More Renault SUVs possible

Renault might be a latecomer to the international softroader 'party' but it says that it will expand its 'offroad' offerings, if the market remains strong.

Talking at this week's launch of the French marque's first SUV/crossover, the Koleos (more here), segment communications head, Christophe DeVille told the Carsales Network, the timing of Renault's entry into the segment was driven by a change in sentiment -- particularly in the company's domestic consumer base.

Though the business case for the Koleos was not based on European markets alone, growing acceptance of SUVs in the French marketplace drove the final approval for the project.

"[French] Customers were not asking for four-wheel drive [initially]. They were asking for roominess; for many different things -- for sporty cars, for example. But not four-wheel drive.

"Now things are different. People who drive MPVs are clearly identified as those with children -- people who are cool, peaceful... Now, some of them want to be more adventurous... Sort of Indiana Jones type."

Referring to rival French marques Peugeot and Citroen's move to badge-engineer versions of Mitsubishi's Outlander (as the 4007 and C-Crosser respectively), DeVille said the company rejected such a path. He says the company always planned to make its 'offroader' a true Renault.

Though the vehicle is built in Korea and was engineered by Nissan, the styling, interior design and every aspect of its performance parameters were decided at Renault's Technicentre development headquarters, DeVille explained.

DeVille places the Koleos between Nissan's X-TRAIL and Dualis in concept, but says the vehicle is much closer to the X-TRAIL in terms of off-highway ability. Thanks to better approach and departure angles, he says it can exceed the Nissan's capabilities in some instances.

Though there is no seven-seat version of the Koleos on the drawing board (nor even a Qashqai+2-style 5+2), DeVille says the company is keen to explore the 4x4 market further. But he cautions, a significantly larger vehicle appears unlikely.

"We want to be in markets that are in progression and clearly four-wheel drives are in progression.

"The problem is we [Europe] have many taxes related to CO2, for example -- and it's not that easy to launch a bigger four-wheel drive when you have all these taxes. And when you have that big SUV, you become more and more unpopular in large cities like London or Paris," said DeVille.

Will Renault offer a sub-Koleos sized vehicle then?

"We will have a look at the [overall 4x4] market [demands] and for sure there are places for other [Renault] four-wheel drives. But not a big one like [Audi's] Q7 for example."

DeVille says the Koleos' direct use of the X-TRAIL's platform and Nissan's development resources won't necessarily be repeated in future Renault products -- softroaders or otherwise. In other words Renault's SUV plans are not dependent on Nissan's.

"Component sharing is more the tendency at the moment. In the near future I don't see any project where we will write a technical specification [and hand development over to Nissan]."

He doesn't write off future variants of the Koleos though. Although Renault has said there are no plans to produce a hybrid-equipped Koleos (nor larger six-cylinder engined models, for that matter), DeVille won't rule out the company's performance arm RenaultSport fettling one of the softroaders, for example.

"Every product can be a RenaultSport product. You choose what you want to do with the product -- to increase the power or give him sporty handling. In both case it can be a RenaultSport product. It's [A RenaultSport Koleos] possible, yes... It's possible.

"RenaultSport is looking at many things," DeVille said.

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