The Renault Koleos is a compact SUV

Compact SUV

Compact SUV is a class of small sport utility vehicles with a length roughly between . This class should not be confused with mini SUV, which refers to smaller vehicles.- Background :...

 which was first presented as a concept car at the 2006 Mondial de l'Automobile in Paris, with first concept demonstrated on 2000 Geneva Motorshow. The Koleos was designed by Renault and developed by Nissan. It is manufactured by Renault Samsung Motors

Renault Samsung Motors

Renault Samsung Motors is a South Korean automobile manufacturer. It was first established as Samsung Motors in 1994 and started selling cars in 1998, just before South Korea was hit by the Asian financial crisis...

, a subsidiary of Renault, at its plant in Busan

Busan

Busan , formerly spelled Pusan is South Korea's second largest metropolis after Seoul, with a population of around 3.6 million. The Metropolitan area population is 4,399,515 as of 2010. It is the largest port city in South Korea and the fifth largest port in the world...

, South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

. A South Korean-market variant is sold as the Renault Samsung QM5. A facelifted version is available as of 2011.

Overview

Renault has some experience in the SUV market, after selling the Scénic RX4

Renault Scénic

The Renault Scénic is a compact MPV produced by French automaker Renault, the first to be labelled as such in Europe. It is based on the chassis of the Mégane small family car. It became 1997 European Car of the Year on its launch in late 1996...

 and the Kangoo

Renault Kangoo

The Renault Kangoo and Kangoo Express are panel van and leisure activity vehicle produced by French automaker Renault since 1997. The Kangoo is manufactured in the MCA plant in Maubeuge, France, and in Santa Isabel, Argentina. The version for the ASEAN markets was assembled by the Tan Chong Euro...

, but it has never produced a true SUV. A Koleos concept car was shown in the media as long ago as February 2000.

The Koleos's body design is based on the Renault Koleos and Renault Egeus

Renault Egeus

The Renault Egeus was a concept car presented at the 2005 Frankfurt Motor Show from Renault. It was described as an upmarket 4WD SUV....

 concept cars. Some of the Koleos's competitors such as the Citroën C-Crosser and the Peugeot 4007

Peugeot 4007

The Peugeot 4007 is a compact crossover SUV produced by the French automobile manufacturer Peugeot since July 2007.The equivalent Citroën badge-engineered version is the C-Crosser, both of which will be produced by Mitsubishi in its Nedcar plant, in Netherlands on the basis of the new Outlander...

 were also presented by the time it was launched. ADAC

ADAC

The ADAC is Germany's and Europe's largest automobile club, with more than 17 million members in June 2010. It was founded on May 24, 1903 as "Deutsche Motorradfahrer-Vereinigung" and was renamed in 1911...

 of Germany awarded five stars to the Koleos in a crash-test done in 2008.

In August 2010, the Koleos was withdrawn from the UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 market, due to poor sales of under 3000 units.

Koleos in India

In the Indian market Renault produced its premium SUV Koleos on September 8th 2011.

Koleos made its international debut in 2008 and this is the first facelift the vehicle has received since its launch. The popular Koleos registered a 51% YOY growth in the first half of 2011. It is currently being sold across five continents and in markets as diverse as Europe, South America and Asia Pacific.

It will be available with a 2 litre dCi diesel engine with a maximum power output of 150 PS @ 4000 rpm and peak torque of 320 Nm at 2000 rpm.

Engines

The range of engines:

Engine	Displacement	Power	Top speed	0–100 km/h
2.5 L 16V	2488 cc	126 kW	180 km/h (112 mph)	9.3 s
2.0 L dCi Diesel engine A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...	1998 cc	110 kW	190 km/h (118 mph)	10.4 s
2.0 L dCi Diesel engine A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...	1998 cc	129 kW	200 km/h (124 mph)	9.8 s