What to expect: Renault Boreal “soon” in South Africa
· Citizen
Announced after its global reveal last year to be under investigation for South Africa, newly uncovered reports have alleged that Renault will indeed debut the Boreal later this year.
‘Global’ product
The rhombus brand’s SUV for developing markets, the Boreal is produced in Brazil for Latin America and in Turkey for the Eastern European, Middle East and the North and Sub-Saharan African markets.
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Boreal is set to become Renault’s new flagship SUV in South Africa. Picture: RenaultOf greater interest, though, it will be made at Renault’s Chennai plant in India for both the domestic market and also key export right-hand drive markets.
As with the incoming “facelift” Duster made at the same plant, South Africa will, therefore, be privy to the Indian-made Boreal as the former production facilities are left-hand drive focused.
What is it?
Essentially, Renault’s take on sister brand Dacia’s Bigster, unveiled in Europe two years ago, the Boreal rides on the CMF-B platform, which also makes it an extended wheelbase Duster, given that it too uses the same underpinnings.
Boreal is, in effect, a rebadged version of the Dacia Bigster. Picture: DaciaStyled completely different from the Bigster, the Boreal has the following dimensions:
- Length: 4 556 mm;
- Wheelbase: 2 702 mm;
- Height: 1 650 mm;
- Width: 1 841 mm;
- Ground clearance: 213 mm
Likely to become Renault South Africa’s replacement for the Koleos, the Boreal provides seating for five, with a claimed boot space of 522-litres, or 1 279-litres with the rear seats folded flat.
Likely spec
In terms of specification, which will differ from market and trim level, the Boreal has the following:
- up to 19-inch alloy wheels;
- LED headlights;
- panoramic glass roof;
- electric tailgate;
- dual-zone climate control;
- ambient lighting;
- electric front seats;
- ventilated wireless smartphone charging pad
- 10-inch digital instrument cluster;
- integrated satellite navigation;
- 10-inch infotainment system;
- wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto;
- refrigerated central console storage area;
- 10-speaker, 435-watt Harman Kardon sound system
On the safety and driver assistance front, Renault has equipped the Boreal with:
- Six airbags;
- Front and rear parking sensors;
- 360° surround-view camera;
- Adaptive Cruise Control;
- Automatic Emergency Braking;
- Lane Keep Assist;
- Blind Spot Monitoring;
- Driver Attention Alert;
- Automatic Park Assist;
- Traffic Sign Recognition
- Lane Centring Assist;
- Lane Departure Warning;
- Safe Exit Assist;
- Rear Cross Traffic Alert;
- Reverse Automatic Braking
Up front
On the power front, the Boreal, for now, makes exclusive use of the familiar 1.3-litre turbocharged petrol co-developed between the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance and Daimler.
In its most basic form, the unit makes 107kW/145Nm for the Turkish market and 115kW/270Nm for Latin America. Adapted to run on ethanol for Brazil comes with a power and torque bump to 120kW/270Nm.
Debuting later are two hybrids: the seemingly mild-hybrid E-Tech 150 producing 110 kW, and the full-hybrid E-Tech rated at 118 kW.
While the former is still being detailed, the latter will pair a 1.4-kWh battery pack and two electric motors with a normally aspirated 1.8-litre petrol.
Regardless of outputs, all variants of the 1.3 feature a six-speed EDC, while the E-Tech 150 will, allegedly, have a manual transmission.
At the same time, it will also be the only the Boreal derivative to have four-wheel drive.
Finally, the E-Tech 160 delivers its amount of twist to the front axle only via the multi-mode transmission.
As with the Bigster, the Boreal has a drive mode selector with five settings: Eco, Comfort, Smart, Sport and Perso (MySense).
Stay tuned
Set to also spawn a Nissan version with three-rows of seats for India and indeed South Africa either by year-end or 2027, a local market launch date for the Boreal is still to be set.
However, according to a report from AutoTrader, an announcement will soon be made.