Renault Captur: Renault's answer to the Juke at Geneva

Renault Captur Concept

Renault are taking a funky, urban crossover concept to Geneva – the Renault Captur; a Juke homage.

The Nissan Juke – just like its big brother the Qashqai – has set car makers scrambling to catch up. The funky, urban (very) compact crossover has captured the Zeitgeist. Suddenly you can drive something butch and funky without the eco-mentalists plotting your demise. And it’s cheap to run.

Detroit saw Hyundai bow in with its take on the Juke – the Hyundai Curb – and here we are, fast approaching Geneva, and Renault pop up with their take on the Juke – the Renault Captur.

But the Captur isn’t a production-ready crossover itching to break free from the show and in to showrooms – it’s still very much a concept.

The 22″ alloys and a removable hardtop may just see production – at least as options – but there’s more chance of Richard Hammond taking his summer break in Cancun this year than the butterfly doors seeing the inside of a showroom.

The interior is just as ‘Concepty’ with a translucent dash – a sort of internal membrane – and seats that are part of the centre console and seem to float. All very ‘Motor Show’ – in the best sense.

Despite the Captur being a concept it does get a real-world engine – the Renault 1.6 dCi Energy – which is good for 0-60mph in 8 seconds and 99g/km CO2 – the Holy Grail.

The Captur also gets some new technology with RX-2 – an auto diff which transfers torque to the wheel with most grip – and Visio-System, which looks like it can be used to capture images of the road ahead and use those – together with data from the SatNav – to set up the Captur. Unless we’re reading in more than there is.

Looks like it could be a properly good urban runaround.