Renault Captur gets a price drop, additional safety features

The Captur SUV has been a slow seller for Renault India, and the French automaker has come up with a price rejig to  make it more attractive to buyers. Also, the 2019 Renalt Captur gets a slew of standard safety features that are  meant to make it comply with the Bharat New Vehicle Safety Assessment Program (BNVSAP). The new Captur starts from Rs. 9.5 lakhs for the base RxE petrol trim, and this represents a Rs. 50,000 drop in prices.

The SUV is available in a total of four variants spread across two engine options – the base RxE trim and the top-end  Platine trim. The Platine petrol is priced at Rs. 12 lakhs, ex-showroom Delhi. The diesel variants of the Captur  start at Rs. 10.5 lakhs for the RxE trim and go up to Rs. 13 lakhs for the Platine trim. All in all, the Captur is  actually cheaper than the Hyundai Creta. Variant to variant, the Captur is about a lakh cheaper than the Creta but  the Renault SUV is finding very few takers in India. In fact, the much older Duster has been outselling the Captur  right from word go, and Renault dealers have been offering hefty discounts on this SUV for a couple of years now.

Talking of the mechanical bits on the Captur, the petrol powered versions use a 1.5 liter-4 cylinder, naturally  aspirated motor that pushes out 104 Bhp-142 Nm. The diesel powered variants get a 1.5 liter K9K turbocharged motor with 108 Bhp of peak power and 240 Nm of peak torque. Most buyers of the Captur prefer to opt for the diesel motor. Notably, both engines get manual transmissions as standard, with no automatic gearbox on offer, even as an option. The petrol is paired to a five speed manual while the diesel gets a six speed manual. A front wheel drive layout is standard on the SUV.

As for the safety features, the Renault Captur is now available with Dual Airbags, Antilock-Braking System (ABS) with  Electronic Brake Distribution (EBD), Rear parking sensor, Driver & co-driver seat belt reminder and Speed alerts as  standard. The touchscreen infotainment system, measuring 17.4 cm, is a new addition. This system also gets Apple Car Play, Android Auto, Eco Guide, Voice recognition and navigation as standard features. Renault is said to be working on a automatic gearbox option for the petrol powered Captur. However, an exact launch timeline for the same is yet to be available.

The automaker needs to add automatic gearbox options to both the petrol and diesel variants of the SUV as the segment leader – Hyundai Creta – offers such options. This would make the Captur more appealing to buyers as the SUV – in its current form – loses out on sales because of too few options.