The range of compact SUVs in New Zealand gets another new addition towards the middle of the year in the form of the Renault Captur, expected to land with a wide choice of exterior and interior customisation options. “We are excited about it, no question,” said Renault NZ general manager Chris Blair. He was expecting the Captur in February/March but demand elsewhere has pushed back the NZ allocation. “It’s probably more like June now.” The Captur is a product of the Renault-Nissan alliance and therefore is the sister car to the equally quirky Nissan Juke. Apart from the established players, it will go up against new arrivals the Ssangyong Tivoli, Jeep Renegade, and Mazda CX-3. It is available in most markets with four trim levels – Expression, Expression+, Dynamique, Dynamique S – but Blair said he was still working on the line-up for NZ. Nothing on price yet either. Renault has made much of personalising the Captur, especially in Europe. Options outside include contrasting roof colours that extend to the windscreen pillars, bold bodywork decals and larger alloy wheels. Inside there are bright colours with standout seat trim. The seat covers can even be unzipped to be cleaned or changed for a different design. The Captur is based on a reworked version of the Clio hatchback platform. It is 4100mm long, 1530mm high and has a 2600mm wheelbase. Ground clearance is 200mm. In Europe there is a choice of two petrol engines – 0.9-litre three-cylinder and 1.2-litre four-cylinder – and a 1.5-litre diesel. The larger petrol engine gets a six-speed twin-clutch gearbox, the small petrol and diesel five-speed manuals. Blair believes Captur and the new line-up of light commercial vehicles
will help Renault NZ improve on the almost 70 per cent growth it enjoyed last year. “We are forecasting similar growth for the brand this year,” he said. “We think we can be the fastest growing light commercial brand in New Zealand in 2015. The Trafic, Kangoo and Master range really only came in late last year, so we have a whole year ahead of us. Things are already looking good.”