The Austral, derived from the Latin word for “south,” replaces the similarly tuned Kadjar model in the French automaker’s offering. The novelty, which can accommodate five passengers, has exceeded its predecessor by a few millimeters – the new model is 4.51 meters long. The automaker is keeping the remaining parameters for the world premiere, which should take place this spring.

What is certain are the exclusively electrified gasoline engines. So far, three have been confirmed: the new generation of the E-Tech hybrid motor, then the 1.3 TCe 12V mild hybrid motor and the new 1.2 TCe 48V mild hybrid motor. This last unit appears at the Renault brand for the first time.

Renault is also keeping the exact engine parameters for its world premiere. Launched late last year, the Nissan Qashqai, with which Austral shares the technology, offers two versions of the 13 horsepower with 140 horsepower and 240 Nm and 158 horsepower. and 260 Nm. But Renault promises an even more powerful version, the most powerful version will have 200 horsepower (147 kW) under the hood.

Austral, built on the modular CMF-C platform, will be manufactured in Spain with the Nissan Qashqai, with which it shares a technical base.

The standard version of the new SUV with the diamond logo will be presented this spring, and sales in Europe could arrive as early as the summer months. The manufacturer is in the process of finalizing the driving tests.

“The new Renault Austral SUV will now be driven by France, Spain, Germany and Romania to check the validity of the pre-performed simulations. 900 drivers will cover 600,000 km in real conditions on open roads and an additional 1,400,000 km on test circuits, ”said Jitka Skaličková, spokesperson for the Czech Representation of Renault.