Renault has announced that its new SUV for international markets will be called the Renault Kadjar. It will be positioned above the popular Captur SUV.
Renault says that the first part of the name is inspired by the word 'quad', representing a go-anywhere four-wheeled vehicle, suggesting that the Kadjar will be offered with four-wheel drive. The second part of the name is said to be inspired by the French words 'agile' (agility) and 'jaillir', which Renault explains, means 'to suddenly emerge from somewhere'.
Renault has started posting pictures and videos about the new Kadjar every day on social media, and will do so until the SUV is revealed on February 2. The Kadjar, it is understood, will share the same architecture, and most of the powertrains and looks of the Nissan Qashqai, and will be built on Renault-Nissan's Common Module Family platform.
Announced in June last year, the CMF architecture will eventually be used to underpin 14 models across the range. Renault design boss Laurens van den Acker described the new car as being developed “in strong collaboration with Nissan, but with a careful eye on not taking anything away from either side”. He also hinted that the new SUV will be styled along the lines of the successful Renault Captur compact SUV. “Conceptually, this car will not challenge conventions,” he said. “We want to hit the same sweet spot of head and heart that we did with the Captur.”
