French car manufacturer Renault has been present in the Indian market for over a decade now. Some of the popular models in their range include Kwid and Duster. Duster has been discontinued from the market and Kwid is still doing decent numbers every month. The manufacturer’s latest product in the portfolio was Kiger which was a compact SUV. We drove the SUV in Goa and a detailed review video of the same is available on our website. It looks like Renault is also planning to step into the EV space and the first product to be launched in India is likely to be Kiger EV. The electric SUV was recently spotted testing and pictures of the same are available online.
The video has been shared by Talking Cars on their YouTube channel. In this video, the presenters talk about the Renault Kiger EV that is likely to be launched in the Indian market. Unlike other manufacturers, there has been no news about Renault entering the EV space till now. This is kind of a surprise to everyone as the car spotted testing looks almost production ready. The car looks different from the ICE version is several ways and we would talk about the same here too.
Also read: Nissan building low cost, 7 seat MPV for India based on Renault Triber
First thing that one would notice on the Kiger EV is the grille. The test vehicle that was spotted testing is finished in Renault’s Caspian Blue shade. The front grille on the Kiger EV has been completely closed and the closed portion is also finished in body colour. The large Renault logo on the center of the grille is actually a lid and it has charging ports behind it. It supports both AC and DC fast charging. The bumper of the Kiger EV looks the same as the regular version however the body-coloured inserts can be seen around the headlamps too.
These body coloured inserts give the Kiger EV a different identity when compared to the regular version. The video also shows the side profile of the upcoming Renault EV. The overall design of the car remains the same however, the design of the wheels look different from the regular version. At the rear, the Kiger EV gets the same tail lamp set up but, the lower part of the bumper has a diffuser too. The closed front grille and diffuser at the rear has been made to reduce the drag and that would result in better driving range. The interior of the car shows a similar looking design as the ICE version however, instead of a gear lever, it gets P, R, N, D buttons to drive the car. The rotary drive select knob has been retained. We do not see regen mode buttons anywhere in the video. Hopefully the production version might get it.
This is not the first EV by Renault. The manufacturer has already been selling cars like Kwid ZE, Zoe in the international markets already. At one point, it even had unveiled electric version of Fluence sedan which was once sold in India. Renault Kiger EV will compete with Tata Nexon EV in the segment and as this is a smaller car, it is expected to priced slightly cheaper than the Nexon EV while returning almost the same driving range.
Also read: 10 DC Design cars & how they look in the REAL world: Maruti Swift to Mahindra XUV500
Source link
