What's the news?
With the Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA) just around the corner, and the ever-accelerating shift towards hybrid and electric vehicles well under way, Renault is going to take the opportunity to show off its vision of the future at the German event - and this attempt at French clairvoyance is called the Symbioz.
Renault says the Symbioz addresses 'customer expectations for both mobility and lifestyle in the future', as well as the 'environmental and urban challenges ahead'. And with the French manufacturer adding that the Symbioz explores autonomous motoring, connected mobility and electric drive, then you've got a good idea what's powering this, how much computing power it'll have on board and how sci-fi its cabin will be.
It's also said to evolve Renault's design language, which is developing nicely on models like the Megane and Scenic, both bold-looking machines, and the Symbioz should be no exception. A brief teaser image of a bit of the car's rear end in a stylish showroom is accompanied by a short video, and if you pay attention you can glean the following things from the film: the Symbioz seems to have a mainly glass roof; it also looks like it has doors that are possibly top-hinged, like the 'Falcon' doors on a Tesla Model X; wide rear light clusters are reflected in the glass behind the Symbioz and they show round lamps incorporated in the brand's trademark wide light strips; and the Renault concept appears to have a very funky, completely transparent 'shark's fin' rear appendage on the boot.
If you're wondering where the concept's name comes from, you can probably have a very good guess. The bulk of it comes from 'symbiosis', or at least the Ancient Greek word that means the same thing ('living together'), while the 'Z' at the end refers to Renault's ZE technology; that's 'Zero Emissions', which is the name Renault applies to things like the Kangoo ZE and the Zoe.
Anything else?
You can watch the teaser video of the Symbioz right here.
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