Rendering - Renault XBA (Maruti Alto rival)

Renault India will launch a new small car next year that will challenge the likes of the Maruti Alto 800 and the Hyundai Eon. Codenamed 'Renault XBA', the small car will be based on the CMF-A platform, which has been developed by Renault and Nissan.

The small car will be manufactured in India and Brazil, according to the company's executive vice-president, Jerome Stoll. This rendering prepared by Noticias Automotivas, gives an idea as to what the small car may look like.

Clearly, this render is based on the Datsun Redi-Go concept, which had its world premiere at the Auto Expo in February. There's a good reason for this, as the entry-level Datsun and Renault will share their underpinnings and main interiors. Seeing the lukewarm response to the Pulse and Scala, Renault would not want to resort to another attempt at badge-engineering products, but differentiate the exterior to a great deal like Nissan have managed with the Duster-based Terrano.

In India, the Renault XBA small car will be powered by a sub-1-liter petrol engine (expect a 0.8- or 0.9-liter engine) matched to a 5-speed transmission. An automated manual transmission (AMT) could also be offered from the start.

In Brazil though, the small car will be given a flex-fuel motor (that runs on petrol and ethanol).

[Images from Noticias Automotivas]