Renault aborts Koleos from line-up (UK)

Renault’s most anticipated compact SUV of the last decade has been terminated from the UK line-up.

The Koleos has only been on sale for two years before it was given the axe, due to poor sales. No more models of the compact SUV will be imported, with the handful of cars in the dealer network the last to be sold in this country.

“It’s in the price guide at the moment, but I doubt it will be in the next one,” said a Renault spokesman. “We’ve got less than 20 cars left in stock, and when they’re gone that’s it.”

A mere 2,875 units of the Koleos have homes in the UK, not enough for bosses to excuse the cost of keeping it in the line-up. Renault hasn’t acknowledged a clear reason as to why it’s been a failure, but exclaims the timing of its launch – as the economic slowdown took hold in July 2008 – is partly to blame. Insiders say that meant the Koleos never got the early sales momentum a new model needs to be a hit.

The Koleos has been popular in other European markets like Spain, who nabbed 3,400 units already this year.

Motor show models in 2000 and 2006 wore the Koleos nameplate before the production car was revealed.