The Redi-GO will be produced at the same Renault-Nissan plant in Chennai and will be officially showcased at the 2016 Auto Expo.
The stupendous success of the Renault Kwid came close to shaking Maruti Suzuki’s throne in the entry-level hatchback space. Nevertheless, the Kwid is still some time away from taking the Alto’s place in the segment but joining the model soon will be its Japanese cousin called the Datsun Redi-GO sharing the same CMF-A platform. Spotted in its final stages of production by our reader Stephen, the Redi-GO will be making its official debut at the 2016 Auto Expo and here is what you need to know about Datsun’s most affordable offering.
For starters, the production ready Datsun Redi-GO shares several design traits with the concept model and has the tall stance and brawny wheel arches retained. The front fascia will be similar to the GO sporting the large trapezoidal grille while the rear gets high mounted tail lamps and a rather boxy tailgate. The three-lug steel wheels have also been retained on the model, but with different wheel cover design. The company is likely to provide alloys at the dealer level.
Power on the Datsun Redi-GO will come from the same 800cc three-cylinder petrol motor that propels the Renault Kwid and is tuned for 54 PS and 72 Nm of torque on the former. A 5-speed manual gearbox will be offered as standard whereas AMT could be offered at a later date. We do not expect any safety features on the Redi-GO in favour of keeping the asking price low, but the top-end trim is likely to get a driver side airbag as optional along with other bells and whistles.
It will be interesting to see if the digital instrument cluster and touchscreen infotainment system that have made the Renault Kwid so popular are offered on the Datsun Redi-GO as well. Instead, Nissan could opt for its inexpensive mobile docking system that will help save costs further. With 98 percent local content going into the making of hatchback, pricing is expected to be extremely competitive starting at a shade below Rs. 3 lakhs (ex-showroom). Will the Redi-GO be able to replicate the Kwid’s success? It is a question that we are equally eager to know the answer to.
