Renault will increase its SUV crossover range to three models by the end of the decade to supplement the Korean-built Koleos, which reaches showrooms in July this year.“We are developing a range of SUV crossovers and the Koleos sits right bang in the middle,” said the company’s vice president of design, Patrick Le Quement. “There will be an addition to the Megane range, when the new cars arrive over the next 18-months. A bigger brother for the Koleos is something we are looking at.”The Koleos, using Nissan X-Trail running gear in four and two-wheel-drive form, is built by Renault-Samsung in South Korea. Its larger counterpart, harnessing the new Nissan Murano platform, is expected to be built there too.A smaller SUV crossover, applying next generation Megane technology plus expertise gained from Nissan’s Qashqai, will expand the new Megane’s range portfolio. “There is lots of room below Koleos as people downsize, as Ford has shown with Kuga,” said le Quement. Roland Bouchara, Renault UK’s managing director, confirmed the project. “A smaller SUV could be two years away but we will go down to that size. We are not talking about the same volumes as the compact MPVs where used car values were damaged in a congested market.”The baby Renault SUV will join a growing number of new junior crossovers such as Toyota’s Urban Cruiser, Land Rover’s LRX, and Audi’s Q3.
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