If launched, Renault Austral Hybrid will rival the likes of Tata Harrier, MG Hector, Mahindra XUV700 and the likes
Every once in a while, car makers surprise us with one of their unusual engineering samples on testing in India. Sometimes, these test mules are completely intended as a vehicle to launch in India or just their platform and powertrain, or a certain electronics suite. Something similar is happening in Ranault-Nissan camp as the Renault Austral is spied testing in India.
Renault Austral Spied
This is not the first time we have seen unusual test mules from Renault-Nissan before. We saw the Renault Koleos, Renault Arkana, Nissan Ariya and Nissan X-Trail. In electric car realm, we have seen Nissan Leaf a couple of times and a Renault Kiger EV test mule one time, that never made an appearance again.
Except for the Nissan Ariya and Nissan X-Trail (in one instance), none of the other engineering samples had any type of camouflaging on them. Same is the case with recently spotted Renault Asutral spied testing in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, by automotive enthusiast Samwin Paul. As if the car was hiding in plain sight. However, it would still draw some attention owing to its size.
Speaking of, Renault Austral is a large crossover SUV based on Renault-Nissan CMF-CD platform. It measures 4,510 mm in length, 1,825 mm in width, 1,644 mm in height and has a long 2,667 mm wheelbase. In the same ballpark as Tata Harrier and MG Hector. Renault Austral is the spiritual successor of Kadjar, a crossover SUV that was quite popular in Europe and UK.
What is it doing in India?
Renault-Nissan alliance has announced an aggressive product offensive in the coming years, backed by a large investment pledged for the same. Apart from the upcoming Duster and Terrano, the alliance is interested in expanding their portfolio to include a few premium vehicles too. We can see Austral as a fitting vehicle to rival the likes of Harrier, XUV700 and Hector.
Nissan has already announced X-Trail, Qashqai, and Juke for India and their Renault counterparts are Koleos, Austral and Captur. The Renault Austral spotted in India was Austral E-Tech which offers a 1.3L turbo petrol engine mated to a 400V hybrid system mated to a 2 kWh battery and boasts a total system output of 200 bhp. This powertrain could prove revolutionary for the alliance in premium segment and this is what the company might be evaluating with Austral E test mule.
What to expect?
Where design is concerned, Renault Austral spied, is a smart-looking machine. We can see an imposing Renault logo at the front, sleek LED headlights, C-shaped LED DRLs, chrome studded grill, arrow-shaped elements in lower grill, swanky 20-inch alloy wheels, striking creases and cuts in sheet metal profiling, wide rear haunches, connected 3D LED tail lights and an overall strong presence.
On the inside, Austral offers a typical European look with nice materials, a neatly designed layout and functionalities. Notable features are a 12-inch vertically oriented touchscreen infotainment screen, a 12.3-inch horizontally mounted instrumentation screen for the driver, a 9.3-inch heads-up display, Harman audio, LED Matrix headlights, seating for five, up to 575L boot space, ADAS suite 360 camera and other attributes.
