Renault has officially launched the Symbioz in Israel, one week after reports of the upcoming debut, and it arrives at a lower price than the figure previously submitted by importer Frisbi to the Transportation Ministry. The compact hybrid crossover is a stretched version of the Renault Captur, measuring 4.41 meters long, 1.79 meters wide, 1.57 meters high and riding on a 2.64-meter wheelbase. It is 17 cm longer than the Captur, but shares its width and wheelbase, and is slightly shorter and narrower than the Hyundai Kona, Toyota Corolla Cross and Kia Niro.
Cargo space ranges from 460 to 592 liters depending on the position of the rear bench, which slides on rails. A spare wheel is fitted under the trunk floor, a rare feature in hybrid cars. The new Renault-Nissan hybrid powertrain uses a 1,800 cc gasoline engine, two electric motors and produces 160 hp, up from 140 hp in the previous system. It has an automatic transmission with four ratios for the petrol engine and two for the electric motor, front-wheel drive, a 0 to 100 kph time of 9.1 seconds, a top speed of 180 kph and an official combined fuel consumption of 22.7 km per liter.
The Symbioz will be sold in two trims. Techno starts at 160,000 shekels and includes 18-inch wheels, full LED lighting, tinted rear windows, perimeter parking sensors and surround cameras. It also gets a 10.4-inch vertical touchscreen with Google-based software, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster, wireless phone charging, a smart key, climate control and 360-degree cameras. Techno SR starts at 167,000 shekels and adds the Solarbay panoramic glass roof with four electrically controlled light settings and no physical shade. Metallic paint costs an extra 1,500 shekels.
Safety equipment includes autonomous emergency braking forward and reverse, adaptive cruise control, active lane centering, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, and door-opening warning. In Euro NCAP testing in 2024, the Symbioz received four out of five stars. Renault says the model will be the cheapest European hybrid crossover in Israel, only a few thousand shekels more than slightly larger Chinese rivals such as the Jaecoo 5 and Chery FX, and about 16,000 to 20,000 shekels cheaper than the Kona, Corolla Cross and Niro. The launch comes as Renault tries to recover in Israel after earlier reliability problems pushed the brand down from the country’s top 10 sellers to the third decade of the rankings.
