The Nissan Sunny based Renault Scala C-segment is slated for a September 7th, 2012 launch

We’re just a week away from Renault’s fifth product for the Indian car market, in the form of the Scala C-segment sedan. The Scala sedan is a badge engineered version of the Nissan Sunny, and therefore retains all the fine features of the Sunny, along with a much more aggressive, or do we call it, masculine front end styling. Smoked headlamps, a hexagonal grille and a new bumper job adds plenty of purpose to the Scala’s front end and it is these features which make the Scala a much more aggressive looker than the plain looking front of the Sunny sedan. The rear gets a dollop of chrome and a slightly different design for the tail lamps.

2012 Renault Scala Sedan

Higher variants of the Scala will ride on 15 inchers as opposed to 14 inchers on the Sunny. So the 15 inch wheels of the Scala will fill up the wheel wells nicely. On the inside, the Scala gets different colors on the dashboard and other plastics to make for a more premium feel. That said, apart from the beige-ish color, everything from the dashboard to the seats are carried over straight from the Sunny. The seats on the higher variants will get leather wrapping to make for some more premium-ness. The Scala, like the Sunny will get a petrol and a diesel engine option.

The 1.5 Liter HR15DE, four cylinder petrol engine outputs 99 Bhp and 134 Nm while the 1.5 Liter K9K turbo diesel engine outputs 85 Bhp and 200 Nm. Both these engines get a five speed manual transmission as standard while an automatic variant of the Scala is due to arrive sometime in 2013, after the Sunny gets the automatic transmission option. Initially, the Scala is expected to be made available with two petrol variants and three diesel engine variants. Twin airbags and ABS will be standard on the top end models.

: 2012 Renault Scala Sedan Rear

: 2012 Renault Scala Sedan Front

: 2012 Renault Scala Sedan

Essentially, the Renault Scala is to the Nissan Sunny, just as the Renault Pulse is to the Nissan Micra. Though the Pulse has struggled to find takers given that it is priced higher than the Micra, and is consequently not seen as a value-buy by prospective buyers, the Scala could quite literally tilt the scales in its favor as the Sunny sedan has been well priced right from the word go. So, the Scala has plenty of potential to become the second best selling car in the French automaker’s Indian portfolio, after the Duster SUV, of course with the rider being good pricing. Expect to pay a premium of INR 40,000 over the Nissan Sunny, for equivalent variants of the Renault Scala.