carvana.com: Renault

Showing posts with label Renault. Show all posts

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Renault 4 Ever Concept: Obendorfer’s Revival of a Childhood Impression

The Renault 4 Ever Design Competition is asking the world’s up-and-coming designers to pen a modernised take on the brand’s iconic Quatrelle hatchback.

Here’s one design that really impressed us: Italian David Obendorfer’s “Revival of a Childhood Impression”. Like Fiat’s Nuova 500, Obendorfer’s Revival takes the classic lines of its inspiration and wraps them around modern underpinnings.

Obendorfer explains:

“I have explored the nature of this model's surfaces and tried to capture the proportions that give it a strong personality. [Such] features are the r4's long wheelbase, quite short front overhang, car body with a typical forward-facing incline, different front and back fenders, front headlights close to each other, straight rear hatch, etc. [Of] course it has been necessary to update the vehicle volumes respecting - among other things - the standard for pedestrians' protection and the current requirements of safety and comfort in general.”

In other words, the Revival is a homage that does not skimp on creature comforts and occupant safety. It’s like the Hyundai i30 Estate in a way; a five-door hatchback with a wagon-sized boot.

It’s a modern design with retro-styling cues, perhaps designed to be built on an existing architecture. And like most new cars today, the Revival has been designed with alternative power plants – such as hybrid and all-electric ones – in mind.

Much like the exterior, the interior is attractive in its simplicity. The instrument panel retains the look-and-feel of the original Quatrelle, though uses an LCD screen that folds away when the engine is switched off in place of analogue gauges.

There’s also an LCD satellite navigation screen, a dashboard-mounted shift lever and conventional push button / turn knob controls for the radio and HVAC.

Of all the entrants, I feel this one looks the most production-ready. It surprises with its practicality: how it’s not some way-out design for a future that will never come.

Obendorfer’s Revival was one of the fifty projects shortlisted in DesignBoom’s Renault 4 Ever competition, and is definitely one of our favourites. You can check out our full gallery below and leave a comment if you wish.

PHOTO GALLERY

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Renault Megane Scenic

RENAULT MEGANE SCENIC Review

In 1992 Renault’s portfolio of one box utility cars spanned the Twingo city car at one more extreme and the much larger seven seater Escape at the other. It might seem logical to plug the gap with another one box car, but the decision to build a VW Golf sized people carrier was a much more significant risk for Renault. It was risky, but a supremely perceptive move, MPVs in the American mould were almost too big for European in town use, as well as being too expensive for young families. A smaller, cheaper, version of the Escape could potentially attract a very wide audience. Renault gave a clue to its plans in 1991 with a concept car called the Scenic. It was a move the company was later publicly to regret. Renault merged plans for the Scenic, with a bigger overall strategy of replacing the 19 range with a new single model line up of cars encompassing six different body styles, called Megane, all the vehicles were based on the same basic running gear, and used the same dashboard and switch gear. Ahead of the mainstream, Renault produced the Megane hatch, saloon, cabriolet, estate and Scenic.

The Scenic was a huge sales success. It offered five individuals seats, which could be removed and folded in a taller than normal body, which heightened the sense of space. Superb design, detailing included storage cubby holes in the floor, and a structural panel shelf in the tall boot which could take the weight of shopping. Other manufactures raced to launch their own interpretation of the mini MPV as this new take on the family car become hugely popular in Europe.

Renault Megane Scenic Picture Gallery