Renault India may launch Lodgy Easy-R AMT soon

Team OD Published: March 15, 2016, 03:31 PM IST

Renault India might offer the Easy-R AMT, that debuted in the Duster facelift, in the Lodgy MPV. The French carmaker has been trying hard to push the sales of the Lodgy and feels it needs to diversify the product to reach a wider audience. Currently, the new Maruti Suzuki Ertiga, with a four-speed torque converter mated to a petrol engine, is available in the MPV market. Toyota is also expected to offer the new Innova Crysta with a six-speed automatic transmission, that'll be coupled to a diesel engine. The Renault Lodgy with the six-speed AMT, hence, makes absolute sense.

Renault Lodgy_longterm_feb16

The Lodgy and Duster share a similar platform, and hence setting up the ZF sourced AMT on the Lodgy will not pose any problems. The Lodgy AMT will be aimed, primarily, at individual owners who drive in the city. It's expected to come in two variants with the 110PS engine. Renault may offer the Lodgy AMT, with seven-seat configuration only. Expect a Rs 50,000 price hike over the similar trim with a manual transmission.

Longterm_Renault Lodgy (3)

The Renault Lodgy was launched in India, in April 2015 but hasn't managed to gain as much market share as Renault expected. We have compared it with the segment king, the Innova, and found the Lodgy to better it on several parameters.

Longterm_Renault Lodgy (2)

Renault India will also introduce a no-frills, base variant for fleet operators. Renault had shied away from that segment but it has now realised, that it needs to be present in that sector to increase the numbers. It may offer two cab-specific variants with different feature sets. Renault aims to price the fleet Lodgy below the current starting price of Rs 8.54 lakh. Toyota has ceased production of the current generation Innova, which could boost sales of the Lodgy.

Source: CarandBike