Renault's crossover is called 'Kadjar'. Um

It's not even a month old yet, but we're already calling 2015 as ‘year of the oddly named SUV'. January alone has yielded the Jaguar F-Pace, Bentley Bentayga, and now this, the Renault Kadjar.

We say ‘this’, but like its posh Brit equivalents, Renault’s C-segment crossover hasn’t actually shown its face yet.
 
So what does Kadjar mean? It’s the shoving together of two smaller ‘words’. Kad “is inspired by ‘quad’ – representing a go-anywhere four-wheeled vehicle”, says Renault, while jar “recalls the French words ‘agile’ and ‘jaillir’ representing agility and suddenly emerging from somewhere”.

“The sound and spelling of the name have an exotic feel which suggests adventure and discovering new horizons”, Renault goes on to explain, while the letter K “is indicative of the model’s robustness”. That Kadjar doesn’t sound dissimilar to little brother Captur is no doubt helpful, too.

Let’s hope Renault’s put as much effort into making the car competitive with the Nissan Qashqai (remember when that was a seriously odd name?) and Skoda Yeti (that too…).

Renault is promising an active social media campaign in the lead up to February 2 – one week today – when the Kadjar shows its face completely, prior to heading up Renault's stand at the Geneva motor show in March.

Given how old the Megane is, it’s unlikely to be much related to that, instead heralding a new styling direction. Renault’s most recent crossover concept is the Kwid, above. While it’s titchy in size – and quite barmy in some its features – there’s a chance some of its elements may transfer to a larger car.

Engines are likely tobe similar to those in the Qashqai, Renault being friends with Nissan, don’t forget. So the choice of a 1.2-litre turbo petrol or 1.5-litre turbodiesel, with optional four-wheel drive on higher spec models seems a good guess. Though much more should become apparent next week.

What do you reckon to ‘Kadjar’, then? Too quirky? Or is oddness infinitely preferable to an unimaginative letter and number configuration?

Renault's previous crossover concept, the Kwid, pictured above