Renault India has frozen production of its biggest volume seller in the market, the entry-level Kwid hatchback. This has come as a major setback to the French car manufacturer as the Kwid has been instrumental since its launch in gaining market share for the brand. The issues were related to the power unit reports ET Auto at the production facility in Oragadam.
In what came as a shocker, no Kwid has been rolled off the production lines since March 11 as the engineers at Renault have detected high engine noise levels leading to scrapping of 1,500 engines. For a demanded vehicle that has waiting period of 5 to 6 months, the problems have occurred at an untimely circumstance.
Renault has sold over 50,000 units of Kwid in the last seven month and its grossing popularity meant that more than 1.25 lakh bookings were made. The automaker upped the production level and increased shifts to meet the buyers’ demands in recent months but with the emerged engine issue, it might have some serious explanations to make to the customers.
In its defense, Renault has said the production pause is due to routine maintenance schedule and that the deliveries won’t be affected by any amount. The Renault India spokesperson replied to TOI via mail that the maintenance has two phases and one of them was conducted last week. The targetted production units won’t face the consequence of the maintenance phases.
The report has also said Renault’s filings with the Tamil Nadu state government for the scheduled shutdown was informed to be on from May 21 to May 29 but the Kwid’s production has already been stopped since May 11. The production of the Kwid was said to be increased from around 8,000 units to 10,000 units by April 2016 and will play a significant role in achieving the target of 5 per cent market share by next year for the company. Will the reported engine issues have profound effect on the sales of Kwid? Wait for sometime to know more!
Built on the global CMF-A platform, the Renault Kwid is powered by a 799 cc petrol engine that returns industry-leading claimed mileage of 25.17 kmpl. The maximum power of 53 bhp is developed at 5,678 rpm and the peak torque of 72 Nm at 4386 rpm. The petrol engine is mated to the front wheels via five-speed manual gearbox.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter & on Youtube