Renault India is gearing up for the launch of much-awaited Lodgy compact MPV this month. The 7-seater family car will rival against the likes of Honda Mobilio, Maruti Suzuki Ertiga and the upcoming Chevrolet Spin. The French automaker has also revealed its plans of launching an all new small hatchback in the Indian market. Codenamed the XBA, the new small car will be a global hatchback and will be launched in our market by the end of this year, claims PTI.
The XBA will be the company's first car based on the Common Module Family (CMF) architecture, and it will be manufactured at the Renault-Nissan technical centre in Chennai. The same platform will also underpin other cars in future. The testing of the global hatch has commenced in India, and the early prototype of the car has already been spotted a couple of times during its test rounds.
The small car will be powered by a new 800cc, 3-cylinder petrol engine. The engine, too, is co-developed by Renault-Nissan alliance at their Chennai based facility.The same engine will also power the upcoming Datsun RediGo, which was unveiled at the 2014 Delhi Motor Show.
Both manual and automatic versions of the car are likely to be introduced in India. If reports are to be believed, the company might also launch an AMT-equipped variant of the car.
This entry-level hatchback is expected to be priced under Rs. 4 lakh, and will rival against the likes of Maruti Suzuki Alto K10, Hyundai Eon and others in the league. The company will also export the small car to several developing nations from India.
