Carlos Ghosn, chairman and chief executive officer of the Renault-Nissan Alliance has confirmed that the alliance’s flexible CMF-A platform, which underpins the Kwid, will also give rise to a crossover and a sedan, among other body styles.
“We’re going to come up with more cars on the same platform. For the moment it’s one car, but you can expect second, third, fourth with different designs and different shapes. We’re obviously going to have crossovers and we’re also going to have sedans,” Ghosn said on the sidelines of the recently held 2016 New York auto show.
The new models based on the CMF-A architecture will cater to not just the Indian market but also to other emerging markets. While Renault already considers the Kwid a crossover, it is now likely that we could see one from Nissan and Datsun as well.
Calling the Kwid an instant success which has surpassed expectations, Ghosn said that establishing the CMF-A platform is part of the company’s long-term strategy. Renault India has seen a huge turnaround in its sales due to continued buoyant demand for the Kwid with bookings for the vehicle crossing the 1 lakh mark since its launch.
Nissan is said to reveal its upcoming equivalent car under the Datsun brand, known by its codename, I2, or redi-GO on April 14. The redi-GO, which shares the same CMF-A platform as the Kwid, is confirmed to be a city-focused hatchback. Although it is likely to have around 200mm ground clearance, it will be shaped and marketed as a city car as opposed to a crossover.
Interestingly, the carmaker will also develop an electric variant of the Kwid in the future with Ghosn saying the same would only “be a logical consequence” without giving a specific timeframe.
Dipan Sur
Viraaj Bhatnagar
