French automaker Renault globally revealed a new compact seven-seater in India on Wednesday. Named the Triber, it is the first all-new product for India from Renault in nearly two years. Renault Triber is the outcome of a joint project between Renault teams in India and France and is the world's first vehicle specifically designed for the Indian market, the company said.
From the first look, the Triber bears a striking resemblance to the Kwid—that's because it's based on the same CMF-A platform. The headlights, grille, sculpted clamshell bonnet and an upright stance are all brand new.
The Triber's no-frills, function over fashion form is key to offering lots of space in the smallest footprint possible. The car's overall design is very understated, but on the inside it offers horizontally adjustable second row of seats with reclining and split folding and removable third row seats. The third row, when removed, can free up about 625 litres of space.
A dual-tone colour scheme accentuates the interiors of the car, with an 8-inch LCD infotainment display sitting in the centre enabled with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Another 3.5-inch display sits in the instrument cluster that provides vital info about the car.
Safety features of the Triber include dual front airbags, ABS, rear parking sensors, and a speed warning system as standard while the top variant also gets a reverse camera and passenger side airbags.
Powering the compact seven-seater is a 1.0-litre SCe petrol motor generating 72hp and 96Nm of torque. It is essentially a slightly tweaked version of the Kwid's engine that also makes similar figures. Mated to the engine are two gearbox options—a 5-speed manual gearbox and a 5-speed automated manual transmission (AMT).
Mint had earlier reported that French carmaker Renault is also likely to launch a small SUV next year, apart from giving facelifts to its two bestsellers in India — the Kwid hatchback and the Duster SUV — later this year. The carmaker is aiming to double its annual sales volume in India to 150,000 vehicles by 2022. According to the company’s mid-term plan, the new vehicles will allow Renault to cover at least half of India’s passenger vehicle market in terms of product offerings.
The Renault Triber will be manufactured at the Chennai plant and hit the Indian market in the second half of 2019. It is expected to be priced ₹5 to 7-lakh.
