It’s not a big secret that the made-in-India Renault Kwid scored a despicable zero stars in its Global NCAP crash test report card earlier this year. The Kwid will also be manufactured and sold in Brazil by the end of this year, but here’s the deal breaker – most of the differences between the India made model and its Brazilian counterpart would involve around providing added safety to the latter.
Also read: 2016 Global NCAP Results: Made in India cars fail miserably in crash tests, receive 0-star ratings
The Brazilian Kwid will be adapted to the local market by Renault Technology Americas, and will receive a number of changes in relation to the Indian model. Reports confirm that the South American Kwid will be significantly heavier than the Indian model, to the tune of 20%. Considering the India-made micro crossover tips the scales at a trifling 660 kg, its Brazilian derivative will weigh nearly 800 kg.
Renault Climber Concept; Auto Expo 2016
The additional weight can be attributed to primarily to a stronger structure which will benefit from the usage of steel that has higher tensile strength, while other cost cutting measures that compromise on safety in the Indian model will be addressed to. For example, the driver’s seat in the foreign Kwid alone will be heavier by 9 kg as compared to the Indian model. That’s correct. While stricter Indian crash safety regulations are still to fall in place, some manufacturers are busy milking the situation. Other updates to the Brazilian Kwid would include bigger wheels, larger tires, electrically adjustable ORVMs and a rear wash/wipe feature, amongst others.
Also read: Renault Kwid Review : Small Wonder
The Renault Kwid will be manufactured in São José dos Pinhais (PR) starting from the second half of 2016 and will debut at the Sao Paulo Motor Show in November. Power will come from a choice of 0.8-litre and 1.0-litre petrol engines, while the latter could be tuned to run on ethanol as well. Apart from the standard 5-speed manual transmission sending power to the front wheels, there will be an AMT option available as well. The CKD kits for the Kwid will be shipped from India.
via Carplace