FRANKFURT MOTOR SHOW: Renault's next Espace
Renault reveals its Initiale Paris concept – a large people-mover with a small diesel engineRenault has presented one of its major reveals at the Frankfurt show – a large crossover-style people-mover that points to the next-generation Espace, which could finally come to Australia.
The French giant suggests the 4.85-metre Initiale Paris wagon concept, which will replace a model that’s been around for a decade, may also herald a move into the premium luxe segment with a separate brand and logo.
Styled to embody “the vitality of a saloon… the character of an SUV [and] the light and space of an MPV”, the concept may turn into the first product badged Initiale Paris, the company’s answer to Toyota’s Lexus and alliance partner Nissan’s Infiniti.
“Initiale Paris… previews the Espace replacement in an ‘Initiale Paris’ version embodying Renault’s vision of the premium segment,” said Laurens van den Acker, VP of Corporate Design.
The company has put plenty of work into weight loss to allow it to continue its work on engine downsizing. Although it’s about the same size as the current Grand Espace, the near-five-metre concept is around 250kg leaner.
For power, Renault has tweaked its dCi 130 1.6-litre turbo-diesel four, boosting peak torque to 400Nm (up from the normal engine’s 320Nm) across what it describes as “a broad operating range”. The company remains cagey with exact figures, but says sequential (small-large) twin turbochargers help make 90 per cent of peak torque available from 1500rpm.
Married to a six-speed dual-clutch transmission, it uses 25 per cent less fuel and emits 40g/km less CO2 than a current diesel of equivalent performance, the company says.
The concept has given the company the chance to experiment with some of its Formula One technologies, for example hollowed-out steel pistons and full electronic shift-by-wire transmission action.
Renault Australia has said it is interested in the car once it reaches production, looking to it for its potential as a broad-scale player in the local market against larger mass-market SUVs like the Toyota Kluger and Ford Territory, plus people-movers like the Kia Carnival and Chrysler Grand Voyager.
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