The lure of the SUV and the near-guaranteed sales success it would receive in contrast to another type/class of car is almost too much for any profit-minded automaker to ignore. And with premium marques paving the way for the ‘sports SUV’ to enter the realm of accepted norm, it’s time the more mass-market manufacturers step into contention.
Renault’s division for all things high-performance, Renault Sport or RS for short, is indeed thinking about launching a fast high-rider. While nothing really comes to mind as an obvious donor vehicle (Koleos RS? Captur RS?) from the current Renault line-up, it could pioneer a path for its nearest rivals.
Ford and its well-established performance division could fairly easily whip up an Escape RS or an RS version of the Edge that’s due to arrive an Aussie shores as a 2018 model. Peugeot, too, and their own go-fast team will likely not have much issue with converting a 3008 into a hot SUV given its close structural and mechanical relation to the 308 hatch.
We previously reported on the possibility that Alpine, a more niche Renault-owned sub-brand, are also eyeing the SUV market as a possible growth vector. However, given that they only have one vehicle to their name, this future SUV would need to be hewn from something off-the-shelf lest they embark on an expensive and likely protracted development campaign to flesh this out from scratch.
Either way, there’s a high possibility here that the two projects - one from Renault and the other from Alpine - will intersect in some key areas that would give pause to management. Then, it would come down to which of these two brands will yield the most sales as a result from completing their respective efforts in the SUV space.
Patrice Ratti, head of the RS division, seemed enthused about the possibility of an SUV forming the base for the next Renault Sport model, but wished to emphasise in his interview with Automarket that it would only move forward if they felt it did justice to the brand and if the final product will not dilute their reputation for class-leading dynamics.
Ratti’s conversation with CarAdvice also echoed this sentiment, citing the need for focus in the right places in order to yield the most refined product. With the Megane as an example, he noted how much performance it delivers (in terms of pure power and torque) versus on-track results, with it often beating competitors with a more substantial powertrain package.
These days, buyers wanting the practicality of an SUV while not sacrificing the everyday thrills of a hot hatch or a full-fledged performance car will have to shell out for something in the premium space - think Porsche Macan, Audi SQ5, Mercedes-AMG GLC, and Alfa Romeo Stelvio’s which just last week was announced to have gone faster around the Nurburgring than any SUV before it - if you’re into that kind of thing.
If Renault can bring their RS magic to bear on an market that’s rife with potential SUV customers at a price well below that of any upper-tier manufacturer, the potential there is truly huge. For one reason or another, it’s still largely untapped.
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