DAILY life can be mundane, but on its edges lurk flights of fancy for those who give rein to their imaginations.

The inner desire to escape and get away from it all sits at the core of Renault’s and Jeep’s marketing strategies to prise motorists from the drudgery of their daily commutes with visions of speeding along a racetrack or driving off-road in rugged terrain. These are places where each of the vehicle brands forged its reputation.

For Renault, it’s the lure of the racetrack.

Screeching rubber and the smell of it filled Renault’s recent Formula One carnival day in Shanghai. The adrenalin was almost tangible in the air as Formula One racers Jolyon Palmer and Kevin Magnussen and more than 100 Renault fans competed to bring out the best in Renault’s hot hatchback Megane RS as the car made its performance debut in China.

The carnival day was held just prior to Team Renault first Formula One competition at the Shanghai International Circuit since it announced its comeback on the circuit as an independent team last year. The decision ended its limited presence as an engine supplier to Red Bull and Lotus in high-stakes motor racing.

The Megane RS was largely built with China in mind, Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn said earlier this year at the inauguration of the Dongfeng Renault plant marking the brand’s first joint venture in the country.

“Among the top 10 car brands in the world, we are the last to start production in China,” said Xiong Yi, director of sales and marketing of Dongfeng Renault. “We are still little known in the local market. But those who do understand that we are a brand with sports DNA get that idea largely through our story on the race track.”

Despite its on-again, off-again relationship with Formula One, Renault associates its name with 168 grand prix championships and 12 world championships. Applications of its turbo-charging and engine-downsizing technology are now deployed widely for energy-saving in vehicles on the road.

Technological innovations from Formula One take quite some time to trickle down to the mass market, but Renault’s passionate spirit is instantly contagious. It is parlaying that passion into its brand signature, managing to sell a sports story while centering its China strategy on the high-growth market of SUVs. The spaciousness and elevated stance of these boxy vehicles touches a soft spot with Chinese customers, even though there are inevitable compromises to racing-style maneuvers.

Earlier this month, Renault launched Kadjar, a mid-size SUV, as its first Chinese-made product to complement its imported compact SUV Captur. The current Beijing Auto Show displays a mid-to-large size SUV as Renault’s second localized offering. Together, they will make up a full line-up of SUVs covering China’s mainstream price range of between 100,000 yuan (US$15,397) and 300,000 yuan.

Xiong said he believes the company’s SUV product offensive is a smart choice in playing catch-up in an increasingly competitive market. The company is eager to put its market share in China on par with its global 3 percent level.

Last year, the SUV segment, with its more than 50 percent growth rate, stood out as a rare bright spot in China’s overall 7 percent vehicle growth. It accounted for up to 30 percent. Kadjar had received 5,000 pre-orders at the time of its launch in late March and has since doubled sales growth.

“Formula One has attracted quite a large audience in China,” said Xiong. “But that’s only the tip of our marketing pyramid, which will also include local racing events and opportunities at first-hand car driving experience at Renault parks. The feedback from test drivers tells us that the Kadjar has great steering stability when making high-speed turns.”

For Jeep, it’s the lure of the off-track.

Earlier this month, a fleet of more than 30 Jeeps arrived at the foot of Helan Mountain in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region to celebrate the brand’s 75th birthday. The rugged terrain of the northwestern region evoked images often portrayed in advertising for American SUVs.

Be it the brand’s off-terrain specialist Wrangler Sahara or urban SUVs like Grand Cherokee or Cherokee, the dirt raised along a 10-kilometer drive on rutted gravel roads covered the vehicles with the color of the landscape. Their destination was Jeep Safari Park off the heavily beaten track.

The park was built from nothing by Gao Jinsong, a local Jeep dealer and hardcore Jeep fan. A road had to be cut through the wilderness to get construction teams in.

The place is now a destination for Jeep pilgrims and a test site for the Jeep-style can-do spirit. Amid the mountainous terrain, a daunting course known as the Ladder to Heaven has been created for the most daring of Jeep drivers. It consists of nothing but jagged rocks. Gao’s Jeep Wrangler Sahara is one of the very few that have conquered the course.

He started out merely as a Jeep customer in 2008.

“My life was rather wayward at that time,” Gao said, as he was set to take another go at the Ladder to Heaven to celebrate Jeep’s birthday. “Back then, I was a very successful businessman in another field. Now I sell Jeeps.”

With the aura of hardcore off-road spirit, Wrangler Sahara is the kind of vehicle that challenges and defines Gao and other he-men. But Jeeps are now mostly eclipsed at Jeep dealerships by urban SUVs, which dominated the birthday celebration as well.

The urban SUV segment, despite the all-terrain technologies as fancy add-ons, values ride comfort more than factors like crawl ratio. That is what most of SUV buyers in China are seeking, even if the experience isn’t as adventurous as Wranglers.

Last week, Jeep rolled off its compact SUV Renegade as its second Chinese-made SUV after the Cherokee. For a latecomer cashing in on China’s SUV boom, the choice of products for local production has been impeccable. The only hurdle is convincing consumers that they should pay extra for professional four-wheel drives in vehicles used mostly for city travel. Jeep’s natural roughness tends to obscure any debonair flair.

Jeep hopes its off-road specialty will be fancied by people yearning for a getaway from humdrum daily life, regardless of price.

The company said the Renegade is now the only professional SUV in China sold for under 200,000 yuan. It is aimed at first-time SUV buyers, especially those 30 and younger, who are searching for identity and a sense of adventure on the road, or off it.

Sitting at a campfire at Jeep Park, under the clear, starry skies of Ningxia, Gao regaled listeners with tales of his most unforgettable Jeep rides. He told how he was once asked to take a suicidal elderly man on the 7-kilometer Roads Untraveled Hooke in the park, including a ride up the Ladder to Heaven. The excursion was meant to jar the man into a renewed embrace of life. And, indeed, the old man snapped out of depression and bought a Jeep Wrangler Sahara for himself.

“It is a story about healing effects,” said Gu Jiaying, chief marketing officer of GAC FCA, the joint venture between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Guangzhou Automobile Group that makes Jeep in China.

Now, fingers are crossed that what freed the deeply troubled spirit of the old man may also liberate those living unhappy lives confined to small office cubicles and apartments.