Renault lays on the luxury in diesel Koleos
BY RON HAMMERTON | 30th Nov 2012
Customers will pay a $6000 premium for the $45,490 (plus on roads) Koleos Privilege over the base $39,490 Koleos Bose SE, but they get a range of extras such as panoramic glass roof, bi-xenon headlamps with fixed cornering lights, parking sensors, hands-free entry and ignition, joystick-operated integrated satellite navigation, hill descent control, hill start assist and 18-inch alloy wheels.
The move comes as rival companies flood the market with new SUV models. Honda, Mitsubishi, Subaru and Toyota are all in various stages of launching new versions of their CR-V, Outlander, Forester and RAV4 compact SUVs, while Mazda has just announced powertrain revisions for its hot-selling CX-5.
Sales of the Koleos have risen about 90 per cent this year, although the 847 units to the end of October represents only 1.0 per cent of the medium SUV market – one of the largest segments in the Australian automotive sphere.
The $45k price tag for the Koleos Privilege is identical to that of the up-spec diesel Outlander, the Aspire, but dearer than the Nissan X-Trail TL diesel ($42,990).
However, the Koleos comes with zero per cent finance, at least until December 16.
The Korean-built Koleos is based on the X-Trail, but Renault claims more bells and whistles on its version.
The Koleos Privilege is powered by the same 2.0-litre dCi turbo-diesel, four-cylinder engine as the base Koleos model and Nissan X-Trail diesel, putting out 110kW of power and 320Nm of torque.
Fuel consumption is 7.6-litres per 100km on the combined cycle.
Renault Australia says its Koleos diesel customers wanted the choice of a better equipped model.
Managing director Justin Hocevar said: “Our customers having been asking for a top specification diesel and we are delighted to be able to launch one.
“Koleos sales are up 90 per cent year-to-date, as a result of our refocussing on the model line-up and the mid-life update we undertook a short while ago.
“We are delighted the response from the market has been so positive.”As well as the expanded diesel line-up, Renault also offers four 2.5-litre petrol models – two in front-wheel drive and two all-wheel drive – ranging from $29,990 to $44,490.
All are covered by a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty.
