Renault Kwid EV Spotted In India

The Kwid has been Renault’s top-selling car for India in the recent years, their entire lineup is pretty slim and lacks an EV. Renault plans to improve this with the Kwid EV which is also known as the Dacia Spring EV in the global markets.

Renault’s First EV In India

The Dacia spring offers two dreary powertrain options. The options include a 45 bhp and a 65 bhp electric motor powered by a 27 kWh battery pack. The powertrain has a range of 220 kilometres on a full charge. These numbers are quite poor, but Renault has taken such cost-saving measures to price it attractively. One upside to such a weak powertrain is that the charging times are low. You could charge it from 20% to 80% in a mere 45 minutes with the help of a fast charger. With a slower charger, you can fully top up its battery in under 4 hours.

The test mule was camouflaged and thus it is difficult to identify key design elements. Interestingly, the mule was spotted with a Dacia badge, which pops open to reveal the charging port. The compact design language of the Kwid remains constant with the Kwid EV. Expectedly, you can see the steel wheels in the spy-shots of the car.

The cabin was equipped with a 10-inch infotainment screen and a fully digital driver’s display. It is expected to have features like Level 1 ADAS, a rear-view camera and automatic climate control. Lower variants might miss such features. To distract customers from all the cost-cutting that they have conducted inside the cabin, the dashboard is covered with colourful plastic elements.

Will The Cost-Cutting Pay Off?

The pricing for the Kwid EV is expected to start at around ₹7 lakh, which means it will sit between the MG Comet and the Tata Tiago EV in the price bracket. The Kwid EV will offer more practicality and a better powertrain for a similar price. The Kwid EV could perform well in the Indian market, thanks to such an aggressive pricing strategy. It is expected to launch in the later months of 2025.

The cost-cutting would be quite evident with the Kwid EV, as the global variant is filled with nasty plastics. Like its powertrain, the Kwid EV looks unexciting. However, Renault’s primary objective is to minimise the pricing gap between ICE vehicles and EVs, which they have done in global markets. Its pricing would be its primary selling point and would be a better alternative to the impractical and silly MG Comet EV.

Source- team-bhp