Renault-Nissan joint venture has been flourishing in India and the French automaker has had great progress in hatch section from the Japanese partner. It previously made the Pulse from Nissan’s Micra and now in the making is a Sunny based sedan.
Christened, Renault Scala, the French sedan will be positioned above the Sunny, reported Autocar. Borrowing technology from the Japanese counterpart, the Renault Scala will be platformed at Nissan’s Oragadam facility in Chennai. It also sports the same mechanics, interior and powerplant as the Sunny. Powering the Scala will be a 1.5-litre petrol developing 97bhp power and 134 Nm torque and a 1.5-litre dCi diesel motor pumping out 85bhp power and 200 Nm torque. However, Renault may dump the diesel motor like it did with the Pulse. Mated to the engine is a five-speed transmission, and there is news of Nissan testing a CVT for the Sunny, which may be borrowed for the Scala as well.
The rebadged sedan will follow the same design cues as the Sunny with a little French tweak. Similar to the Pulse, the Renault Scala may receive cosmetic uplift to give a stronger brand appeal. Expected to hit the market by third quarter of 2012, the Renault Scala will eat into the sales of Ford Fiesta, Honda City, Toyota Etios, Hyundai Verna and of course, the Nissan Sunny. However, as of now there is no word on how many variants will be offered of the Renault Scala. After the Fluence, this is the second sedan in the Indian portfolio of Renault. With the fair success of hatch Pulse, sedan Fluence and SUV Koleos, the new sedan Scala is expected to shoot up the sales of French automaker in premium segment. However, the question remains, will the customers be ready to accept a rebadged Sunny.