The newly developed 800cc petrol engine will come equipped with some interesting hardware offering impressive fuel efficiency without compromising on power.
2015 will see Renault India step into the A-segment volume based category with its entry-level hatchback codenamed XBA. While the XBA has been under the radar for some time now, some very important details on the powertrain have now emerged. The XBA will feature a newly developed 800cc 3-cylinder petrol engine under the hood. Codenamed ‘BR-8’, the all-new engine is rather unconventional compared to what is currently being offered and will feature a twin-cam, 4-valves per cylinder set-up making it very refined and fuel efficient without having to compromise on power.
Renault will also be offering the new engine with an Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) unit that will pit it against the newly launched Maruti Alto K10 AMT in the segment. In addition, the automaker could also plonk a higher capacity 1.0-litre 3-cylinder petrol engine codenamed ‘BR-10’ under the hood of the XBA hatchback to take on Maruti’s 1.0-litre K-Series motor. Coming to the possibilities of a small capacity diesel engine on the XBA, the engine has been ruled out for two major reasons. To begin with, the engine bay on the XBA has been designed to accommodate only the BR series of petrol motors, while the second issue has been the deregulation of diesel that could lead to the fuel losing its advantage over petrol.
Scheduled to go on sale by mid-2015, the Renault XBA will be the most affordable offering from the French automaker and will be taking cues from the Datsun Redi-GO concept that was showcased at the Auto Expo earlier this year. Based on the low cost CMF-A platform developed under the Renault-Nissan alliance, the hatch will be produced at the company’s Chennai based facility and is expected to be competitively priced at around Rs. 3 lakhs (ex-showroom) in the country, giving some direct competition to the Maruti Alto K10, Hyundai Eon and the Datsun GO in the segment.
Source – Autocar
