Originally unveiled back in November last year as a concept car, the Renault Kiger is now making its production debut in its main market, India. Just like many other automakers, the French brand is deeply interested in securing a piece of the region’s automotive pie, and the Kiger should act as an attractive knife slicing and dicing through the popular sub-four-meter segment.
Renault directly labels the Kiger as a “brand-new compact SUV designed and destined for India.” It also promises the model will be sold across other international markets during an as yet to be detailed second phase of expansion.
By the way, don’t get fooled by the company calling the Kiger a compact SUV because we’re dealing with a car that actually fits into the European classification of a subcompact.
It’s just 3,991-mm (157.1-inches) long, and with its 2,500 mm wheelbase (98.42 in), it will easily nestle into the company’s Indian range between the Kwid and Duster (the Dacia model is sold with a Renault logo in the region).
Still, it’s large enough to come with a 405-liter (14.3-cu ft) trunk, and the generous 205-mm (8-in) ground clearance along with its five-seat capacity make the Renault Kwid a great all-rounder. It needs to be so, because it will have ample competition – including from within the Alliance, after Nissan recently unveiled the Magnite.
The design blends several styling cues from different models of the French house. For example, the front end reinterprets the Kwid theme, while the rear mirrors the C-shaped ethos of the second generation Captur.
Moving inside, the Kiger looks decidedly modern thanks to the seven-inch digital instrument cluster, and the floating eight-inch touchscreen positioned up high in central area of the dashboard.
As far as powertrains are concerned, Renault is giving Indian customers a choice between a naturally aspirated 1.0-liter and a turbocharged variant of the same engine; they are rated at 72 PS (71 hp) and 100 PS (99 hp), respectively.
The two mills can be hooked up to a five-speed manual transmission, an Easy-R AMT (automated manual transmission), and an X-Tronic automatic continuously variable transmission, which is going to become available shortly after the commercial introduction.
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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