The French automaker, Renault, is known to be prepping some sorts of a surprise for the customers it has in India. It seems that the company is prepping yet another Dacia-based model that is going to be reworked to look and feel more like a French car. Considering the success of the company’s Duster model, perhaps this is just a sensible thing to do. In fact, rumor has it the Lodgy MPV is heading to India sometime soon. There has even been a photo of the vehicle model in question for the Indian market.
One thing that is new about the Lodgy coming from the French manufacturer is that the car now sports new front grille design. This time, there are more chrome accents than what was once visible on the Dacia Lodgy. In addition to that, Renault’s version of the Lodgy is also coming with silver roof rails as well as additional trims for the lower part of the door sills.
According to reports published by some of the local sources, the Renault Lodgy will make its world debut in March next year. Despite being reworked by Renault, the car will seemingly retain the powertrain it gets from Dacia. The probability is that customers will be able to choose from two engine options. The engine can either be a 1.5L dCi engine with 110 PS of power output or a 1.6L gasoline or K9K turbocharged diesel engine with a power output totaling 85 PS. Renault is reportedly trying to up its customer base in India and the Lodgy will aim at a high volume market segment. It will most likely go head to head with the likes of the Honda Mobilio or the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga.
Unfortunately, there is one possible drawback about the Renault Lodgy, it is in terms of safety.
The car only scores 3 stars at the Euro NCAP crash test. Yet again, perhaps this is a necessary trade-off considering the car will be an affordable model targeted at a high volume market segment.
