Named after a 1934 racing aircraft.
May 16, 2023 at 3:40 am ET
With the Arkana (aka Megane Conquest in some markets) launched in 2019, Renault was one of the first major automakers to jump on the coupe-SUV bandwagon. It’s becoming a big brother, as the French marque has announced that a new D-segment model will also attempt to combine a coupe and an SUV to create a high-speed vehicle. Contrary to reports speculating that it would revive the ‘Avantime’ moniker, it will be called the ‘Rafale’.
The moniker has been used before, but not on a car. In 1934, a year after the company with the diamond logo bought the Caudron aircraft company, the newly founded Caudron-Renault renamed the C460 racing plane the Rafale after a notable wind . The nameplate is technically already in use as the Megane E-Tech Electric can be painted in Rafale Grey.
Renault does not go into details about the newcomer, only saying that it will be based on the CMF-CD platform and that it will be powered by hybrid engines. Logic tells us that it is closely related to the new Espace, which is now an SUV rather than a minivan. Given the sloping roofline, it could lose the third row to sacrifice practicality for the sake of a sleeker profile.
Don’t expect the 2024 Rafale to get a diesel engine as Renault is phasing out oil burners. The Espace can be equipped with a 1.2-liter three-cylinder turbocharged gasoline engine that produces 130 horsepower (96 kilowatts) and 205 Newton-meters (151 pound-feet) of torque. The ICE is powered by two electric motors, a main unit delivering 70 hp (50 kW) and 205 Nm (151 lb-ft) along with a secondary starter generator good for 25 hp and 50 Nm (37 lb-ft ).
It will sit above the Arkana and complete the lineup, according to Renault. The world premiere is scheduled to take place on June 18 at 54th Paris Air Show in Le Bourget, a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris.
