Renault’s new Espace, a direct rival to the Peugeot 5008

Template in regression and before taken over from the Austral, a direct rival of the Peugeot 5008

The two models are now one, offered in two variants with 5 or 7 seats, under the same body. Wanting to make a clean sweep of the past, the new Management had no qualms about designing a new space that broke with tradition. Exit the elongated nose surmounted by a huge steeply sloping windshield: by taking up the entire front part of the Renault Austral compact SUV, the new Espace revises its claims downwards. It is to Austral what the 5008 is to the Peugeot 3008. And that’s not so bad.

Read alsoRenault launches an Espace VI which is certainly not a minivan

This new role of “reclining Austral” is considered ungrateful by all those who aspired to see Space cultivate its top-of-the-range image. According to them, this new 5-7 seater vehicle should have been called more modestly “Grand Austral” or Koleos III. But according to Renault officials, the question barely arose. “Espace is more than a name, it’s a brand whose notoriety should be exploited by Renault”, affirms Fabrice Cambolive, Managing Director of the Renault brand. Product Performance Director Bruno Vanel adds: “The DNA of Espace is the D segment”, in other words, the large five- and seven-seater vehicles. “We don’t do more legitimate.”

Historical legitimacy in the role of the large seven-seater family Renault

This pragmatism bears the signature of Luca de Meo. The general manager of Renault Group has notoriously pushed for the brand to dare to reconnect with the most famous names in its history. “It was he who asked for the industrialization of the Renault 5 Electric style study that he found when he arrived, in 2020”, we confirm internally. It was he again who decided in favor of renewing the name of the Megane, considering that it would have been “inconceivable not to take advantage of the immense notoriety of a name which embodies the medium-sized Renault in the world. ‘mind of the general public’. And Bruno Vanel summarizes: “In the same way that the Megane evolves with the times and becomes a pure electric vehicle, the Espace changes to better meet the expectations of families.”

Fabrice Cambolive recalls that the Espace name also has the advantage of being “immediately associated with top-of-the-range vehicles, at Renault”. Its higher reputation than that of the Koleos should contribute to establishing Renault’s move upmarket, which agrees to make fewer volumes, on condition that it sells upper-middle-range models (market segments C and D), rather than city cars in the A and D segments. B significantly less remunerative.

The Espace VI and the Renault Austral will be joined in early 2024 by an “SUV-coupé Austral” produced on the same lines at the Spanish plant in Valencia. With these three SUVs sharing a large number of mechanical, electrical and electronic components, Renault will draw the full potential of the CMF-CD platform designed with its partners Nissan and Mitsubishi. “The strategy of multiplying the variants of the same platform only bears fruit if costs are controlled and economies of scale are fully exploited”, stresses Fabrice Cambolive. A way of suggesting that the time is over for expensive investments in the top-of-the-range.

Google Android Automotive presides over the operation of Espace

Renault is convinced that the obvious kinship of the Espace with the Austral will not harm its career. “In the minds of the public, the name Espace is synonymous with comfort and ease, as well as technical innovation,” argues Bruno Vanel. All virtues that place the latest addition in line with its five predecessors.

In terms of roominess, to begin with, the new Espace sets the bar very high. Despite a reduction of 14 centimeters in overall length compared to the outgoing model, this large SUV, 4.72 meters long, reserves an incredible knee length of 32 centimeters for passengers seated in the second row. “The habitable length supplants everything that was known about previous generations of Space”, insists Bruno Vanel.

Read alsoHow Renault is restoring its margins and securing the means for its restructuring

In terms of technical innovation, Bruno Vanel praises in turn the advantages of the 200 horsepower hybrid engine (the only one offered); the improvement of the 4Control system with four-wheel steering “which now turns the rear wheels up to 5 degrees”; very advanced connectivity, with embedded Google Maps, Google Assistant and Waze services; or even “an even larger screen surface, equivalent to three Apple iPads”. Sufficient a priori to garner the approval of the most critical teenagers.

The Renault Espace is 14 centimeters shorter and 215 kilograms lighter

Their parents, nostalgic for the Renault Espaces of yesteryear, will perhaps be disappointed not to find the famous removable seats offered until 2014. “Too heavy”, says Matthieu Galipeau, Espace Product Manager. The three-seater bench seat in the center resembles those found in any large SUV: it folds down in a very classic way into two asymmetrical halves and slides over an amplitude of 22 centimeters. Enough to vary the trunk volume from 581 liters to 777 liters (only 477 to 677 liters on the 7-seater variant). The storage space scattered throughout the cabin totals 39 litres.

Also considered too heavy, the sun visor under the panoramic roof (optional) is replaced by a glass signed Saint-Gobain, whose “low emissivity layer filters both ultraviolet and infrared radiation as well as an opaque velum” . What reduce the weight and size of a fixed glass panel, deemed to be “among the largest on the market” with its opening of 133 x 84 centimeters.

Carbon emissions down 35% compared to the old Espace Diesel

Obviously, Renault has made it a point of honor to lighten its flagship, in order to draw the full potential of its petrol-electric motorization (non-rechargeable hybrid). With an official average appetite of 4.6 liters per hundred kilometres, the new petrol-powered Espace emits 104g of CO2 per kilometer travelled, ie 60 grams less than its diesel-powered predecessor. A technological feat of which the manufacturer is particularly proud.

The use of electric power to assist the gasoline engine in its task does not in itself explain this sobriety of good quality. Compared to its predecessor, the new Espace weighs up to 215 kilograms less (5-seater variant, without glass roof). “On the seats alone, we saved 29 kg,” continues Matthieu Galipeau. The reduction in glass surface and length contributes respectively to a gain of 38 kg and 84 kg. Optimization of the CMF-CD platform structure saves 43 kg. As for the motorization, it is less heavy by about fifty kilos.

For questions of style, however, the new Renault Espace is based on wheels of at least 19 inches, very wide pavements (up to 20 inches). You have to see the diktat of SUV fashion, which relies on this kind of massive attributes to inspire the feeling of solidity that the customer demands.

Orders for Renault’s new Espace will open in the spring of 2023. Fabrice Cambolive hopes that “the first French customers will be able to take advantage of it during their summer holidays”. Prices have not been disclosed.