Renault this week revealed details of its upcoming Kadjar SUV ahead of its public debut at next month's Geneva motor show, confirming the Nissan QASHQAI-based SUV will sit between the upcoming Captur small SUV and the existing Koleos mid-sizer in Renault's expanding SUV line-up globally.
But with the new Kadjur and current Koleos so similarly sized – almost replicating sister brand Nissan's QASHQAI and X-TRAIL SUVs – motoring.com.au was prompted to ask just what it was that would differentiate the pair going forward.
According to sources within Renault, the answer is that the next Koleos will grow to accommodate a third row of seats, bringing seven-seat flexibility to the range a la X-TRAIL.
The new Koleos will be built off the same modular platform as its Japanese cousin, Renault saying "the new model will grow to the maximum 5000mm length dictated by the European D-segment classification".
Therefore the new Koleos will be 360mm longer than the current X-TRAIL, potentially offering greater luggage space and a roomier third row. It would be the longest iteration yet of the Renault-Nissan Common Modular Family (CMF-CD) large platform architecture, which much like Volkswagen's MQB chassis is adaptable via five interchangeable modules (cabin, electronic, engine, front under-body and rear under-body).
The CMF-CD architecture also underpins the current Nissan QASHQAI and X-TRAIL, and is expected to form the basis of future models including the Kadjar, Koleos and next-generation Espace people-mover.
Renault says that while the Koleos will grow, the Espace will remain its flagship model, stating it has no plans to share a Pathfinder-based SUV with Nissan.
The news adds to comments this week by Renault's Senior Vice President of Renault Corporate Design, Laurens van den Acker, that both Kadjar and its bigger brother were important to the brand's sales growth.
"I think it is no secret that we are very late with this segment," he told Autocar. "It is a big gap in our line-up that we have finally filled and it is very important for us to finally have a C [segment] crossover.
"It was important to do the big brother of Captur – it was not important to do a sister of QASHQAI.
"This [the Kadjar] needs to become the bridge to the D crossover, so this car has an important role to play.
"If we cannot get people to move from Captur to Kadjar, then we cannot get people to go to the D crossover, so we need this car [the Kadjar] to do well," he said.
Van den Acker said that Renault would follow the lead set by other manufacturers in the development of its new SUV models, adding that it was important one did not take sales from the other.
"The goal is not to steal sales from the QASHQAI. It is to steal sales from Volkswagen, from Kia, from Toyota, and I think there is room in the market to do it," he added.
Van den Acker told Autocar that Renault's new D crossover (Koleos) "is developed and will be produced in China in 2016, and there is a chance it will come to Europe as well… I think it will be 2017".
In Australia, the current Koleos ranks 12th in its segment in terms of sales. It sold just 1709 units last year (2014), falling well short of the class-leading Mazda CX-5 (21,571).
However, Renault Australia says it remains committed to the Koleos -- both this generation and next -- so whether the Kadjar fits into the local range between it and the Captur remains to be seen.