Renault, the French automaker, is gearing up for the launch of much-awaited Lodgy MPV. Other than the compact MPV, the company is also working on an entry-level hatchback- Codenamed XBA. The small car will go on sale in the country by mid-2015, and it will be priced under Rs. 4 lakh mark. Interestingly, the XBA hatch will be the company’s cheapest car in India, and the world too.
Based on the CMF-A platform, the Renault XBA compact will be powered by the newly developed 3-cylinder, 800cc petrol engine. This engine has been developed by Renault-Nissan Alliance at the company’s technical centre in Chennai. In order to keep its cost down, the company has used high level of local components.
Initially, the small car will be offered in petrol version only. It is expected that the company will introduce the LPG and CNG options as well, but at a later stage. A five-speed manual transmission will be offered as standard, while the automated manual transmission (AMT) might come as an option.
The Renault XBA entry level car will be manufactured at the Renault-Nissan Oragadam facility in Chennai, and will be exported to other developing nations around the globe. The same CMF-A platform will also underpin the Datsun RediGo, which is scheduled to go on sale later this year. With platform sharing, we expect both the models to share most parts to offer competitive pricing.
