Renault mulling badge-engineered Nissan Evalia MPV for India?

Badge engineering hasn't worked well in the Indian car market, which is littered with examples of dud-selling badge engineered cars such as the Renault Pulse and Scala, to name just a couple. Volkswagen and Skoda too, haven't succeeded in boosting sales volumes through badge engineering.

The poor sales results that badge engineering has delivered has prompted car makers to strive for a higher level of differentiation (Nissan Terrano SUV) and has also resulted an automaker (Nissan) eschewing this approach altogether. For the record, the Nissan Terrano (a rebadged Renault Duster) will be the last badge engineered Nissan to be sold in India. 

A report carried by the TimesOfIndia suggests that Renault India isn't done with badge engineering yet, with the French car planning reportedly rebadging the Nissan Evalia, in order to launch it under the Renault banner. If this indeed happens, three versions of the Evalia could be running on Indian roads: the Nissan Evalia, Renault's version of the Evalia and the Ashok Leyland Stile.

If Renault does badge engineer the Evalia, one's left wondering about the fate of the Dacia Lodgy MPV, Renault's original MPV choice for the Indian car market. The Dacia Lodgy, based on the second generation Logan platform is a 7 seat MPV that is powered by the 1.5 liter K9K turbo diesel engine.

The Lodgy was launched in Europe last year and was slated to come to India next year, with an unveil likely to happen at the 2014 Indian Auto Expo. The latest buzz suggests otherwise as it would make no sense for Renault to launch both the Nissan Evalia and the Lodgy in India.

So, it's either the rebadged Evalia or the Dacia Lodgy that will be launched in India, as an MPV model wearing the Renault badge. Going by the dismal performance of the Nissan Evalia at the hustings, Renault selling the Lodgy in India makes more sense. The Nissan Evalia for its part, is due for a facelift in the coming weeks. 

Renault India also has plans of launching the A-Entry, 800 cc small car, after 2 years. The A-Entry will be the brand's least priced car model and will compete in the sub-4 lakh rupee segment. The car's 800 cc, triple cylinder petrol engine is being developed by the Renault-Nissan Technical Center at Chennai. The car is said to share parts with the Datsun i2 hatchback.