Renault has provided a sneak preview of its new concept car, due to be unveiled at the Paris auto show at the end of September.
The bright red coupe is called DeZir. The name is pronounced something like “desire” — cue French accent — and the Z comes from zero, as in zero emissions, thanks to its electric drive. Renault and Nissan have committed to offering multiple models of electric vehicles, and this is one.
But the zigzag Z makes the word look Dutch — a sign perhaps of the influence of the French company’s new Dutch design chief, Laurens van den Acker, a veteran of Mazda and Ford. This is the first car to appear since Mr. van den Acker, 44, took over last year from the longtime design head Patrick Le Quément.
Renault says the car offers hints of the new face of Renault design and a first statement of the philosophy behind it. The front presents Renault’s diamond logo in a larger, chromed version, set inside a dark grille with horizontal accents. The rear is a cave of more inset horizontals, like a bizarre topographic map of some sort. There is no rear window; video cameras take its place.
The body is made of carbon-fiber. An electric motor is set midbody, and the batteries are installed behind the seat and cooled through side and front air inlets. Zero to 62 miles per hour is advertised at five seconds. Range is listed at around 100 miles.
The keynotes of the new look, visible in the DeZir’s swelling front fenders and rear haunches, are said to lie in three adjectives: simple, sensuous and warm.
The DeZir is a long way from the angular, oddball designs of Mr. Le Quément. He gave Renault the lovable small Twingo but also vehicles that looked as strange as their names sounded, like the Avantime two-door van and the Vel Satis sedan.
The DeZir supplies hints of Mr. van den Acker’s background: there is a touch of his first employer, Audi, in the bladelike side vent, which echoes the Audi R8. The swirly body shapes and scissor doors that open in opposite directions, said by the company to suggest “yin-yang style harmony,” remind us of the near mystic or Zen Nagare look from his days at Mazda.
But the company said that the car also represented “falling in love.” Call it French stereotype or core competence, falling in love is rendered in the exterior through sensual curves and passionate red paint, credited to the car’s lead exterior designer, Yann Jarsalle. “Love is a sentiment that lifts you, gives you wings,” said Stéphane Maïore, the lead interior designer.
But falling in love is only the first step. Renault’s news release said the company’s new design philosophy was about marking the stages of life: “This vision also builds on the bonds that are gradually forged between the brand and its customers at watershed moments of their lives, such as when they fall in love, start to explore the world, found a family, begin to work, take time to play and attain wisdom.”
With the company offering up the first step — falling in love — nearly three full months in advance of the company’s hometown car show, look for other “stages” to be shown at the Paris fair or before.
