Impatient to reveal itself in the spring, the Renault Austral is already talking about it with the first official camouflaged photos. A practice to which the electric Mégane E-Tech has already accustomed us. Partial discovery of the Peugeot 3008 rival.
It has now become a habit, first among premium brands across the Rhine and then, little by little, generalists have also started. To occupy the media ground, car manufacturers unveil, in part, their carefully camouflaged novelties.
Also after the very first photo formalizing its name, here is the Renault Austral, Renault’s compact SUV which will take over from the Kadjar in June, when it goes on sale. Just like the 100% electric Renault Mégane E-Tech before it, it is presented fully sticked with psychedelic designs skillfully displaying the brand’s new logo. The whole thing is highlighted with a second layer made up of a large fluorescent yellow logo. Finally black logos finalize the whole.
The decidedly very abundant stickers cover a good part of the grille and still conceal the light signature that we can nevertheless guess in the form of hooks. To raise the suspense, our illustration gives you the final lines of the Renault Austral. For Renault, it is also the occasion to announce a technical platform known as CMF-CD3 as well as a range of fully electrified engines.
The final tests over 2 million km
Concretely before its official revelation in the spring then its launch, the Renault Austral enters the phase of tests known as “Confirmation Runs”. In practice, a fleet of around one hundred vehicles will travel 2 million kilometers. It will cross France, Spain, Germany and Romania to, according to Renault, verify the validity of the validations carried out upstream. The diamond mark indicates that 900 drivers will cover 600,000 km in a real situation on the open road while another 1,400,000 km will be achieved on the circuit.
TO READ. The Renault Austral continues its development
These tests will be an opportunity to validate, in real life, the choice of settings of the the new CMF-CD3 platform, driving assistance, soundproofing and even suspension comfort, ” in order to offer the best to our future customers ”, indicates Renault. The task promises to be tough to win back the disappointed Renault Kadjar and capture the Peugeot 3008 aficionados!
Gasoline and Hybrid
Among its strengths, the Renault Austral will be able to count on a range exclusively made up of electrified petrol engines, most of which have never been seen before. The offer will be structured around a new generation 1.2 E-TECH Hybrid engine, a 1.3 TCe mild-hybrid 12V engine and the new three-cylinder 1.2 TCe mild-hybrid 48V, which it will inaugurate in the Renault range. The manufacturer announces reduced emissions, to 105 g CO2/ km (for the E-TECH engine in WLTP cycle, pending approval), and a maximum power of 200 hp. The Renault Austral will be launched in its petrol versions from June in Spain and then in France at the start of the school year. The catalog will be enriched with the variation at the beginning of autumn 2022.
Keep your eyes open, you might come across the new Renault Austral on the road!
