Renault Captur SUV’s India launch confirmed for Diwali 2018

Renault India will launch the recently unveiled Captur SUV during Diwali 2018, in October. The exact launch date will be announced soon. The Captur will be positioned above the Duster in terms of pricing, and is expected to square off against the Mahindra XUV500.

The India-spec Captur is dissimilar to the one that’s on sale in Europe. It’s longer, and uses the Duster platform to keep costs low. A lot of parts sharing with the Duster could make it possible for Renault to price the Captur very competitively. We’ve already driven the car, and here’s our review.

The Captur shares its petrol and diesel engines with the Duster. The 1.5 liter K9K diesel is available in 108 Bhp-240 Nm state of tune, along with a 6 speed manual gearbox driving the front wheels. The petrol motor is the 1.5 liter unit with 105 Bhp-142 Nm. No automatic option is offered on either of these engines currently.

The Captur is a big step up from the Duster in terms of quality levels. It also has plenty of additional features, making it one of the most loaded Renaults in the country. However, it still falls behind competition in terms of features. For instance, no smartphone connectivity in this day and age is a glaring miss.

For now, the Captur sold in India will be front wheel driven. The platform does support an all wheel drive option though, as we’ve seen on the Duster AWD. In time, Renault may add an all wheel drive layout to the new SUV, making it better placed to take on the XUV500, which incidentally offers AWD.

Another feature that Renault will have to add quickly is an automatic gearbox, particularly on the diesel engine. The competition offers one, and even lower-priced the Duster has automatic gearboxes on both petrol and diesel variants. We hope to see these features added to the Captur shortly.