New Zoe soon, high five for likely replacement

Renault here has confirmed intent to keep its small electric car in circulation and is also looking forward to what’s coming next.

it’s still a concept and perhaps four years out from production, but the reborn 5 is already being cited as a replacement for he current Zoe electric car. It’s certainly excited Renault’s national distributor.

INTENT to maintain electric vehicle scene connection has driven Renault here to sign up for a new version of its Zoe small hatch and also look into achieving that car’s ultimate replacement – a battery-compelled rebirth of one the make’s most iconic past products.

Renault New Zealand will release the new Zoe in the first half of this year, local brand spokeswoman Kimberley Waters.

 In confirming commitment to the refresh of Europe’s best-selling electric car, which holds a recommended retail of $59,990 in current format, Waters has also signalled there’s high local interest in plugging into the make’s future electric products.

One that has raised particular interest is a concept that revives the spirit and shape of the iconic Renault 5 small hatchback.

Determination to return the famous 5 to the roadscape was recently expressed by Renault’s new chief executive, Luca De Meo, when he outlined a multi-year plan designed to both wipe away last year's colossal $NZ11.8-billion loss, and also turn the Renault and Dacia brands to new, electrified, futures.

“As the market leader for EVs in Europe, we welcome the news that Renault is developing more EV choices for consumers,” said Waters in response to De Meo’s punningly-described 'Renaulution' strategy.

“Should the Renault 5-inspired EV become available to our market we will engage in conversations with (the) factory with the aim of adding it to our vehicle range.”

the updated zoe will be here soon.

Meanwhile, Renault NZ has yet to provision any specific detail in respect to plans for the updated Zoe, which announced in Europe last year.

The car looks barely changed from the outside, but Renault has made extensive alterations under the skin and within the cabin.

The revised model has a 50kWh battery pack, which has a rated range of 395 kilometres, according to Rewnault, or 390km according to the tougher WLTP testing cycle. Previously, the top-spec Zoe had a 41kWh battery and a claimed range of 300km.

 The charging system has also been upgraded, and is now compatible with 50kW DC chargers, as well as Type-2 and Chameleon AC systems up to 22kW.

Two motors are available in Europe, a base 80kW/225Nm R110, and the more powerful 100kW/245Nm R135, which is capable of 0-100km/h in under 10 seconds and a top speed of 140kmh. Detail of what NZ is getting has not been shared. The current car has a 68kW/226Nm unit.

The Zoe's single-speed transmission now includes a B-mode, which begins engine braking the moment the driver lifts off the accelerator pedal.

The front end features a more sharply creased bonnet, reshaped headlight units with C-shaped LED driving lights, and a new front fascia with a studded lower air intake and some vent-like apertures surrounding the fog lights.

The interior has been given a far more comprehensive overhaul with a new dashboard boasting a more modern design and higher quality soft-touch materials, both seemingly inspired by the latest Clio small hatch.

A customisable 10.0-inch instrumentation display is standard. In the centre of the dashboard is a 9.3-inch curved touchscreen infotainment compatible with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Via a smartphone app, drivers can plan out their driving route for the day, find the nearest charging stations, get range estimates, remotely manage the Zoe's charging, and send an itinerary to the car's infotainment system.

The interior is available with seat and dashboard fabric made from recycled PET bottles. 

Overseas media are speculating that the car will remain in production for three to four more years, then be replaced by the electric 5 concept that took centre stage during the presentation.

Renault has hinted strongly that the new 5 will enter the world’s showrooms in 2025, as an opus of a product revitalisation strategy that will happen in three stages.

The initial phase, called Resurrection, runs from now until 2023 and basically involves Renault shoring up its shattered finances.

In concert with that, up till 2025, there will be a Renovation phase, which will focus on new models, especially those powered by batteries.  

Finally, from 2025 onwards, there will be a Revolution phase, which will, in De Meo's words, "pivot the business model to tech, energy and mobility."

By 2025, 14 new models will be launched, and seven of those will be fully electric.  

Renault will drop diesel power from its passenger car lineup, and replace it with hybrid or plug-in hybrid models. A diesel engine will still be developed, but it will only be used in commercial vehicles. Renault also wants to push forward into hydrogen fuel cell development for its larger vans and heavy trucks.  

The electric 5 is expected to be present as an excitement car within this process, but is also fully anticipated to replace the current Zoe. 

Designed under a team lead by former Peugeot head of design Gilles Vidal, it will likely use the new CMF-EV chassis, but it may also carry-over the existing Zoe chassis in order to keep development, and purchase, costs down.

Thought is that it will probably mirror its circa-50kWh battery capacity and 400km range).

Overseas’ media have reminded that De Meo has experience of just how important a retro-style 'icon' car can be to a car company - he held a senior position at Fiat when, in 2007, the renewed 500 small car effectively saved the day.

Overseas commentators who have examined the Five concept have expressed hope the car’s chic details will make it through to production.

With the study, the charging socket is hidden under a replica of the original 5s bonnet vent; the French tricolors represent in the wing mirrors; the 'Renault' logo on the front airdam lights up and the clusters of LED lights mimic the shape of the original car’s headlights.

Renault has been dropping strong hints that it may revive the original Renault 4 in electric form, as a larger, more practical, and slightly more utilitarian sister car to the new 5.

Trophy added to Megane RS cabinet

The highest-performance edition of Renault’s hot hatch has finally reached New Zealand.

MODEST sales volume but massive for brand awareness – that factor thankfully keeps Renault’s Megane RS hot hatch off the endangered list.

The brand’s New Zealand distributor is quite open about this being the variant that contributes least to keeping the local outfit’s lights on, in that it really delivers a very light volume. 

On the other hand, it’s quite potentially the car that does the best job of turning attention toward this make. 

The attention-grabbing status surely elevates all the more now they’ve secured the Trophy version, the least tamed of the three levels of specification for the model. 

It has the hottest engine, the sportiest chassis, the stickiest tyres and the best brakes. Oh yes, and the most interesting exhaust note. 

The most-wanted edition is also the one that has taken an extraordinary long time to get here; it’s been in production since 2018.

There’s no explanation from Renault NZ as to why it’s just turned up now, but in all likelihood that won’t have diluted the desirability factor. 

The delay means we achieve versions with update features introduced for 2021. These include new LED headlights, altered upholstery hues, a new 9-inch portrait touchscreen and a 10-inch ‘virtual cockpit’ style digital binnacle. The Bose audio is improved and it has the latest version of Renault’s ‘Easy Link’ infotainment interface.

Trophy also has some styling enhancements to set it aside from the other RS editions, including bespoke 19-inch alloys that are lighter than standard, and it also comes with the option of racetrack-ready Recaro sports seats that are trimmed in Alcantara and can be set 20mm lower than the chairs in the other models. 

The big pull is the engine. It’s essentially the same turbocharged 1.8-litre petrol unit as the rest of the line-up, but output is upped by 15kW and 30Nm, to 220kW/420Nm. The later torque is for the dual-clutch auto model - the manual makes do with less.

Aiding responsiveness is a new bearing for the turbocharger, made from ceramic instead of steel, while the exhaust itself gets a two-mode valve in the rear silencer that can reduce back pressure and enhance the sound.

 The Megane RS Trophy's chassis is based on that of the Cup model, so it features a Torsen mechanical limited slip differential, firmer dampers, firmer springs and stiffer anti-roll bars. It has 4Control four-wheel steering, too.

Last, but certainly not least, the Trophy's front brake discs are new bi-material items measuring 355mm in diameter. These reduce 'unsprung' mass by a considerable 1.8kg per wheel, but they're also said to enhance heat dissipation, reducing the chance of brake fade when pushed to the limits on track.

Pricing? It’s $65,990 for the manual while the EDC dual-clutch auto arrives from $68,990. That compares to $59,990 for the base Megane RS 280.

The Recaro front seats cost $2900, you can also add in a sunroof for $1900.

No-one is saying anything officially, but this could be the last of the breed, for two reasons.

First Renault is looking increasingly at divesting pure fossil-fuelled powertrains for electric-assisted inclusions. They’ve already done this with the mainstream Megane, with a model touting an E-Tech plug-in system based around a naturally-aspirated 1.6-litre petrol engine that uses two electric motors.  

Renault claims a 48km driving range on electric power when you fully charge the 9.8kWh battery pack. 

There’s no talk of the current RS going to electric assistance, but there is potential the hatch part of the equation might yet head into history, with increasingly strong signals that the next-gen Megane will become a wholly battery-compelled crossover.

That proposal has been previewed by a low-slung SUV styling study, revealed last year, using a 60kWh battery and a 160kW electric motor with 300Nm of torque.

Sandero next ‘Romanian Renault’ for NZ?

The cut-price specialist that has just put Renault in the budget zone has just announced another baby.

The Sandero is a smaller sister ship to the Duster that has just introduced here as a Renault. What chance of also seeing it here?

MIGHT another model just announced by Renault’s budget brand could conceivably be in line for New Zealand introduction, also with a change of identity?

If chosen for adoption in our market, the new Dacia Sandero would – like a larger sister ship just trying out our terrain now – surely come here with French identification.

This potential arises with today’s announcement in Europe of the new generation Sandero, similarly styled but based on a smaller underpinning than the Duster that has just gone on sale here and historically an even cheaper car.

The Duster and Sandero are the biggest volume models built by Dacia, which began life as a Romania’s sole car brand and still makes all its cars in that country, though it has long been subsumed into the Renault empire, in the same manner that Skoda was pulled into Volkswagen.

Since essentially taking French citizenship, Dacia has specialised as a make that pitches Renault design and engineering to a more budget-minded audience than the owner can easily aim itself at.

That advantage has been used to unique degree by Renault New Zealand, which is among a handful of distributors allowed to do something that cannot happen in Europe – namely, to sell the Dacia cars as Renaults. 

Dacia also provisions the logan, a compact sedan (the silver car here). It’d likely be a hard sell in our crossover-fixated market.

Might that risk ruffling feathers with purists – or Dacia fans (assuming these existed in NZ, as the make has never been seen here under its own identity)? It doesn’t seem so.

A special launch price announced two weeks ago of $27,990 has immediately sparked interest in the 1.6-litre front-drive car, Renault New Zealand general manager Sam Waller says.

The launch strategy puts the model directly in competition with another like-sized and similarly-configured Korean model that also immediately found favour from releasing here under the same kind of special price launch strategy: Kia’s Seltos. 

 Duster compares well with the Kia, which still has a waiting list. The four-cylinder petrol engine makes 84kW of power and 156Nm of torque, delivers economy of 6.6 litres per 100km. The car has a modest towing capacity, just 1400kg, but loads up on good spec, with features including a 360-degree camera, blind-spot monitoring, and a 7-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Duster’s availability and positioning in the sub-$30k zone has emboldened the distributor to appoint six additional dealers and push to raise the profile of a brand that, for years, has been barely noticed here and has survived mainly through support for its specialist RS performance products, plus a small fanbase for the Koleos sports utllity.

The Duster seems destined to establish a good following in the sub-$30k sector.

Conceivably, the Sandero would also strike a sweet spot. Dacia has so far only released images of the new-all model, these arriving overnight. It has said the car will go on sale early next year, starting in Europe, and promises to announced technical details in the immediate future.

Dacia says it will promising improved levels of equipment, while retaining trademark standards of simplicity and reliability.

This is the third generation of Sandero and the styling represents as an evolution of the outgoing model’s, with the same simple lines and high roofline. Roof rails, black plastic body cladding and a slightly raised ride-height are part of the persona, but restricted to a particular variant, the Stepway.

Observers say the proportions appear more stretched, with raises conjecture that it has gone onto the CMF-B underpinnings as the latest Clio and Nissan Juke.

Engines are likely to be a bunch of entry units design for Clio; petrol options could well include a 53kW naturally aspirated 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol up to a 95kW turbocharged 1.3-litre four-cylinder petrol unit.

International speculation is that an upgraded platform would also mean the model is in line for a decent technology boost, though Clio's infotainment system and digital instrument cluster might be too expensive for the Sandero's notoriously low price-point.

Dacia has also started to dish out information about a compact sedan, the Logan. The silver car seen in one of today’s images. That car seems unlikely to find a home in NZ, as it would enter a sector that is fast eroding to negligible status.

Ute outlook: Part 2 – the big team

Our national obsession for utilities, especially family-minded dual-cabs, knows no bounds. The market is booming at the moment, and filled with plenty of strong options. Yet surely you’re also keen to know something about what’s coming up next, when and from whom? Here’s part two of our three-part analysis.

Are you ready for Renaut’s Oroch Duster?

THE Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance is a massive strategic partnership that currently produces better than 10 per cent of all the world’s new vehicles.

That’s a lot of vehicles – close to 11 million a year, in fact – so it makes sense that the alliance has various technology-sharing agreements in place to take advantage of economies of scale. Such as sharing platforms and powertrains for its next generation of vehicles, for instance.

When it comes to one-tonne utes, the first brand-new model to emerge from the Alliance is going to be the Mitsubishi Triton. And a likely special feature of the model, which will probably be launched in 2022, will that it will be electrified.

Probably not pure electric though – that would be a step too far, given the traditional towing and 4WD rock-hopping needs of utes.  But it is known that research is progressing into whether the Triton will become available as a petrol-electric hybrid or as a PHEV.

Triton is a vitally important model for Mitsubishi. It’s the brand’s second-biggest selling vehicle worldwide behind the Outlander, with close to 200,000 annual sales. In New Zealand it is the biggest-selling Mitsubishi by a country mile – last year 5319 of them were registered, close to double the number of Outlander sales.

Current generation Triton has done Mitsubishi proud.

So in every respect it is important that the new Triton continues the model’s great reputation – and potentially  enhance it via the Mitsubishi becoming the first ute manufacturer to add electrification to its lineup.

Mitsubishi has been investigating the feasibility of a hybrid ute for some years now, and in fact it revealed such a vehicle – a diesel-electric concept called GR-HEV – back in 2013 at the Geneva Motor Show.

While there was no updated concept ute at the Tokyo Motor Show late last year, it was made clear a brand-new Triton is under development – and that Mitsubishi will be the first member of the Alliance to produce it.

Said the company’s chief operating officer Ashwai Gupta at a media briefing: “It’s a matter of each brand’s business decision as to when they will launch (a new ute), but as far as Mitsubishi is concerned...we are going ahead with development of a Triton successor.”

Mitsubishi has already achieve big sales success with its Outlander PHEV, so it is obvious that this plug-in technology is one that the brand is now considering for light commercial use. But it may well be that a more traditional series or parallel hybrid system will be chosen.

Next ute off the Alliance rank will be the Nissan Navara, which is also likely to be offered with the choice of an electrified version. But as with Mitsubishi, no decision has been made on which direction this electrification will take.

The new Navara will probably arrive in 2022. The current model has already received a final refresh, and the New Zealand lineup has just been bolstered via arrival of a version called N-Trek Warrior which was developed by Australian firm Premcar.

N-Trek edition is expected to lift current Navara’s status

In New Zealand, Navara is the most popular Nissan, with its 3305 sales last year beating both the Qashqai and X-Trail SUVs.

At Tokyo last year, the brand’s global head of light commercial vehicles Francois Bailley said for Nissan to consider any form of electrified power, a ute must be able to deliver power, torque and towing abilities.

“We’re looking at different technologies, from full EV to PHEV and so on. But we don’t think our customers will tolerate any compromise in terms of towing, payload, range. We must supply the same capabilities as the internal combustion models.”

Interestingly though, Nissan has already produced an electric ute.  Nissan-Dongfeng, which is a 50:50 joint venture in China, last year launch a new ute called Rich 6, which is based on the Navara and offers the equivalent of about 120kW and 420Nm.

Renault, the third member of the Alliance, already sells two utes on various interenational markets – the Navara-based Alaskan, and a small half-tonne ute called Oroch that is built off a compact SUV called Duster.

Renault New Zealand has been banging on for some years now that it intends importing the Alaskan, but it’s never happened.  Now it is more likely that if a Renault one-tonne ute does enter the Kiwi market, it will now be a brand-new model based off the new Triton.

It also seems likely the Oroch will get here before that. Renault NZ has confirmed that the Duster will arrive in New Zealand during the fourth quarter of this year, and there is talk that the ute version will arrive soon after.

And what about the Mercedes-Benz X-Class? Will a second generation of that ute, which is currently built off the Navara and assembled alongside Navara and Alaskan in Spain, also be built off the new Triton? Or will there be another X-Class at all?

The answer is no.  Mercedes-Benz has been badly burned by being the first luxury manufacturer to enter the world of the one-tonne ute – and as a result ithas announced that X-Class will be axed from the end of this month.

In a statement, the brand simply said: “In our global product portfolio, the X-Class is a niche product which plays a great role in a few markets.” In other words, It hasn’t been selling in anywhere near sufficient numbers – so is being dumped.