A month ago, Renault announced that the successor of the Kadjar will be named Austral and now the company shows us more of the upcoming SUV that is scheduled to debut in 2022 while revealing more details about the hybrid and mild-hybrid engines. Straight to the big news, the SUV will be exclusively available with electrified petrol powertrains dropping the diesel engines of its predecessor. Among the different options, there will be the Austral E-Tech hybrid, the turbocharged 1.3 TCe with a 12V mild-hybrid system, and a brand new turbocharged 1.2 TCe with a 48V mild-hybrid system. The cleanest of the bunch will emit 105g of CO2/km (E-Tech hybrid) while the most powerful variant will produce up to 200 hp.
The Renault Austral is based on the
CMF-CD3 platform – similar to the one used on the Nissan Qashqai and the Nissan
X-Trail / Rogue. According to Renault, the new architecture will bring better
soundproofing, more ADAS features, and feature a comfort-oriented suspension
setup.
Despite the camouflage wrap, the new
pictures reveal the Austral’s silhouette which is similar to the Megane E-Tech
although the vehicle appears to have a larger footprint, with a confirmed
length of 4.51 meters. The Austral has slim LED lighting units on
both ends, incorporating Renault’s latest design language. We don’t have
pictures of the interior but we know that the cabin will have five seats and we
expect a massive infotainment screen on the dashboard.
Renault has already started testing the
Austral on public roads as we move closer to its debut that is expected in
2022. A fleet of 100 camouflaged prototypes with 900 drivers will cover 600,000
km on the roads of France, Spain, Germany, and Romania, while an additional
1,400,000 km will be covered on the track.
