Eight is enough! The brand that’s saying no to more SUVs

Renault’s head of design says the company has “more than enough” SUVs, with a total of eight in its European lineup alone following the reveal of the new 4.

“You have to imagine that what you see today is the fruits of Luca’s anxiety, in a way”, Laurens van den Acker told Autocar, referring to Renault CEO Luca de Meo and his goals to make the brand more competitive in key segments.

While he conceded the brand didn’t need to roll out any more, Mr van den Acker argued criticism of SUVs from the public is overblown.

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“When people complain about SUVs, they pretend they are these big American, body-on-frame trucks that are heavy and do 20 or 10mpg [23.5 or 11.7L/100km],” said Mr van den Acker.

“When you drive an SUV today – I drive an Austral and it does [4.7L/100km] – they’re light, they’re not so heavy, they’re spacious… I’m wondering if it’s the same ‘SUVs’ we’re talking about.”

As for criticisms of carmakers for dropping passenger cars in favour of SUVs, Mr van den Acker said, “Let the people that make the comments put their money where their mouth is.”

In France at least, Renault still offers a range of passenger cars in the Twingo and Clio, as well as the newer 5 and Megane E-Tech.

While it dropped its Scenic and Espace people movers, it replaced them with slightly higher-riding, more SUV-styled vehicles wearing the same names.

Its long-running Captur SUV has in recent years been complemented by the Symbioz, Arkana, Austral and Rafale, with the 4 being the latest addition to the European-market Renault SUV range.

Mr van den Acker’s remarks on SUVs hold water given how some of these purported SUVs don’t look especially SUV-like.

Additionally, while Autocar labels the Megane E-Tech a car, the 4.2m-long EV has also been referred to – including by Renault locally – as an SUV.

Here’s a guide to Renault’s European SUV lineup:

• Renault 4: Retro-styled SUV entering production in 2025, measures 4.16m long
• Captur: Small (4.2m long) SUV, also sold in Australia
• Symbioz: Captur-derived 4.4m long SUV launched in 2024
• Scenic E-Tech: 4.4m-long electric-only SUV launched in 2024, related to Megane E-Tech
• Arkana: 4.5m-long coupe SUV related to the Captur
• Austral: 4.5m-long Nissan Qashqai platform-mate, replaced the Kadjar in 2022
• Espace: 4.7m-long version of Austral with up to seven seats, launched in 2023
• Rafale: 4.7m-long, two-row hybrid and plug-in hybrid coupe SUV flagship, launched in 2024

There appears to be notable overlap between some of these, such as the Symbioz and Arkana.

There are other Renault SUVs outside of Europe, too.

The ageing Koleos is Renault’s Korean-built rival for the Toyota RAV4, and is sold in Australia.

Renault recently revealed a new, larger SUV based on the Geely Xingyue L called the Grand Koleos, designed for Asian markets. It has yet to be confirmed for Australia.

The Duster from the Renault Group’s budget Dacia brand is sold as a Renault in some markets like Latin America, where the Brazilian-built 4.1m-long Kardian – which entered production last year – is also sold.

In markets like Latin America and India, Renault also has the high-riding 3.7m-long Kwid city car, as well as the 4m-long Kiger.

Despite selling eight different SUVs in Europe, more than even Toyota offers in that market, Renault has just four here: the Captur, Arkana, Koleos, and Megane E-Tech.