The upcoming Renault compact SUV will likely share plenty of components and powertrain with the Clio hatchback
Renault is planning to launch a Clio based compact SUV soon. They already have the Captur however, this will be positioned underneath the former SUV and will rival directly with other crossovers in the European market such as Ford Fiesta Active.
The prototype vehicles although was completely covered in heavy camouflage still gave an idea that it could perhaps be based on the Clio. The front profile receives a typical Renault face with the same kind of grille and sharp headlamps.
While the Captur has a kind of a straight beltline towards the side profile with no unusual contours but the Clio beltline sweeps slightly northward towards the rear. The test cars seen in these images too get the same kind of rear profile approach, which somewhat looks identical to the Clio. Both the test prototypes spotted here, however, get a bit more of a ground clearance than the Clio hatchback.
Unlike the popular Clio hatchback, both these compact crossovers get roof rails and perhaps a slightly bulkier rear profile. This could add some extra bit of boot space towards the rear to make the compact crossover looks slightly bigger and rugged than the hatch variant.
Under the hood expect the crossovers to be powered by the same engines, as the Clio hatch. The current generation Clio gets two petrol engine options including a 0.9 Litre and 1.2 Litre unit while the diesel variant gets a 1.5 Litre unit. All these engine options either get a three-cylinder or four-cylinder units or are all front wheel drive cars. There is a choice of both manual as well as an automatic transmission.
As far as the launches are concerned, the Clio based crossover could launch in the International markets in 2019. While there is also a little chance that Renault could even launch the crossover here in India, the Clio platform could be deemed expensive.