Renault's Kwid to exceed Indian safety standards

Sources revealed that Sumit Sawhney, MD and CEO of Renault India operations, is positive that the Kwid will exceed Indian safety standards by 2017. 

The French car maker predicts robust sales for its Kwid regardless of the upcoming new safety standard regulations. “Kwid continues to be a popular model among the entry-level buyers due to excellent value proposition if offers. It is a global car. While we are meeting all the safety requirements of current regulations in India, we will be far exceeding even the requirements the Indian government will be putting in 2017 and 2019,” Sawhney said.

NCAP had recently announced crash test results of the Kwid and it did not fare well in the safety norms. Sawhney asserted that the Global NCAP tested a Kwid that was still in the development stage. Fresh tests will be conducted on the new Kwid soon, and the company is in the process of getting its car ready for these norms. 

All car makers need to abide by the new safety standards called Bharat New Vehicle Safety Assessment Program (BNVSAP). Cars that are sold in India will have to comply with the star ratings based on crash safety performance tests. These norms come into effect for new cars by the last quarter of 2017 and existing cars need to conform to the standards by 2019.