Renault goes all Lovegrove

Renault has teamed up with industrial designer Ross Lovegrove for its latest concept car, which will be revealed at the Triennale di Milano design museum on April 8.

Only a handful of close-up photos of the car have been revealed thus far, making it difficult to ascertain the car's category - though a compact hatch or city SUV with hybrid and/or low emission technologies are likely.

Ross Lovegrove is an industrial designer known for his designs that draw upon organic constructs, and this particular vehicle appears to draw on aquatic influences, with green coral reef-like alloy wheels, fish-scale patterning, wave-like tyres and sea-anemone foglights.

It's not the first time Renault has dabbled with oceanic concepts. In 1992 Renault revealed the aquatic-themed Racoon concept, which was powered by a twin-turbo V6 and had two small jets to propel it up to five knots on water.

Lovegrove's previous work includes contributions to iconic consumer electronics designs, such as the Sony Walkman and Apple computers, and his oceanic take on car design will "explore new design languages", says Renault.

It's not known if the new endeavour will be strictly a design concept or will influence future Renault vehicle designs, but the PR waffle suggests that the car will be environmentally friendly.

"By examining nature, its systems and energy transactions, this project intends to bring awareness and understanding of those phenomena and their current impact," said Renault.

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