The Renault Arkana only arrived in Australia late last year but it’s already getting a facelift.
The small coupe SUV has been spied testing in southern Europe in Samsung XM3 guise ahead of a potential launch in 2023.
Australian-market Arkanas are sourced from Renault Samsung Motors’ plant in Busan, Korea, and they’re sold as the Samsung XM3 in Korea.
The placement of camouflage suggests the Arkana will get a new grille, a restyled front bumper and revised headlights.
Though there’s no camouflage at the rear, this could be an early prototype and therefore we could expect to see changes to the tail lights and rear bumper.
Interior changes could include detail updates like a revised infotainment system and upholstery and a new steering wheel.
There could be detail differences between the Korean-market XM3 and the Arkana.
The Samsung QM6, as the Renault Koleos is known in Korea, recently received a revised grille. This change didn’t carry through to the updated Koleos.
The Arkana was launched in Australia late in 2021, though it’s been in production since 2019.
Renault also produced an almost identical looking Arkana in Russia, though this used a different platform intended for developing market models. The company has since ended production in Russia following that country’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Korean-built model shares its CMF-B underpinnings with the Captur. Like its smaller sibling, the Arkana also uses a turbocharged 1.3-litre four-cylinder engine, mated with a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission and front-wheel drive.
The Arkana is fairly unique in offering a coupe SUV silhouette, something typically seen on luxury-brand vehicles like the Mercedes-Benz GLC Coupe and BMW X4, in the mainstream small SUV segment.
GWM Haval is employing a similar formula in the mid-sized SUV segment with the recently launched H6 GT.
To the end of June, Renault has sold 648 examples of the Arkana. That puts it ahead of the Peugeot 2008 (208), Mazda MX-30 (265) and Citroen C4 (67), and narrowly behind the Skoda Kamiq (757) and Suzuki Vitara (859).
It’s also selling almost as well as the shorter, cheaper but closely related Captur (750).
