Auto Express 1717

IT’S been 18 months since Renault launched its ‘Renaulution’ – a radical plan to turn around the company by lowering its costs, restructuring its range of cars and focusing on electrification. And last week the firm’s boss, Luca de Meo, revealed that most of the goals have been achieved at least a year ahead of schedule. Now comes the next step. As we reveal in this week’s Top Story, Renault is looking to double down on the C-segment – the mid-sized cars that so many of us buy. An all-electric Mégane will come first, but during last week’s financial results call, de Meo revealed that a reborn version of the Scénic is also on the way. This is an intriguing move from the French brand, which has a strong history…

Steve_Fowler@autovia.co.uk @stevefowler ● All-electric Scénic due in 2024 ● Offered as five-seater only Visit autoexpress.co.uk for your daily news updates RENAULT’S so-called ‘Renaulution’ is set to take another retro step forward with a reinvention of the legendary Scénic MPV, the company has confirmed. Launched in 1996 as a more family-friendly version of the Mégane, the Scénic MPV only disappeared from UK price lists last year, as family buyers turned towards SUVs. So it’s no surprise that the new Scénic is being reborn as an SUV. The new model will use the all-electric CMF-EV platform that made its debut in the new Mégane E-Tech Electric. Whereas that forthcoming vehicle is a competitor for Volkswagen’s ID.3 hatch, the Scénic will be a rival to the ID.4 SUV. Auto Express expects that the…

REVIVING the Scénic name is just the start of Renault’s reinvention of iconic cars. Arnaud Belloni, vice-president global marketing, told Auto Express at last year’s Munich show: “We will keep Scénic, we will keep Espace, we will keep Mégane. We will have a lot of new names, too.” But what’s in a name? Belloni talked of “sagas”, saying: “Either the car has been a success and you can say ‘let’s go for another generation’ or the saga is existing. Clio, Mégane, Espace are all sagas. Only strong brands survive. To be a strong brand you need to be loved. To be loved you need to be respected. To be respected you need super-nice products. “But there is also an emotional shortcut. Renault is a lot of things: it’s F1, it’s…

sean_carson@autovia.co.uk ● Plug-in hybrid powertrain only ● Jeep plans to ditch fossil fuels IN a bid to boost its environmental credentials Jeep will only offer its new Grand Cherokee SUV with 4xe plug-in hybrid power in Europe, signifying the brand’s next steps when it comes to electrification. At the new car’s European debut, CEO Christian Meunier said the firm’s flagship SUV (on this side of the Atlantic) will start a move towards electrified-only powertrains as Jeep will drop its pure-petrol and diesel engines by the end of the year. Meunier said: “In most European markets, with the exception of Italy, we’ll have a 100 per cent electrified range – every Jeep will either be MHEV or 4xe. We will drop the regular gas [petrol] and the diesel, and this is…

BY 2025 Jeep will have a zero-emission BEV in every global SUV segment. CEO Christian Meunier told Auto Express: “This is a big opportunity for Jeep.” As we revealed last year, Jeep will expand into new market sectors, including a smaller electric SUV (top) to sit beneath the Renegade – and it could happen soon. Meunier said: “Stay tuned, you’ll get some news in the next few months about this. Jeep is a true global brand and we want to cover the range of true SUVs; we’re not expanded to 100 per cent.” Asked if the first all-electric Jeep has to be an iconic model, following the Wrangler Magneto EV concept revealed at Jeep’s Moab Safari last year, or if its first EV will be a more globally applicable smaller…

John_McIlroy@autovia.co.uk @johnmcilroy ● Eight-per-cent company car BiK bracket for plug-in hybrid THE Sportage is arguably the car that put Kia on the map in Britain, and its fifth generation arrives with the availability of company car tax-busting plug-in hybrid power for the first time. We’re getting to grips with a prototype on winter tyres in Norway. Kia’s familiar 1.6-litre turbo petrol engine is at the heart of the set-up, but here there’s also an electric motor delivering 90bhp and 304Nm of torque of its own, and a 13.8kWh battery. The total combined output is 261bhp and 350Nm, 0-62mph takes a claimed 8.2 seconds and the top speed is 119mph. Kia quotes a WLTP combined all-electric range of 70 kilometres (43 miles). The Sportage PHEV slots into the eight-percent company-car Benefit-in-Kind…