The Renault Lodgy Stepway has been spotted undergoing heavy testing. The vehicle was unveiled at a recent awards function and Hrithik Roshan is the first official owner of the MPV.
The MPV market in India is growing at a very fast pace. The Toyota Innova leads the pack at the top while the Maruti Ertiga is also a successful budget MPV. The market is filled with options right from the cheap Datsun GO+ to the Honda Mobilio to the Nissan Evalia. Not wanting to stay behind, Renault India too will be launching its new MPV in India in the next few months. The Renault Lodgy MPV is a full-sized seven-seater MPV that will directly take on the Toyota Innova, Mahindra Xylo and every other MPV available in India. The Lodgy Stepway, which is the top most variant of the MPV has been spotted on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway undergoing thorough testing.
The Renault Lodgy isn’t a looker at all and it carries its own share of quirky design bits. The front does look decent while the side profile looks too bloated, at least in photographs. The rear of the MPV too carries quirky-looking tail lights. The interiors carry a good and pleasing design though. The test mule pictured here gets heavy camouflage, which the Renault guys supposedly forgot to tie properly, and hence we can make out some details looking at the vehicle. The Lodgy Stepway will come with black body-cladding, silver skid-plates on both the bumpers and a huge chrome strip at the rear which screams out ‘LODGY’.
Powering the Renault Lodgy will be the same 1.5-litre K9K diesel engine that also powers the Duster. The engine is available in two states of tune – 85 PS and 110 PS mated to 5-speed and 6-speed manual transmissions respectively. Renault will add equipment like a touchscreen multimedia system to the MPV. The Lodgy will be manufactured at the company’s plant in Oragadam, Chennai. The vehicle will be priced between Rs. 9.5 – 14 lakhs (on-road, estimated), but looking at Renault’s sales numbers till now, do you think the Lodgy will turn out to be a success story? Or will it be another dud like all its other products except the Duster?
Pictures Source – CarWale