Nepta hints at Renault sporties
Built to wow crowds at Paris, Renault's latest concept car hints at what might beNo, it's not the New England Piano Teachers' Assoc as Google would have you believe! Rather Nepta is Renault’s latest concept car and it’s set to debut at the Paris Motor Show which opens to the public on September 30 (for more click
).A pointer to some aspects of Renault's future (see below), Nepta is more a flight of open-air motoring fancy. It features one-piece body sides that hinge at the car’s centerline and raise in the form of double-length gullwing doors. This is feature near impossible to incorporate in a production car given today’s crash safety requirements.
The near-5m long car (at 4890mm the new VE Commodore is over100mm shorter!) rolls on 23-inch wheels with specially developed tyres -- Michelins, of course. Lighting is via Valeo LEDs front and rear.
Renault says the four-seater cabriolet has "fluid lines and a thoroughbred profile". What it doesn't have is a roof -- when it rains, you and the Nepta get wet…
That said, the long, low and lithe body styling could give some hints at Renault's long-rumoured MX-5-style two-door two-seater sportscar. Certainly, the front 'face' of the Nepta is close to the artist impressions that have been floating around and purport to represent the sportster (also rumoured to resurrect the nameplate Alpine.)
The interior is typical show car 'whacky' with lashings of off-white leather, coupled front and rear paired seats and Buck Rogers-style touch screens aplenty.
In a departure for the front-wheel drive dominated engineering of the French marque, the Nepta uses a longitudinal front engine, rear-wheel drive powertrain a la our very own Falcodores. Could this to be a pointer to Renault's future luxury and sports models' architecture?
No pushrods to be seen, however. The Nepta features a twin-turbo DOHC direct-injection petrol V6 of 3.5 litre capacity. The 309kW/560Nm powerhouse is coupled to a seven-speed automatic transmission with steering wheel mounted gearshift actuation and propels the Nepta from 0-100km/h in a claimed 4.9sec.
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