Renault acts to stimulate Koleos sales

RENAULT Australia is offering free scheduled servicing on its Koleos compact SUV range for the first three years or 40,000 km, whichever comes first.

The offer, which applies to new cars sold before March 31, is the latest move from the company to help stimulate sales of its SUV, which slipped 19.7 per cent last year in a market segment that gained 36.6 per cent.

Renault Australia managing director Justin Hocevar said he was confident the latest move would have strong appeal to families.

“The compact SUV market is very busy, and there are so many offers and specifications from which to choose, but we believe that by removing scheduled servicing costs for three years will strike a chord with many buyers,” he said.

The free service deal provides up to four regular services at 10,000km intervals for petrol cars, or three services at 15,000km intervals for diesel vehicles, up to three years.

Renault also offers three years of roadside assistance with the three-year warranty across the Koleos range, which starts with the 4x2 Koleos Expression with manual transmission for $29,990 driveaway.

The 4x2 Expression – launched in August 2010 – is equipped with six airbags, cruise control with speed limiter, Bluetooth hands free, 17-inch alloy wheels, a full size alloy spare wheel, fog lights and a chilled glove box.

In June last year, Renault offered $2500 of extras including full leather, while in May the Koleos received a substantial equipment upgrade and a price cut of up to $1000 across the range.

Despite Renault’s best efforts, Koleos found only 816 homes in Australia last year, compared with market leader Subaru Forester’s 14,644.

All Koleos models come with either a 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine with 126 kW and 226 Nm or a 2.0-litre turbo-diesel with 110 kW and 320 Nm.