Renault Fluence and its 3 closest rivals

Image: Renault Fluence.

French car maker Renault launched Fluence on May 23 in India.

In fact, no one ever expected that it would so soon re-enter the Indian car market after it exited the tie up with Mahindra and Mahindra in April this year.

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Renault Fluence and its 3 closest rivals

Image: Interior view of Fluence.

Keeping in mind the premium segment sedan features it has, the Renault Fluence's price is quite reasonable.

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Renault Fluence and its 3 closest rivals

Image: Rear view of Fluence.

The diesel version of the Fluence price is Rs12.99 lakh (Rs 1.29 million) while petrol version which comes with CVT automatic transmission is priced at Rs14.40 lakh (Rs 1.4 million) ex showroom in New Delhi.

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Renault Fluence and its 3 closest rivals

Image: Renault Clio.

Renault plans 5 cars for India in the next 15 months

If Renault took only a month to come back, there is little doubt about how aggressive Indian auto market is at the moment.

As per reports, Renault expects to sell around 100,000 cars by 2013.

Fluence is currently available at 14 Renault dealerships across the country and the company hopes to increase it to 100 dealerships by 2012.

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Renault Fluence and its 3 closest rivals

Image: Renault Koleos.

As part of its strategy to become the third largest car manufacturer in India, Renault plans to launch five cars including the SUV Koleos and other hatchback and sedans in the next 15 months.

So how is Fluence pitched against similar sedans in India?

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Renault Fluence and its 3 closest rivals

Image: Rear seats of Fluence.

Renault Fluence

The petrol Fluence has a 1997cc spark ignition, multipoint injection engine that has a maximum output of 101 kW @ 6000 rpm.

This has advanced CVT II 6speed automatic transmission.

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Renault Fluence and its 3 closest rivals

Image: Side view of Fluence.

The Renault Fluence diesel is a 1461 cc engine car that outputs 78 kW @ 4000 rpm or 106 PS @ 4000 rpm.

The Renault Fluence diesel has manual type, 6 speed transmission.

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Renault Fluence and its 3 closest rivals

Image: Interior view of Honda Civic.

Renault Fluence vs Honda Civic

Fluence's 2.0L automatic transmission petrol version is now the strongest competitor of petrol Honda's 1.8 V AT.

Both are priced almost the same.

The Fluence 2.0L petrol has a 1997cc engine and it delivers 137bhp@6000rpm while the Honda Civic has a little less 1799cc engine that delivers 132bhp.

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Renault Fluence and its 3 closest rivals

Image: Side AC control.

Fluence has advanced CVT II 6speed transmission with two wheel drive compared to the 5-speed gearbox and FWD in Civic.

Both have almost the same expected mileage in city while the Civic delivers better average on highways with 13.1kmpl compared to Fluence that delivers an average of 12.5 kmpl.

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Renault Fluence and its 3 closest rivals

Image: Honda Civic.

The Fluence is also a little longer, wider and higher than the Honda Civic.

Therefore, the catch would be the power that the Fluence 2.0L engine would deliver besides interior comfort and exterior looks.

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Renault Fluence and its 3 closest rivals

Image: Chevrolet Cruze.

Renault Fluence vs Chevrolet Cruze

In the diesel segment, Fluence is expected to strongly counter Chevrolet Cruze's performance and price.

Compared to the 1.5L diesel engine in Fluence, Chevrolet Cruze comes with 2.0L 150bhp VCDi, variable geometry turbocharger (VGT) engine.

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Renault Fluence and its 3 closest rivals

Image: Interior view of Cruze.

The Cruze also has a higher engine displacement of 1991cc compared to Fluence's 1461cc.

However, Fluence beats Cruze in terms of mileage as it is expected to deliver 18.2 kmpl in the city compared to 14.0 kmpl delivered by Cruze.

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Renault Fluence and its 3 closest rivals

Image: Rear view of Cruze.

Similarly, Fluence is expected to deliver 21.8 kmpl on the highways compared to Cruze that delivers around 18.2 kmpl.

The Cheverolet Cruze is priced at Rs 11.92 lakh (Rs 1.19 million) almost a lakh less than Fluence diesel.

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Renault Fluence and its 3 closest rivals

Image: Hyundai Verna Fluidic.

Renault Fluence vs Hyundai Verna Fluidic

The Hyundai Verna Fluidic launched on May 11 also could be a good competition.

Though priced at Rs10.04 lakh (Rs 1.04 million) the Hyundai Verna 1.6 SX CRDi (O) variant has the capability to offer good competition to Fluence 1.5 diesel.

Besides better engine capacity, the Hyundai Verna Fluidic has slightly better mileage in the city and on the highways than the Renault Fluence.

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Renault Fluence and its 3 closest rivals

Image: Interior view of Fluidic Verna.

The major decisive thing would be the pricing as people could prefer the Fluidic than Fluence.

Fluence has a turbocharger.

Both Fluence and Fluidic have impressive interiors, exteriors and it seems that it would be very difficult for people to choose between the two.

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