Wednesday, November 28, 2012
By Pawan Rana
Renault Lodgy gets three stars in EuroNCAP tests, 15 new cars tested
Striking, surprising but true. The Dacia Lodgy has been awarded only three stars out of five in the Euro NCAP safety tests. This means that the car does not meet the strictest of the safety norms. Notably, the Dacia Lodgy is highly awaited in India as Renault Lodgy and this fresh development could dent the pre launch image of the multi utility vehicle. However, experts in India believe that since India still lacks any stricter safety norms, even three stars are more than sufficient. In India, the Lodgy will be competing with Toyota Innova, Maruti Ertiga and Nissan Evalia.
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The striking revelation came when the European safety standards organization EuroNCAP has issued the rating to over 15 cars including the Dacia Lodgy. Out of this lot of 15 cars only Lodgy has got three stars and all others got five stars. Cars that were rated include Fiat 500, Ford Fiesta hatchback, Ford Kuga, Hyundai Santa Fe, Skoda Rapid, Mercedes Benz A Class, Volkswagen Golf, Mitsubishi Outlander and others. It is believed that it is highly degrading for Dacia to get three stars in the lot of cars tested when all others got five stars. This has though little effect on international sales but safety standards are given high priority in Europe.
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Experts believe that the three stars are as good as five stars and this rating will not impact the launch of the car in India. Especially when cars such as Maruti 800 had too few safety means except the seat belt and it was a great hit. But others believe that now India too has become conscious about safety and other features of the cars and when people are investing Rs 8 lakh or so they make sure that they get some safety features. Anyhow the safety features that are included in the list of three stars are very well above what the best of the cars in India can offer.
