Frankfurt motor show 2013: Renault plots new crossover model

Renault will launch a model into the fast-growing C-segment crossover market, popularised by the Nissan Qashqai in 2015.

Speaking to Autocar on the eve of the Frankfurt motor show, Renault UK managing director Ken Ramirez confirmed Renault’s C-segment crossover would be designed to be “a bigger brother to the Renault Captur”.

It’s likely to be spun off a new platform separate to the firm’s present architecture for that size of car currently used by the Renault Megane range.

The new crossover would be one of several new models to be in Renault’s future Megane-sized offerings. The Megane range itself will be replaced, and the Megane name will live on but not necessarily for all the models.

Renault's Scenic and Grand Scenic models are also set to be replaced, but Ramirez hinted these were likely to be more SUV in style, albeit still being MPVs rather than overlapping with the new and as yet unnamed C-segment crossover.

There remains no plan to offer anything in the UK larger than the Renault Grand Scenic, meaning there will be no Espace or Laguna models from Renault in the future in the UK - as has been the case since the end of 2011.

Should a model larger than the Grand Scenic ever reappear in the UK from Renault, it’s likely to take the shape of a D-segment crossover, as Renault notes this is the industry’s fastest growing segment after B-segment and C-segment crossovers.

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