This February, the Renault-Nissan alliance announced investments of around Rs 5,300 crore in the country.
He emphasised that internal combustion engine vehicles will continue to coexist with EVs, and said that the company will bring its flex-fuel engine technology to India if there’s a demand.
The car maker also announced that Kwid sales have crossed 3.5 lakh units in the country.
Renault has equipped the Kwid with a split headlamp setup, as well as the company’s signature grille.
Though the car receives aesthetic changes on the inside and out, it retains its options of the 800cc petrol engine and the 1-litre petrol unit.
Though the S-Presso is a brand-new compact hatchback, it does not beat the Kwid outright in terms of size.
It had already been confirmed that the new Kwid will be heavily based on its all-electric Chinese cousin, the City K-ZE.
The City K-ZE is equipped with a 26.8kWh lithium-ion battery which gives the car a range of 240km on a full charge.
The Triber sold 2,490 units in the month of August, while the Kwid sold 2,090 units.
The car was spotted multiple times under testing in India prior to its launch.
The company sells Kwid hatchback with both 0.8 litre and 1 litre powertrains mated with manual and automated transmission options. The Kwid range is priced between Rs 2.66 lakh and Rs 4.63 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).
The Renault RBC MPV is expected to share its cabin with the Kwid.
The new Kwid range will be available in both 0.8 litre and 1 litre petrol engines in manual and automated transmission options, Renault India said in a statement.
Sumit Sawhney, country CEO and Managing Director, Renault India, told PTI that the much-talked-about launch will take place in the December quarter, but refused to specify whether it could be a Diwali offering.
Recently, prices of the model were slashed in the range of Rs 5,200-29,500 depending on state and variant to pass on benefits of reduced tax after GST implementation. The car is now available at a starting price of Rs 2.62 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).
The company has cut price of its hatchback Kwid Climber AMT between Rs 5,200 to Rs 29,500, SUV Duster RXZ AWD between Rs 30,400 to Rs 1,04,700 and that of Lodgy Stepway RXZ between Rs 25,700 to 88,600.
Renault is riding high on the success of the Kwid, having easily pipped the 2016 sales target of 1 lakh units. The company has now launched the 'climber' variant of the hatchback for Rs 4,30,000 ex-showroom Delhi.
Christened as Kwid Climber, the variant will be available in both manual and automated manual transmission (AMT) modes.
"KWID has been a true game changer and volume driver for Renault India with more than 1.30 lakh cars sold so far", the company said in a statement.
As automobile industry came to terms with the aftereffects of demonetisation, 10 passenger car brands including the likes of Maruti Suzuki‘s Swift, Hyundai's Grand i10 and Renault's Kwid showed resilience in November and December.
French car major Renault plans to launch at least one new product every year in India till 2021, including vehicles in the high selling sub-four metre segment, even as it aims to get past 5 per cent market share in the domestic passenger vehicle category by the year-end.
French auto-maker Renault was 'on track' to reach its target of gaining five per cent market share in the domestic market by end 2017, a top official said.
French auto major Renault will start exporting its small car Kwid to South Africa, Bhutan and Bangladesh from India next year as it prepares to take the popular hatchback to various global markets.
The company, which currently sells five models in the country including SUV Duster and hatchback Kwid, plans more 'Made in India' products and to introduce one new car each year as parts of its "product development strategy".
Franco-Japanese auto alliance Renault-Nissan is recalling nearly 51,000 units of two entry level cars, Renault Kwid and Datsun redi-GO in India to rectify faulty fuel system and add a hose clip.