Renault launches the Kapture Crossover in Moscow, the model in Russia will be a Four Wheel Drive version.

• The model was presented in Moscow on Wednesday 30^th March 2016, by Laurens van den Acker, Vice President, Corporate Design, Groupe Renault, and Renault Russia’s Managing Director, Andrey Pankov.
• The KAPTUR will play a part in driving Groupe Renault’s growth at a global level, including Russia.
• The KAPTUR will be manufactured at Renault’s Moscow factory.
• There are no plans for this vehicle to be sold in Europe.

Renault extended its range today with the presentation in Moscow of the all-new Renault KAPTUR crossover which will be equipped with four-wheel drive transmission in Russia. The KAPTUR is one of the 10 new models that Groupe Renault’s President and CEO Carlos Ghosn announced for this year as Renault continues to expand outside of Europe, notably in Russia.

The launch of the KAPTUR in the popular, fast-growing SUV segment will help Renault to consolidate its foothold in the Russian and Eurasian Customs Union markets. The new model is the latest addition to Renault’s range in Russia where it rounds out the make’s crossover and SUV line-up alongside the Sandero Stepway, Duster and Koleos.

The specific needs of the Russian market were dialled into the new crossover from the very beginning of the design process. In addition to its name, which starts with an emphatic ‘K’, the KAPTUR’s dimensions are also specific, while its four-wheel drive transmission stands out as a major ally to cope with the country’s harsh climate.

Renault’s latest styling cues

The KAPTUR’s design, which is based on Renault’s six-petal flower strategy which symbolises the human life cycle, marks a new milestone in the brand’s approach to styling in Russia and the CIS.

“To design Renault KAPTUR, we have mixed the best of Renault’s eye-catching design with a specific attention to Russian needs for off-road abilities, travelling comfort and versatility,” said Laurens van den Acker, Corporate Design, Vice President, Groupe Renault, at the model’s presentation in Moscow on March 30, 2016. “It is a genuine crossover, with a robust, expressive design.”

The front end features Renault’s new styling cues, including a bold Renault logo set against a gloss black background. The wide upper section of the distinctive grille features a new honeycomb mesh pattern, while the broad lower part of the bumper visually widens the car. The sculpted forms of the bonnet and door inserts are other bold crossover cues that express strength.

As at the front, a key feature at the rear is the C-shaped lighting signature of the 3D-effect LED taillights.

Robust and stylish

The KAPTUR’s stance points to the reliability expected of a genuine all-terrain vehicle, including approach and departure angles of 20 and 31 degrees respectively, plus record ground clearance of 204mm (unladen).

The KAPTUR‘s specific dimensions are:

• Length: 4,333mm
• Width (not including door mirrors): 1,813mm
• Height :1,613mm
• Wheelbase: 2,674mm
• Front track: 1,564mm
• Rear track: 1,570mm
• Turning cycle: 11m

The KAPTUR will appeal to motorists who lead busy life-styles, appreciate a modern atmosphere and value comfort. To heighten its appeal, Renault has also developed a unique set of customisation options for the car.

A modern, comfortable interior

In addition to its bold yet elegant exterior lines, the KAPTUR features a stylish, comfortably-appointed, occupant-friendly cabin that can be customised to obtain a unique interior ambience.

All occupants enjoy outstanding comfort, while the driver benefits from the highest driving position (708mm from the ground) in the KAPTUR’s segment. The rear bench seat comfortably accommodates three adults.

The KAPTUR’s boot volume is 387 litres and carrying capacity increases to 1,200 litres with the 60/40-split bench in the fully-folded position. Loading is facilitated thanks to a wide tailgate aperture (1,002mm) and additional boot lighting.

The KAPTUR comes with a modern equipment package for everyday use, including intuitive technologies such as keyless entry, ignition and locking for all versions. The KAPTUR is also available with the MEDIA NAV system which covers all the basic multimedia functions, complete with a seven-inch (18cm) touch screen display, a radio and Bluetooth® connectivity for audio streaming and hands-free use of mobile phones.

Adapted to the needs of the Russian market

The KAPTUR is an all-terrain 4x4 crossover engineered to cope with the conditions that can be encountered in Russia thanks to its high ground clearance (204mm), heavy duty suspension and reliable all-wheel drive transmission incorporating a locking centre differential. Other key features that make it ideal for the harsh wintry conditions that can be found in Russia and CIS countries are Renault’s Remote Engine Start system, heated front seats and a heated windscreen.

The KAPTUR, which will go on sale this summer, is manufactured at Renault’s Moscow plant. The assembly of the crossover in the Russian capital marks a further milestone in Renault’s dynamic product offensive in this market.

Bentley bucks the economic disaster in Russia by opening a third dealership in Moscow.

• Third city location opens in Moscow
• Strong interest drives growth in Russia
• Avilon announced as authorised partner

Bentley Motors has reinforced its commitment to the company’s key Russian market, by announcing the opening of its third dealership in the country’s fast-growing capital, Moscow.           

One of the largest and most populated cities in the world, reaching over 12 million people, Moscow has established itself as the political, economic, cultural and scientific centre of Russia. The new dealership, occupying a premium location on Volgogradskiy Prospekt 41, opened its doors on Saturday 30^th May. 

  

Bentley Moscow-Volgogradskiy, a partnership with automotive retail specialists, Avilon, offers customers the full Bentley model range as well as aftersales service and the company’s branded luxury goods. It adds to Bentley’s presence in Tretyakovsky Proezd and at the Barvikha Luxury Village, with Bentley’s long-standing partner, Bentley Moscow, operated by Mercury. 

Commenting on the expansion, Kevin Rose, Bentley’s Member of the Board for Sales, Marketing and Aftersales, said: “The opening in Moscow-Volgogradskiy is another key step in our growth plans for Russia. We are making strong progress, with high levels of interest in Bentley across the country, and we look forward to our new dealership contributing to this continued success.”  

Bentley Motors now has 5 authorised dealers in Russia, taking the total to more than 200 in 57 different markets around the world.  

SEAT set to withdraw from Russian Market after massive sales slump.

Volkswagen's Spanish subsidiary, Seat, will stop selling cars in Russia by early next year because of the country's economic downturn and weakening ruble.

Car sales have fallen sharply as Russia's struggles because of Western sanctions over Moscow's role in the crisis in Ukraine and a drop in the oil price.

"The Seat brand is stopping sales of new cars in Russia from Jan. 1, 2015, due to the contraction of sectors in which it is represented, the general economic situation in Russia and currency rate fluctuations," a spokesman for VW's Russian operations said on Tuesday.

Russian new-car sales were down 10 percent year-on-year in October and 13 percent in the first 10 months as the ruble's decline and worries about the economy forced consumers to delay making large purchases.

Seat sales halved last month to just 78 units, while its 10-month sales were down 57 percent at 1,324, according to data from the Association of European Businesses lobby group.

In 2013, Seat sold 3,375 cars in Russia, despite a forecast by VW Group in 2012 that the brand would achieve sales of 5,000 to 20,000 cars a year.

Seat outlined its plans for Russia at the 2012 Moscow auto show. At the time, then-chairman James Muir said: "We see great potential for Seat in markets like Russia. Great design, high quality, outstanding engineering and innovative technology bring something new and fresh to the dynamic Russian automotive market."

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AUDI completes Historic race at Moscow Raceway with a one-two win

• Mike Rockenfeller triumphs at DTM’s premiere in Moscow
• Strong second place for Mattias Ekström
• Five Audi drivers score points at Moscow Raceway

Historic success for Audi: At the first Russian DTM race in history, Mike Rockenfeller (Audi Sport Team Phoenix) and Mattias Ekström (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline) caused a one-two Audi victory in front of an impressive crowd of 45,000 spectators (throughout the weekend). Rockenfeller, on clinching his second success of the season, managed to extend his lead in the overall standings to 27 points.

A perfect day for Audi at Moscow Raceway: On the new DTM race track around 80 kilometers north-west of Moscow, Mike Rockenfeller in the Schaeffler Audi RS 5 DTM and Mattias Ekström in the Red Bull Audi RS 5 DTM commandingly set the pace right from the start. After 74 laps, the two Audi drivers had more than a ten-second advantage over the BMW of Augusto Farfus, who just barely managed to save third place on crossing the finish line ahead of Adrien Tambay in another Audi RS 5 DTM.

“Obviously, this was a really big step in the Championship today,” said a jubilant Mike Rockenfeller after the race. “It’s great having won here at the DTM’s premiere in Russia. It was a similarly perfect race as at Brands Hatch: starting from the pole position and finishing in first place. My Audi RS 5 DTM was fantastic and Team Phoenix did a superb job. At the Norisring, I was too slow but here everything fit together.”

Rockenfeller started on softer option tires and, running at the front of the field, set consistently fast times for 45 laps before switching to the standard tires. At the beginning of the race, Ekström, who was running on the harder tires, managed to keep the BMW of Augusto Farfus, who had started on option tires as well, at bay. The Swede thus laid the foundation for the historic Audi one-two victory.

Five Audi RS 5 DTM cars in total finished at the DTM’s Russian premiere in the points, including all four cars of Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline. A strong race was driven as well by youngster Adrien Tambay, who in the Audi ultra RS 5 DTM pushed forward from position twelve on the grid to fourth place, drove the fastest race lap and scored his first points this year. Jamie Green in the Red Bull Audi RS 5 DTM only lost fifth place to Mercedes driver Gary Paffett shortly before the end. Timo Scheider (AUTO TEST Audi RS 5 DTM) from 14th on the grid advanced to ninth place and thus finished in the points as well.

Filipe Albuquerque in the Audi Financial Services Audi RS 5 DTM of Audi Sport Team Rosberg in position 13 missed a top-ten result by just three seconds. His team-mate Edoardo Mortara was hit by a rival on the starting lap and dropped to the end of the field. After 31 laps, he parked his damaged Playboy Audi RS 5 DTM in the pits.

The race of Miguel Molina (Audi RS 5 DTM), who after an unfortunate collision with title defender Bruno Spengler was forced to retire on the sixth lap, ended early as well.

Still, for Dieter Gass, Head of DTM at Audi Sport, the DTM’s premiere in Russia could “hardly have gone any better”: “A one-two victory, five of our cars in the points and now a clear lead of the standings for Mike Rockenfeller, who just like Mattias Ekström drove an absolutely perfect race despite the fact that both drivers repeatedly encountered traffic. The race took place in front of a great crowd and the Audi RS 5 DTM was clearly the strongest car here at Moscow Raceway, and superb teamwork played a role as well in our having achieved a brilliant result for Audi.”

AUDI DTM arrives in Russia for next race.

• Audi driver Mike Rockenfeller leads DTM standings
• Moscow Raceway is new territory for drivers and teams
• DMSB has scheduled appeal court session in Ekström case

Audi drivers visited Moscow on several occasions in the past few months to promote the DTM visit, which gave them the opportunity to intensively experience the enthusiasm of the fans on location. Now the race is just around the corner: From August 2 to August 4, the Audi RS 5 DTM and leader of the standings Mike Rockenfeller are making their race debut in Russia.

The DTM’s premiere in Russia is a calculation with many unknown quantities. None of the drivers has ever competed in a race at Moscow Raceway and the track layout with a length of only 2.555 kilometres has never been used by any racing series at all. Consequently, there is no experience available with respect to set-up or strategy on the third-shortest circuit featured on the 2013 DTM calendar. How fast the Audi Sport Teams Abt Sportsline, Phoenix and Rosberg and their drivers will be able to adjust to the new challenge will be a key success factor.

An Audi driver – Mike Rockenfeller – is travelling to Russia as the leader of the standings. The German has scored points in each race so far, claimed victory at one round and, at the beginning of the second half of the season, has a two-point advantage over the reigning Champion Bruno Spengler. The DTM has not experienced a season as thrilling and hard to predict as 2013 in a long time, with five different winners in the first five races – a tally like this at the season’s midpoint was last seen six years ago.

Before heading for Moscow, the Audi squad has another date on its agenda. The German Motorsport Federation (DMSB) has scheduled the court session to hear the appeal of Mattias Ekström’s exclusion from the fifth round of the season at the Norisring for July 30. The Swede had initially won the city street race in Nuremberg but was subsequently excluded due to an alleged breach of parc fermé rules. Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline immediately appealed this decision.

Tickets for all DTM races of the 2013 season are available at www.audi-motorsport.com/dtm. Fans in many countries of the world can watch qualifying and the race live on the DTM’s new YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/dtmint live. A total of 39 TV channels air live DTM coverage in 141 countries.

In Germany, as usual, ARD will broadcast live on “Das Erste:” Qualifying on Saturday (August 3) starting at 14:30, the race on Sunday (August 4) starting at 13:15.

AUDI has finalised it's 2013 DTM line up.

• Experience is trumps: eight Audi drivers have 34 wins between them
• ‘Norisring King’ Jamie Green high-calibre new signing
• Rahel Frey leaves DTM, Miguel Molina remains with squad

Audi will start into the 2013 DTM season with a mix of experienced campaigners and ambitious youngsters. The eight drivers have four titles, 478 races, 39 pole positions and 34 victories to their credit between them - marking top tallies in the series. The only change compared to last year’s squad: Rahel Frey is switching to GT racing within AUDI AG. The vacant cockpit will be occupied by new signing Jamie Green.

"I’m convinced that in 2013 we’ll be on the grid with an extremely strong line-up - perhaps the strongest one ever since Audi started competing in the DTM," says Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. While Rahel Frey is leaving the DTM to continue her career with Audi in GT racing, Miguel Molina will be starting his fourth DTM year with Audi.

From this season onwards, the DTM has new regulations: As the race weekends are being shortened to two days, the drivers will have less time in the future to prepare for qualifying and the race. "Finding the perfect set-up in an extremely short space of time will be crucial, so experience is worth its weight in gold," says Ullrich. "Therefore, we decided not to integrate a DTM rookie and to run with our proven squad. I’d like to sincerely thank Rahel for her strong performances and her commitment in the DTM. She was a valuable addition to the DTM with her manner and poise and will definitely continue this way in her future commitments for Audi."

Despite their impressive best marks in terms of races and victories the Audi line-up has an average age of just 28 years. The two-time DTM Champions Mattias Ekström and Timo Scheider are spearheading the squad around new signing Jamie Green as ‘old hands.’ Adrien Tambay and Miguel Molina, aged 21 and 23, respectively, are youngsters. Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller, Race of Champions winner Filipe Albuquerque and the two-time season winner Edoardo Mortara complete the team.

The new season will start at Hockenheim on May 5, followed by nine rounds, including the DTM premiere at Moscow, until the finale on October 20.