In August 2018, Renault South Africa told CARmag.co.za that it was deliberating over whether to launch the upcoming facelifted Kadjar or the latest Koleos. And now a customer support agent at the local distributor has seemingly confirmed that the French brand has opted to go with the latter.
After flagging sales seemingly due to stock issues (the last units were registered locally back in January 2018), the Kadjar has disappeared from Renault SA’s website. A customer support agent confirmed that the crossover is “no longer available in South Africa”, before adding that “we are bringing the Koleos, though”.
We asked Renault SA for comment, but the local distributor simply repeated that it was still studying the two alternatives (in theory, the local launch of the upcoming facelifted Kadjar has thus not been ruled out).
The customer support agent said that the second-generation, five-seater Koleos (revealed back in 2016) was expected to arrive “before the end” of 2018. It shares its platform with the Nissan X-Trail and competes against the likes of the Volkswagen Tiguan, Hyundai Tucson and Mazda CX-5.
Measuring 4 672 mm from nose to rump, the Koleos is a full 222 mm longer than the Kadjar, while at 2 705 mm its wheelbase is 58 mm more generous than that of the Kadjar. Luggage capacity comes in at a claimed 458 litres, while utility space is a useful 1 690 litres.
Although the local engine line-up has yet to be confirmed, in Australia the Koleos is offered with either a (Nissan-developed) naturally aspirated 2,5-litre petrol engine worth 126 kW and 226 N.m or a 2,0-litre turbodiesel unit churning out 130 kW and 380 N.m. In that market, all derivatives employ a continuously variable transmission, feeding the front wheels in the case of the petrol and all four in the case of the oil-burner.
However, the SA-spec Koleos could also be offered with the naturally aspirated 2,0-litre and 1,6 turbodiesel currently doing duty alongside the 2,5-litre in the local X-Trail range.
