Radical new Renault will abandon traditional SUV body style

Renault has taken things by storm with its retro-styled 4, 5 and Twingo, but the French carmaker has very different plans for its other models. The company’s head of design says a new batch of electric vehicles starting in 2028 will look forward, not backward, and start to change the design of traditional SUV shapes.

Design director Gilles Vidal suggests we look to this year’s Embleme concept, a sporty, low-slung crossover, to get a sense of what to expect when a new generation of electric vehicles arrives on its new EV platform .

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“The previous Embleme cars were probably a little misleading because you were looking at 5, 4, Twingo,” Vidal told us otoka.

“Embleme better represents the next step forward in global design for the brand, and perhaps a new silhouette for the future: generous shapes, not too minimalist, but simpler than what we have done recently with Scenic ”

Vidal even said that station wagons’ market share has been eroded by SUVs and crossovers, which may affect future sport utility vehicles. He described sport wagons as “kind of sexy” and said their lower rooflines but larger cargo areas make sense for electric vehicles that need to balance the priorities of practicality and range. .

Vidal acknowledges that anti-SUV sentiment is particularly strong in the automaker’s hometown of Paris, which was factored into the design process, but thinks the hatred may be unfounded.

“In principle, competition for SUVs is still fierce, but do you have the same view on MPVs?” he asked. otokareporter. “They weigh the same, have the same engine, the same CO2 emissions. But no one would criticize an MPV, a respectable family product. Who are we to criticize a car that looks radical?”

While Vidal’s team is working hard to introduce a new and forward-thinking product to replace Renault’s familiar SUV styling, that doesn’t mean it’s already making plans to shorten the lifespan of the 4, 5 and Twingo. He described the three cars as “timeless” and claimed they would evolve slowly, like Fiat’s retro 500.