RenaultSport kills off plans for Captur RS

Renault has shelved plans to expand its RenaultSport range with an RS version of the Captur and Kadjar SUVs.

Back in September 2015, motoring.com.au revealed, the French car-maker's performance division was considering adding an SUV to the existing Clio and Megane line-up. Then RenaultSport’s global marketing boss, Jerome Stoll, admitted that an SUV was the number one candidate to become the third RS model.

"If you look at all the other manufacturers you can see SUV with sports version, so there is no reason we shouldn’t," he stated.

Stoll didn't specifically name the Captur as the third model but, behind the scenes, it was rumoured the small SUV's close relation to the current Clio made it the obvious and logical choice. Prototype Captur RS mules were built for assessment purposes running a development of the Clio RS220 Trophy's 162kW/260Nm 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol turbo combined with its six-speed dual-clutch transmission.

Now things have changed says a senior source working closely with RenaultSport.

"The RS SUV is cancelled, it's finished. It's not going to happen. Sure, RenaultSport can make a really nice car, a car that handles maybe unlike any other SUV, but there's a worry there is no demand for it,” he said.

"Okay, you might say 'But Audi make sporty SUVs and they sell' and you would be right… But we need to remember, we're not Audi and it is too risky to try," he stated.

The senior source also highlighted worries within the French car-maker than an RS-badged SUV could compromise the integrity of the brand that had been built up on hot hatches since the first Clio RS 172 back in 1999.

Despite cancelling the RS Captur (and the Kadjar that was planned to follow), RenaultSport remains under pressure to grow dramatically – it’s target is to double sales by 2019, from the 40,000 cars it sold back in 2014.

According to Jean-Christophe Kugler, Renault's European chairman, volumes will increase from expanding RenaultSport in new regions like China, India or Iran and not from diversifying into new RS products.

"At some stage in the future we will have to look at an SUV, but we have built a brand around creating hot hatchbacks that can set the fastest lap possible at the Nurburgring for the most affordable price. With an SUV, we can't do this," Kugler stated.

Kugler said, in the future, RenaultSport will also expand the number of GT-Line and GT models it offers. Currently, across all Renault models globally RenaultSport makes 23 derivatives as it counts GT-Line and GT trims as part of the performance divisions offerings.

The senior Renault exec expects this to increase over time as the brand matures.

It's not just SUVs RenaultSport has been toying with to expand its global range.

According to the insider, speaking to motoring.com.au, the French car-maker has seriously considering exporting the Sandero RS 2.0 hot hatch to Europe and other global markets.

Originally created for the Latin American market, such is the admiration within the performance division for the Sandero, engineers and senior execs have lobbied for a feasibility study to add it to RenaultSport’s global line-up.

"You'd love it, anyone who drives it loves it. It's a traditional old school hot hatch. There was a study for Europe but there were problems, some big some small," our RenaultSport insider explained.

"The first problem, on the engineering side, was the car's ride height. It had been set too high for Europe. In Argentina we needed the extra ground clearance for the poor roads. For our markets though it turned out to be a really cheap and easy jobs to adapt the Sandero... Just springs and dampers, simple...

"More difficult are the emissions of the 2.0-litre for countries like France. They're just too high, around 175g/km of CO2, it makes the car too expensive to tax.

"Finally, of course there's the bigger problem. The Sandero in most of Europe is a Dacia, not a Renault as it's badged in Argentina. I personally didn't mind that but others did. Shame, it's such a great car, unbelievable value and quicker than you think," he lamented.

In Argentina the 110kW Sandero RS 2.0 sells for around $26,000.