Renault is entering the entry-level seven-seater segment with the introduction of the all-new Triber.
The segment currently consists of the Toyota Avanza and Suzuki Ertiga, which means there’s more than enough room for Renault to also get some action.
The Triber will be built in India and exported only to countries in which a car like this is necessary, including South Africa.
It runs on Renault’s CMF-A platform, which also underpins the Kwid, Datsun GO and Datsun Go+.
For a car that has seven seats, the Triber isn’t actually that big. It’s less than four metres long, yet boasts an impressive luggage capacity of 625 litres with the third row folded flat. It also weighs in at 947kg, so it doesn’t need a large capacity engine. We’re not sure how well the 1.0-litre three-cylinder engine (53kW/96Nm) will cope with five passengers on board, but we’ll comment on that as soon as we’ve driven it. The small powertrain will be mated to a five-speed manual transmission, or an automated manual shifter.
It’s fairly obvious that Renault wanted the Triber to look a little more robust than its competitors, which is why it has 182mm of ground clearance and various off-road design cues.
On the inside it has an eight-inch touch-screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto functionality.
Local pricing and specification will be revealed closer to the Triber’s launch.