The MPV segment is all set to witness its fiercest competition in the times to come. Honda’s Mobilio is the latest entrant in this segment which will slug it out majorly against Maruti’s Ertiga.
Set to gatecrash into the party is Renault with its first MPV for our market – Lodgy! A peculiar name it may be, but Lodgy was spotted testing in India barely a few days back and according to a report on Zee News, it will be launched next year.
Slugging it out against the newly launched Mobilio and Ertiga, Lodgy is the largest in segment with an overall length of 4,498mm. At a height of 1680mm it is taller than Mobilio and Ertiga as well. However, the dimensions fall short of both the Nissan Evalia and Chevrolet Enjoy, both of which are underperformers here.
Renault Lodgy, which is again a rebadged Dacia product like the Duster, is reported to hit India as early as January 2015. Lodgy will obviously be modified as per the Indian market requirements and the company has already got the necessary clearances from their international arm to begin manufacturing it at their Oragadam plant near Chennai.
Lodgy will most probably be powered by the 1.5L K9K diesel engine which was originally developed by Renault for the Clio hatchback and is now doing duty on a number of cars under the Renault Nissan alliance. Apart from Duster, it does duty on the Nissan Evalia where it produces 85 bhp at 3750 rpm and 200 Nm at 2000 rpm. The international model though has a slightly higher power output.
To gain traction, Renault may price it competitively initially and may follow the Duster’s strategy of increasing the prices once the brand is well received.
Related: Next-Gen Duster Rendered; Launching in 2017
