Maruti Suzuki’s hotseller the Alto K10 will soon get a new competitor in the form of the Renault Kwid 1.0-litre model which will be on sale by the end of May or June this year.
The new generation Kwid will be offered with a 1.0-litre engine that comes mated to a five-speed manual transmission to generate about 67bhp of power. The existing Kwid model in India gets a 0.8-litre three-cylinder engine that generates about 53bhp of power and 72Nm of torque. The current model claims to return a fuel efficiency of about 25.17kmpl while it is believed that the upcoming model may also return similar figures.
The Maruti Alto K10 comes with an optional AMT transmission and airbag option right from the base variants itself. This is where the K10 scores brownie points over Renault’s upcoming Kwid 1.0-litre variant. Initially, the Kwid 1.0-litre will be offered with a five-speed manual transmission while the company may introduce an AMT variant sometime around the festive season in the last quarter of this year.
Renault is offering the Kwid as an entry-level vehicle; it is expected to get ABS and dual airbags on the higher variants. The new model shall also additionally offer touchscreen infotainment system and a digital instrument cluster. The Kwid Racer and Kwid Climber that were showcased at the recently concluded Auto Expo also featured interesting cosmetic upgrades like Daytime Running LEDs and off-road tyres giving it an aggressive stance.
