Click to view more of the upcoming Renault Megane
Renault has been hard at work on the replacement for the current Megane. Following the new Clio, which came out three years ago, the Megane is an important model for the French automaker, designed to face off against volume leaders like the Volkswagen Golf/Rabbit and Ford Focus. French magazine Auto Plus has managed to obtain some undisguised shots of the car, presumably obtained from a Renault employee in exchange for a case of wine, a carton of Gauloise and/or a joke about Americans.
As promised, the new Megane will be substantially more subdued in its styling than the love-it-or-hate-it current model, with its curved upright rear window. The front end borrows heavily from the new Laguna, hinting at a common design language for the company. There's certainly some similarity between the production version and the Megane Coupe Concept unveiled at the Geneva show this year. Although the production Megane will predictably be considerably more conservative than the show car, the three-door appears further differentiated from its five-door stablemate with more sporting lines. See for yourself in the scanned magazine pages in the gallery below. The car looks just about ready to hit the market, so a debut at Renault's home-turf Paris Auto Salon this fall would be a good bet.
[Source: AutoPlus.fr via theCarfanatic.com and Autoblog Spanish]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
SPG @ Apr 29th 2008 4:05PM
Hmm, I like the current one a bit better.
This one almost seems dated to me.
It's still nice, just not the cutting edge design I was expecting.
Aprime @ Apr 29th 2008 4:12PM
It's cutting edge in the same way Corollas are sporty.
Aprime @ Apr 29th 2008 4:15PM
(with a few notable exceptions (AE86 and so forth), of course.)
slotownbrian @ Apr 29th 2008 4:34PM
Whats going on at Renault? The new design language has gone all Blandismo, kind of like Citroen in the mid-nineties. French cars should be individual like their people...this car could be ANYTHING if it didn't have the Renault logo on the nose. Peugeot has gone all goofy with the lion mouth on its cars, why can't Renault pull its game together and be understated and interesting?
jgp @ Apr 29th 2008 4:39PM
Looks like a Kia Ceed, and the front end is pedo-tastic.
Rick @ Apr 29th 2008 5:07PM
I love the two door grill/front end. THe 4 door looks cool, but much more timid. Not sure if one is an older model or not, but I like the more agressive Audi like front end.
Xcountryflyer @ Apr 29th 2008 5:14PM
Is the Renault Murano.
rouse42 @ Apr 29th 2008 6:27PM
those headlights are horrible.
looks like the new maxima designers had something to do with them.
tommy @ May 1st 2008 4:58AM
I agree. All three French automakers do not know how to wrap their headlights and grilles around the nose enough in order to trick the eye into thinking there is no overhang. In fact, this headlight design actually accentuates the overhang! I think the design of the profile is otherwise promising... undeveloped though. One Renault I like is called the Modus. It looks like a great use of space.
I live in France so I see these cars every day. The Peugeot 407 also suffers from the disgusting overhang, but is otherwise a beautiful car.
Victor @ Apr 29th 2008 6:39PM
"Hey buddy, nice Nissan Sentra"...you know, except in French
jeffzekas @ Apr 29th 2008 6:57PM
I just got back from Paris, and really liked the Renault Twingo coupe and Peugeot 206 RR convertible. Also, I enjoyed seeing all the cool French mini-trucks (i.e. Renault Kangoo) and panel vans. It makes one wonder why Renault, Citroen and Peugeot don't re-enter the US market. In fact, the Renault Laguna looked like a Chrysler designed by folks with good taste! Oh, and the French people were EXTREMELY polite and friendly to us-- much better than some of the Brits in London! Maybe the US should lower its trade barriers, and allow French autos to come in again? I Say, we adopt the same standards for safety and smog as Europe, and encourage the importation of small French, British and German deisel cars and trucks.
Astro @ Apr 30th 2008 11:09AM
im kinda happy the J.Lo butt is leaving the car.