Renault Captur delayed until Q4

UNEXPECTED global demand and issues with Australian Design Rule certification have conspired to push out the arrival of Renault’s keenly-awaited Captur small crossover delayed by about six months, with the local launch now set for the fourth quarter of 2014.

A high-riding city-focused crossover spun-off the same architecture as the Clio, the Captur will Renault a valuable incremental sales boost and provide competition to the Peugeot 2008, Holden Trax and Ford EcoSport in one of Australia’s fastest-growing model segments.

Originally set to launch here earlier this year, the delay is an unfortunate one for Renault’s local arm, as it seeks to maintain its strong sales momentum that has seen it post double-digit growth for the past three years.

“Theres been a few things that have happened with it,” said Renault Australia managing director Justin Hocevar, speaking with GoAuto at the launch of the Clio GT this week. “We’ve always said it would launch in the first half of 2014, we were pushing for the earliest possible launch.”“We had a few delays with our ADR developer, that slowed us down a little, probably slowed us down a little over a month I’d say.

“And then getting ourselves back into the production schedule in a really high demand schedule… I think it’s really taken the company by surprise just how successful it is, I think its the number three-selling car in France, across Europe, and even in places like Japan and South Korea, where there’s hardly any importer vehicles.

“They launched the vehicle the for online sale and the first few thousand sold in minutes, something silly.”

The ADR compliance issue centres around creating a centre-rear rooftop-mounted tether on the sliding rear row for child seats, to go with the ISOFIX anchor points in the seat bases.

With production slots at the Spanish plant at a premium, the small Australian market will not be forced to wait. Expect the first arrivals by year’s end to touch down here priced from about $22,000 to $25,000, a reflection of Renault’s increasingly sharp volume pricing strategy.