June 9^th, 2004

An American Guide to what's going on at Renault

Luxury concept rewrites Renault's past, as €5,000 Euro vehicle resurrects it

Renault Fluence Concept

Not to be discouraged by the failures of both its premature luxury vehicles this past year, Renault is at it yet again. With the Fluence Concept, Renault eschews both its recent Baroque detailing and the visual fussiness for which it has been known since the late '60s

The Avantime (top) was a niche too far, and the Vel Satis too oddball for luxury car buyers. Both have been cancelled in the last eighteen months

Renault Design Head Patrick le Quément's original plan was to glamorize Renault's quirky utilitarianism. Renault now appears to have decided that the luxury world demands a more restrained - if still unique - approach

Renault's traditionally heavy-handed detailing is maintained in an updated form, with attention-grabbing glowing lights placed in strategic positions

The French execution desired by le Quément dictates that the front and rear must slope downward; yet the conservative echelons of luxury buyers are unlikely to find this a particularly charming trait. Thus Fluence Concept, quite ingeniously, allows its roof to slope downward; creates a top spine which itself slopes a little less sharply downward, and maintains a midway that is parallel to the ground. The two latter points temper the inherent slope at the rear. Fluence Concept even permits a waterline which slopes upward at the base of the windows, further mitigating but not concealing the effect. All of this serves not only to disguise the slopes, but to give the car broad, muscular flanks which themselves lend it a stance quite different to the relatively delicate, less confident look of Renaults in years gone by

Dacia Logan

"Price, Reliability, and Durability," says Renault. Dacia will ask just €5,000 for its new Nissan Micra-based Logan when it debuts in Romania this September. Logan is the first vehicle in Renault's X90 program

Nissan's 2003 Micra, upon which the 2005 Logan is based. The Dacia car eschews Micra's more transient fashion for a traditional 3-box design The co-engineered platform is also used in Nissan's Cube, March, and Micra, and Renault's Modus. It will underpin the upcoming Renault Clio III

The Dacia Solenza, launched in 2000, will soldier on next to the Logan. Incredibly, Solenza is priced higher than Logan, which not only illustrates the importance of the Logan achievement, but quite belies its aging platform. Indeed, Solenza is based on a vehicle that should be familiar to many Americans...

... the $5,800, 1984-1986 Renault Encore (R11 in Europe)

Much of the Logan's conservative image is attributable to a strictly horizontal waterline that runs almost around the car. It manages to hide the impact of the traditionally French, sloping front and rear ends. These are the only gratuitously French points of the car's exterior, however, with equally high front and rear wheel-arches and a high rear deck creating a relatively multi-national, contemporary look. Only the tall roof, aforementioned slopes, large C-pillar, and fussiness about the surfacing recall Renaults of years gone by

Logan's blockish dashboard design will be familiar to fans of older Renaults. Despite the thoroughly modern underpinnings, Renault has managed to cut corners - and yet resurrect some of the appeal of its older cars. Note, for instance, the turn signal indicator which (as in Renaults past) indicates both left and right directions simultaneously no matter which side is activated

The '70s front-wheel-drive Renault 12 had underpinned the vast majority of Dacia's cars since there has been a Dacia. R12 was sold in the U.S. from 1972 to 1977

Blocky lettering a throwback to the '80s, and a welcome sight for enthusiasts of yesteryear's Renaults. For the first time, however, Dacia has a thoroughly modern Renault to build

When we last reported on Renault, the manufacturer had cancelled the slow-selling, if adventurous, Avantime (see article: 'Renault Avantime fails, takes Matra factory down with it'). It was, decidedly, a niche vehicle. Since having departed the United States in 1986, Renault has proven itself quite keen at establishing niches.

We never got the 1984 Renault Espace, which might have provided competition to the Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager in a way that Ford's latecomer, rear-wheel-drive Aerostar and GM's later-still dustbuster vans never could. Yet the Espace was a revolution in Europe, and continues today in its fourth generation with an image CAR magazine labeled as the "Range Rover of minivans."

Another niche vehicle, the Mégane Scénic mini-MPV, caught so many manufacturers off guard that it firmly entrenched itself as the most space-efficient package of the mid '90s, while offering a decent modicum of enjoyment behind the wheel. The formula continues to be copied as Ford, Nissan, Opel/ Vauxhall, Toyota, and Volkswagen rush to play catch-up.

Yet the two-door-minivan Avantime, it seems, was a niche too far.

Few were particularly endeared to Avantime's four-door sister luxury car, Vel Satis, either. Four doors were the Vel Satis' only contribution to contemporary thought, its design otherwise requiring an eye devoid of proportion-based and continuity-seeking expectations. For a high-end market which tends to rely on exceeding expectations rather than challenging them, it was all too much. Combine this requirement with Renault's heritage-effacing fumbling in the market over the past decade, and one can understand why buyers were unwilling to bestow upon Renault and le Quément the same confidence they did on BMW and Bangle; Vel Satis was cancelled earlier this year.

Several manufacturers have had what the media dubs last chances. With amusingly Wild West overtones, the British press dubbed Rover's 75 the "last chance saloon" back in 1999, when BMW was still struggling with its "English patient."

Vel Satis was placed in a similar position, although with a different impact; if the car failed, the press assured us, Renault would no longer attempt to compete in the luxury market.

Renault, however, is ostensibly healthy, lacking only an upmarket vehicle (minivan mogul Espace aside). Despite media predictions that the Vel Satis would be its last luxury effort, Renault appears to be undeterred by the premature failures of both its luxury vehicles this past year -

- and indeed is at it yet again. Last week, Renault used the Louis Vuitton Classic Great Britain to show its Fluence Concept, a superlatively elegant, hedonistic coupé which we bet will indeed see production.

At the other end of the spectrum, Renault last week also announced the introduction of a budget car it hopes will allow it to achieve its goal of four million units by 2010: the Logan, which will initially be built by its Romanian arm, Dacia.

Renault has not had a car to convincingly challenge the upmarket Germans with since the five-door Renault 25. We experienced the Renault 25 in somewhat tamed form as the Eagle Premier, a Giugiaro-designed four-door which Chrysler inherited when Renault departed. Just 122,422 were sold in the U.S. from 1988 through 1992, but the car fared substantially better on the continent. Its fastback form aside, the 25 was a more serious Renault - a tribute of sorts to Autobahn stormers.

Today, rather than emulate the Germans, Renault seeks to provide a different, more French interpretation of luxury. In the world of French fashion, Louis Vuitton stands for luxury and leather. Renault's 280hp, 4.6 meter-long Fluence Concept follows these principles with excess in the French tradition.

Oddly enough, a tradition which dictates flowing, elegant lines is more Peugeot's than Renault's. Known for more stubbly coupés in the past, Renault's history is rife with slashed and dashed statements such as the 15 and 17. All the while, it was Peugeot who hired Italian design house Pininfarina for much of its design work, creating the beautiful 504 Coupé and, more recently, the 406 Coupé.

Renault Design Head Patrick Le Quément's original plan was to glamorize Renault's quirky utilitarianism. Quirky, however, has its limitations. Where the Vel Satis failed, the little, cheaper, more mainstream Mégane which owes much of its abruptness to the larger car has become one of Europe's best sellers.

Renault now appears to have decided that the luxury world demands a more restrained - if still unique - approach.

Paradoxically enough, rival Peugeot is showing every sign of seeking to chase more niche near-luxury markets; the upcoming 407 coupé (photos) will likely wear the same huge - and polarizing - grin its sedan sister car (photos) does.

Either way, Renault has now designed a more flowing shape, eschewing the Baroque forms of old for surfaces determined by gentler curves and interrupted by more curvaceous details. Although the fastback shape pays tribute to Renault's upper-echelon vehicles of years past (in both the cases of the two-door 17 and of the four-door 16, 30,  and 25), the execution is neither as quirky as the '70s 17, nor as mainstream as the '80s 25.

The French execution desired by le Quément dictates that the front and rear must slope downward; yet the conservative echelons of luxury buyers are unlikely to find this a particularly charming trait.

Thus Fluence Concept, quite ingeniously, allows its roof to slope downward; creates a top spine which itself slopes a little less sharply downward, and maintains a midway that is parallel to the ground. The two latter points temper the inherent slope at the rear. Fluence Concept even permits a waterline which slopes upward at the base of the windows, further mitigating but not concealing the effect. All of this serves not only to disguise the slopes, but to give the car broad, muscular flanks which themselves lend it a stance quite different to the relatively delicate, less confident look of Renaults in years gone by.

Respectful execution has thus created an effect which has permitted the brand to move, convincingly enough, into a different plane. This happens so rarely that one can only believe Renault Design's efforts will see production.

Renault promises a 0-60mph time of 6.5 seconds, impressive for a 1,500kg personal coupe. Thank Nissan's VQ engine, which the Nissan 350Z, Altima, Murano, and Infiniti G35/ FX35 have thoroughly familiarized us with.

The front-wheel-drive Renault 12 has under-pinned all of Dacia's cars since there has been a Dacia (a few R8-based variants aside). Older U.S. readers may remember that the R12 saw a brief time in the U.S. market but never became a major player here. Available Stateside from 1972 to 1977, R12 was also the last Renault sedan sold in the U.S. before the French embarked upon a collaboration with, and eventual ownership of, American Motors.

The AMC tie-up fielded the 1981 18i (R18 in Europe) and, in 1983, the Kenosha, Wisconsin-built Renault Alliance (R9). A hatchback version called Encore followed in 1984. It was the $5,800, 1984-1986 Encore (R11 in Europe) which provided the underpinnings for Dacia's Solenza in 2000. Amazingly, Solenza started at €5,100.

Today, by dropping the number of its suppliers down to 42 (amongst other bottom-up design considerations), Renault has managed to bring a far more modern car to market, yet at an even lower price. Logan will launch this fall, initially built in the care of Renault's Romanian subsidiary, Dacia. Logan will complement Solenza on the market, and will replace the R12-based Dacia Berlina.

What prompted Logan? As the Eastern European market opens, a greater degree of dynamic performance will be expected than the '80s econobox R11 platform or preceding '70s midsize R12 can provide.

Additionally, this is a world car. By 2007, five production sites are expected for Logan: its Romanian home base (starting this September), as well as Colombia (44,000 annually); Iran (300,000); Morocco (30,000), and Russia (60,000).

Ultimately, Renault's goal is to sell four million vehicles by 2010 (not including Nissan). Currently, Renault and Nissan sell about equal (~2.5 million) numbers of cars annually. With the Nissan turnaround in full swing thanks to Renault man Carlos Ghosn, Renault has been turning its attention to Dacia.

Dacia was a natural for Renault's use in Eastern Europe and the third-world, having been in co-operation with Renault since 1970. As Renault watched the Eastern European market unfold, it acquired up to 92.72% of Dacia in the late '90s. A €489 million investment in Dacia has followed over the past five years. As a result, Dacia sold 20% more cars in 2003 than in '02, with the R11-based Solenza accounting for 45% of its sales.

Yet Renault had no intention of leaving the R11 platform for use nearly as long as the R12 was. €350 million of its investment was for Logan. Renault set about modernizing the Pitesti plant's equipment, and instilling a sense of quality. Indeed, quality is a firm promise. Purchasing Director for Dacia Erik Bergelin emphasizes the importance of suppliers, noting that "our rigorous approach to selecting (them) is a guarantee of quality."

"All the milestones (in the X90 Project) complied with Renault quality standards," adds Georges Lambert, X90 Project Quality Assurance Engineer.

Renault actually appears to have put a decent amount of enthusiasm into the Logan, X90 Project Director Jean-Marie Hurtiger noting that "developing this project was a real challenge: both demanding and exciting." The company has been rewarded with interest from even the Western press.

Logan is based on a Renault/ Nissan co-engineered platform. Dubbed B, this platform is the basis for Nissan's Cube, March, and Micra, and for Renault's recently-launched Modus (photos). Renault will use it again for the upcoming Clio III.

Conforming to Euro IV emission control standards, Logan is a manual transmission-only, temporarily gasoline-only, 5-passenger sedan that uses modern Renault 1.4- and 1.6-liter engines. A 1.5-liter diesel engine is expected later.

Mind you, at €5,000, power steering is an option; air conditioning is an option, and so too is a radio.

Logan rides on McPherson struts with wishbone arms sit up front, with an H-type torsion beam, coil springs, and an anti-roll bar at the rear.

Renault is particularly proud of the 510 liters of trunk space provided by the Logan.

The car pays for its blockish figure with a rather high 0.36 drag coefficient, however - coincidentally the same as that of the '83 Alliance.

Under current Renault Group conditions, the Logan is distinctly unsuited to America.

As for the Fluence Concept, its Nissan powertrain has and will continue to be seen in Infinitis across the 'States, but with Infiniti starting to find its own design language, the Fluence Concept's influence in our market is most likely to be indirect.

If you want a Renault, wait for Nissan's upcoming Sentra, which will be the closest thing to the genuine article since the watered-down Eagle Premier.