The Renault/Dacia lodgy is a compact multi-purpose vehicle launched in 2012 at the Geneva Motor Show. It's both a 7-seat family car and a work van. But despite this combo, sales have been disappointing.
Renault is faced with a shrinking MPV segment in Europe and has already stated it will not develop another generation of the Lodgy, at least not in the current formula.
That's bad news if you're looking to buy a cheap van some years from now, but good news for crossover fans. According to this video report from German magazine Auto Bild.
It claims that the new Lodgy will debut in 2020 as a seven-seat SUV. It will be developed on top of the Renault Nissan Alliance CMF-B platform, the same as the Clio 5 and Captur 2.
However, while its chunky exterior appearance will lead you to believe that it's an off-roader, all powertrains will be front-wheel-drive. Honestly, we're not surprised, since Opel, Peugeot and Volkswagen are all moving away from the MPV market.
The powertrain options for the new Lodgy are said to include two gasoline engines with 115 HP and 125 HP, which could be a naturally aspirated 1.6-liter and a 1.3 turbo. Diesels will fill out the range with 90 and 110 HP outputs.
We know that the Lodgy will stop being made at the Renaut factory in Marocco, which means this could be a European-specific CUV assembled alongside the Duster in Romania.
The Duster is the third best selling C-segment crossover in Europe. Together with the Renault and Nissan-badged versions which are sold in other regions, it helped the alliance beat Volkswagen regarding car sales last year. So perhaps we should be surprised to see more eggs being put in the same basket.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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