Renault Kaptur, the upcoming crossover from the French carmaker was recently spotted testing in India. Draped in camouflage, the soon-to-be-launched compact crossover was spotted alongside the company's popular compact SUV Renault Duster, which was possibly used for benchmarking. The Renault Kaptur was caught testing on the outskirts of Chennai near the company's production facility. The car looks almost production ready which makes sense as sources close to the company have told carandbike.com that Renault Kaptur will be launched in India around this Diwali.
Renault Kaptur spotted with the Renault Duster
Renault first pulled the wraps off the Kaptur compact crossover last year in Russia. The car shares its design and styling with the company's existing crossover, Renault Captur, which is already on sale in the European markets. But how the Kaptur differentiates itself from its European counterpart is with its larger size. Like the Duster, the upcoming Renault Kaptur is not a sub-4 metre vehicle. In fact, it is 210mm longer than the Renault Captur measuring in at 4333mm in length, which is even longer than the Duster. And you might be able to judge that from these pictures.
Renault Kaptur is larger than the Renaut Captur and the Duster as well
Now, this is now the first time that the Renault Kaptur has made an appearance on our Indian roads. The car was spotted for the first time in the country back in December and since then there are no identifiable changes made to the test mule. While the India-spec version might see some changes in styling, but in general the crossover will be a premium model and will be positioned above the Duster. Another area where the Kaptur differentiates itself from its European twin is in terms of drivetrain. The Kaptur gets an all-wheel-drive system, which the Captur doesn't get, with a locking centre differential, elevated ride height and heavy-duty suspension, so overall the package is suited for a decent soft-roader.
Renault Kaptur is expected to get 4x4 like the Duster
We have seen the cabin of the Brazilian-spec model and it will be similar to the India-spec Kaptur. The spacious 5-seater cabin will offer comfortable seating for five with a large boot space. It comes with a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment and climate control which is similar to what we see in the updated Renault Duster in India. The digital instrument cluster does look similar to the Renault Kwid and that's interesting as this sharing of components with a car which was 98 per cent localised in India.
Under the hood, the Kaptur gets the familiar 1.5-litre dCi four-cylinder diesel engine that will be available in the 108bhp version with 245Nm of torque on offer. The oil burner will come paired to a 6-speed manual transmission, while Renault is likely to offer the Efficient Dual Clutch (EDC) gearbox on the SUV, given its premium position, instead of the Easy-R AMT unit seen on the Duster.
Image Source: Rushlane
