Ghosn leaves Espace door ajar

Renault’s show-stopping Espace could eventually be built in right-hand drive and sold globally. And that news comes on the authority of someone right at the very top of the Renault Nissan tree.

Speaking at last week’s Paris motor show, Renault Nissan President and CEO Carlos Ghosn left the door open for the French marque to reconsider its left-hand drive only stance on the stylish people-mover and sell the car in markets like Australia.

Ghosn stated current volumes for the outgoing Espace have been low — even in Europe. He says the strategy with the new car is to bed it in in established markets, achieve growth and then expand its “footprint”.

“Let’s be realistic, we are starting from a very low [sales] level,” Ghosn told a media roundtable in Paris.

“We’re going to go up in a very prudent and systematic way. So before we starting saying we’re going to go in Asia and [start] selling the car in China, let’s make sure we’re doing a good job in Europe in the classical segment…

"Then as a function of the reaction of the consumer, we’re going to expand the footprint of Espace.

“If we make a big bang in the Euro market, you’re going to see the product expanding globally,” he said.

The new Espace features styling developed under Renault’s design head, Laurens van den Acker. Its innovative interior features a high level of materials, fit and finish, myriad storage options and seating for five or seven depending on the version.

Shown first in concept form as the Initiale Paris at last year’s Frankfurt show, Espace is built on one of the Renault Nissan Alliance’s newest shared platforms — the very same mechanicals with which Nissan is already building SUVs and Renault will enter the Chinese market (also with SUVs) in 2016.

A new larger SUV to replace the Koleos crossover in markets like Australia will also be built on the package.

Renault Australia boss Justin Hocevar is keen to see the new Espace Down Under but cautions there’s still no firm program to engineer the car for Australia or the UK. He said he was heartened by the global boss’ words.

“We put forward a volume projection and a business case but at this time the car’s not on the table [for Australia],” Hocevar told motoring.com.au.

“We believe the Espace would be a great addition to our line-up. It’s a game changer for that [people-mover] segment,” he stated.