"Huge opportunity" for Renault Kwid in Latin America & Africa, says Renault India CEO - IAB Report

To launch in Nepal and Sri Lanka next.

Renault India is seriously considering exporting the Renault Kwid to Latin American and African markets, the company's CEO and managing director, Mr. Sumit Sawhney, told Indian Autos Blog at a roundtable this week.

"We are already working on the Latin American and African projects for the Kwid. By projects I mean CBU, CKD, SKD or a mix of CKD and local production where I ship 35 pressed panels out of 100. We have huge opportunity for Kwid in Latin America, Africa and other emerging markets," he told IAB. Sawhney said no cars have left the country yet, and the projects were in the study stage.

Apart from Latin American and African markets, Renault India will also export the Kwid to neighboring markets such as Nepal and Sri Lanka shortly. However, the Kwid will not be sold in European markets, Mr. Carlos Ghosn, Chairman of the Renault-Nissan alliance said at the time of unveiling the car in Chennai in May this year.

Also read: Renault-Nissan hopes to sell 1 million CMF-A platform-based cars per year – Report

The Kwid was launched in India last month with prices starting at INR 2.56 lakhs and extending till INR 3.53 lakhs for the top-end variant with a driver-side airbag. It is powered by a 799 cc three-cylinder petrol engine capable of 54 PS at 5,678 rpm and 72 Nm of torque at 4,386 rpm, paired to a 5-speed manual gearbox. With an ARAI rated fuel efficiency of 25.17 km/l, the Kwid is the most fuel efficient petrol car in India.