Compared to the Indian version, the Kwid is largely similar save for the new alloy wheels shown on the model unveiled. In addition, the hatchback will get a reinforced chassis as well as dual front and side airbags as standard, apart from the other set of creature comforts. The additional features have added to the Kwid's weight by a good 20 per cent over the Indian version with the model now being around 130 kg heavier.

In terms of power, the 1.0-litre three-cylinder motor on the Latin American Renault Kwid is a flex-fuel unit running on petrol and ethanol. Renault will also offer the 800cc three-cylinder flex-fuel motor in Brazil. Power output on either engines hasn't been announced yet but can be expected to be slightly higher than the Indian version and will be primarily competing against the Fiat Mobi in Latin America, one of the more popular offerings in the country. In addition, Ghosn also announced at the unveiling event that the Captur SUV will also be produced in Brazil.

Renault will also produce the Capur in Brazil apart from the Kwid

As for the Indian market, Renault did showcase the 1.0-litre equipped Kwid at the 2016 Auto Expo in February and the hatchback is expected to be introduced later this close to the festive season. The more powerful variant will compete with the likes of Maruti Suzuki Alto K10 as well as the Datsun GO, Hyundai Eon among others, while an AMT trim is also in the works, also showcased at the expo, which will lock horns with the Maruti Suzuki Celerio AMT and the upcoming Tata Tiago AMT. Expect to see a significant price hike in the model range once the new variants as are added.