Renault Scela to hit stands before Diwali

06/07/2012 - 10:47 | Renault | Kaustubh Shinde

Nissan Sunny sideWhen Renault decided to enter India, the French automaker's Indian website featured outlines of 5 products along with their estimated time of arrival. The first 4 products were launched well on time and now the suspense has started to build up on the 5th car.

We know that it is going to be more of a mass market sedan which will be position in either C or the C+ segment.

Back in May, FinancialChronicle reported that the surprise sedan will be based on the Nissan Sunny and will be called Scela. This is not the first time Renault will rebrand a Nissan product. The Pulse hatch is essentially a rebadged Nissan Micra.

Yesterday at the Duster launch in Chennai, Mr Marc Nassif, Executive Director of Renault India confirmed that the Renault Scela will be on stands before Diwali. It was originally supposed to be launched by the year end. However, Renault India has decided to speed things up.

Renault India’s Mumbai design studio is working on the Nissan Sunny’s front and rear fascias to make it look more Renault and less Nissan. We hear that Renault has changed the boot lid, front grille, and modified the bumpers. We don’t expect Renault to make any mechanical changes to the Sunny, so expect the same 1.5L petrol and diesel engines to persuade the car forward.

If the Pulse was anything to go by, we expect Renault to launch the diesel version Scela possibly during the F1 Indian GP with the petrol version following in the next few months.

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