The new Renault 4 is the eighth entrant into the brand's SUV line-up, and its design boss says it has "more than enough" now.
Joining the Arkana, Austral, Captur, Espace, Rafale, Scenic and Symbioz in Renault's European portfolio, the 4 is a higher-riding sibling of the 5, with which it shares a platform, and will compete with EVs including the Fiat 600e and Mini Aceman.
Laurens van den Acker acknowledged that it's an expansive SUV offering, but told Autocar: "You have to imagine that what you see today is the fruits of Luca's anxiety, in a way", referring to CEO Luca de Meo's keenness to expand Renault's market footprint and competitiveness in all core segments.
Asked how he responds to public antipathy towards SUVs, which are growing in number as their lower-riding hatchback and supermini siblings become increasingly scarce, van den Acker suggested that such cars shouldn't be as controversial as they once were.
"When people complain about SUVs," he said, "they pretend they are these big American, body-on-frame trucks that are heavy and do 20 or 10mpg, but when you drive an SUV today – I drive an Austral and it does [50.4mpg] – they're light, they're not so heavy, they're spacious... I'm wondering if it's the same 'SUVs' we're talking about."
"Let the people that make the comments put their money where their mouth is," he added, referring to declining sales of non-SUV models in Europe.
While Renault's current line-up is now complete, it has revealed the bold Emblème concept – a high-riding hatchback – as a preview of a new 'C-D-segment' model due around 2030, showing that SUV-style models still have a future for the brand.
Van den Acker said this is partly because putting a battery under the floor of a car naturally raises its profile anyway, so it makes sense to incorporate that into the design, rather than mask it.
"When you switch to EVs, it means that the profile – you can see it with the Emblème – is a bit longer and like a crossover.”
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Nobody can accuse Renault of not finding a SUV for every niche in the B and C sectors and the 8 does not include the relatively high riding Megane E-Tech. Because Renault have developed parallel platforms for their ICE and EV models the R4, Scenic (and Megane) compete with the Captur, Austral (and Symbioz). TBH I would class most vehicles that are referred to as SUVs as Crossovers as they are mostly 2 wheel drive and sit on car platforms. To me SUVs are permanent 4 wheel drive vehicles capable of going properly off road. Credit though to Renault for making some of their newer designs stand out from the crowd.
Outside Europe, the Grand Koleos SUV makes waves in S.Korea and the Kardian SUV in Brazil. Despite the variety of models, niche player Renault beats all European competitors with it operating margin. All post profit warnings, but not (the future STLA CEO) DeMeo.