Captur to undergo Renault Sport treatment
Renault's plans for Captur could include a performance-oriented variantRenault design head Laurens van den Acker has told motoring.com.au that the brand is looking for new opportunities in which to expand its sportier Renault Sport arm, and those plans could include the new Captur crossover.
Mr van den Acker was present for the unveiling of the Captur in Geneva this week. The compact SUV, which will go head-to-head with the likes of Ford EcoSport, Holden Trax, Nissan Duke and Opel Mokka, seems ripe for the RS treatment, and customer feedback in Europe indicates the demand is there.
“We would love [to do] a Captur,” said Mr van den Acker. “We tested some of these cars, and people, especially in Italy, said ‘we need bigger wheels on it’, ‘I want leather in it’, ‘I want a bigger engine’, the car seems to create that desire... to move it up.”
If Renault Sport were to adapt Captur to this application, it would see the European brand push into territory usually the realm of prestige German marques. BMW has M-branded X series vehicles and Mercedes-Benz AMG enhanced vehicles across its entire range. Even Audi has S and RS versions of its Q models and let's not forget the Porsche Cayenne.
It’s an opportunity that has not gone unnoticed by Renault insiders.
“I know Renault Sport is looking at [other] opportunities. If you look at the Porsche Cayenne it’s a serious sportscar. Obviously the Captur is way, way, way removed from that, but it’s definitely a credible segment,” Mr van den Acker said. “Crossovers are becoming serious sportcars.”
The Renault Captur shares its platform with the fourth-generation Clio, itself already a recipient of the Renault Sport treatment. Putting two and two together would mean Captur could adopt the same (147kW/240Nm) turbocharged 1.6-litre petrol found beneath the bonnet of that model, assuming things were to work to plan...
The new Renault Captur will go on sale in Australia towards the end of Q1 next year (2013).
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