Renault’s New Kiger Concept SUV Looks Ready To Join The Sub-4m SUV ‘Tribe’

The final product is said to carry forward 80 percent of the show car's design

• Renault Kiger has been spied testing many times but always draped in camouflage.

• Renault has teased the car with a first look at this pre-production concept model.

• It gets a colour-shifting paint job with green accents for the sporty design.

• No word on the cabin design or the feature list of the Kiger.

• It will get the same 1.0-litre and 1.0-litre turbo-petrol engines as the Nissan Magnite.

• Renault is expected to launch the Kiger in early-2021 to take on the likes of the Kia Sonet, Hyundai Venue and Tata Nexon.

Currently, seven brands in India offer a sub-4m SUV and yet Renault isn’t one of them. The French carmaker has been working on a new model for the segment, known by the codename HBC. It has been spied under camouflage a few times and now Renault has taken the covers off the pre-production concept of its upcoming sub-4m SUV offering, the Kiger.

The body of the Kiger show car has a blue-ish purple hue that changes depending on the angle of the light. It has green accents on the front and rear bumpers, along the side moulding as well as on the mohawk-styled roof rails. The tri-lamp headlights are positioned on the bumper while the LED lighting along the bonnet line is only interrupted by the Renault badge in the centre. 

Around the back, it has distinctive C-shaped LED tail lamps as spied on the test mules while the rear bumper is positioned quite high. For added sportiness, it gets a centrally located dual-exit exhaust which is unlikely to make it to production. The car’s overall body shape is heavily reminiscent of the Kwid, but bigger with suitable muscular styling.

The Kiger is underpinned by the same platform as the Triber which promises a spacious interior. Its short overhangs allow the front and rear axles to be spaced out while staying within the sub-4m segment. Renault has fitted the show car with 19-inch gear-shaped wheels and grooved tyres for a ground clearance of 210mm. While the production-spec model won’t have the same wheels or tyres, it could offer similar unladen ground clearance. Renault has stated that the final car will share 80 percent of the styling from the Kiger show car.

The interior of the Kiger has not been teased but expect it to offer a digital display in the driver’s instrument cluster and a touchscreen infotainment system in the centre of the dashboard. In terms of comforts, the Kiger could offer plenty including auto AC, wireless charging, cruise control, push-button engine start-stop, and maybe even a 360-degree surround-view camera system.

Renault’s sub-4m SUV is expected to share some bits with the Nissan Magnite as the two cars have been developed together under the Renault-Nissan alliance. As a result, it will be powered by the same engine options: 1.0-litre petrol and 1.0-litre turbo-petrol units. In the Magnite, both engines are mated to a 5-speed manual but only the turbo-petrol gets the choice of a CVT automatic. However, expect the naturally aspirated petrol engine to utilise an optional AMT from the Triber. The performance rating of both engines should be the same as well with the 1.0-litre engine making 72PS of power and the turbocharged version making 100PS.

The Kiger is a global product that will debut in India before being offered in other markets. Renault is expected to launch the production-spec version of its new sub-4m SUV in early-2021 with prices likely to start from Rs 6 lakh. The Kiger will take on the likes of the Kia Sonet, Hyundai Venue, Mahindra XUV300, Maruti Vitara Brezza, Ford EcoSport, Tata Nexon, and the upcoming Nissan Magnite.