Taxi service providers as well as fleet owners have become a great market for car manufacturers and the growing popularity of rental cab services and radio taxis have made MPVs too quite popular in the market. In line with this, Renault seems to be looking at this as an opportunity to launch the Lodgy for the taxi market.
The seven seat edition of the 85PS version of the Lodgy is being readied by Renault and has been targeted specifically towards the taxi operating and fleet segment. The car will get two captain seats replacing the middle bench.
The Lodgy had been launched with the seven seat configuration as optional back in April and this was available only with the top of the line RxZ edition of the car. As of now, the eight seat configuration is default on most other trims and is also more affordable though it takes away the tax benefits that are allowed to seven-seaters in some states. In order to avail of these and keep costs low as well, the Lodgy is being readied in a cheaper, seven-seater avatar to cater to the taxi market.
In the 85PS edition, the Lodgy will have a 1.5-litre diesel engine, which will come on a lower 83.3 bhp configuration. The car will be mated to a five-speed manual transmission and is to be priced at around Rs.8.29 to Rs.10.99 lakh.
