The new Renault Symbioz completes the growth of the model’s line-up within the essential SUV C-segment and is designed to evoke the spirit of the Nineteen Sixties 16 saloon and the Eighties Espace by specializing in practicality.
The new hybrid will sit between the smaller Captur – alongside which it was developed – and bigger Austral within the French agency’s combustion-engined automobile line-up, making it a direct rival to the Nissan Qashqai.
It’s purposefully sensible in design phrases, in distinction with Renault’s electrical vehicles. And whereas the French agency has revived traditional names such because the Megane, 5, 4 and Twingo for future EVs, the Symbioz identify is new to the vary. It has solely beforehand been used on a 2017 electrical idea that was centered on autonomous driving.
Paula Fabregat, Renault’s small automobile design chief, referred to as the Symbioz as “more rational and less emotional” than the agency’s new EVs, including: “The 5 [supermini] is an amazing object; this is an amazing answer.”
She added the main target to develop a automobile that was “a very good answer for a lot of families” helped decide the boxy form of the Symbioz, though she added that it was “a sexy box”.
While the machine was imagined as a household automobile, Renault can even goal fleet patrons as a result of its environment friendly hybrid powertrain, and it anticipates the enterprise market may account for 40% of UK gross sales.
The Symbioz sits on the identical CMF-B platform that’s utilized by ICE Renaults such because the Clio supermini and Arkana coupé-SUV. It was developed alongside the Captur, however is meant to fill a distinct market hole.
The Symbioz is 4413mm lengthy, 1797mm broad and 1575mm excessive. For comparability the Captur is 4227mm lengthy, whereas the bigger Austral measures 4510mm. The Symbioz is broadly an equal to the electrical Scenic, which measures 4470mm.
The shared improvement with the Captur might be seen from the near-identical entrance design, the one distinction being the sample labored into the grille. As with different new Renault fashions, most of the design particulars replicate the diagonal form of Renault’s brand.