Design review Renault Scenic E-Tech: ‘proportionally good but the why is missing’

In this article about the Megane E-Tech and this about the Renault Rafale it became clear how Laurens van den Acker put Renault back on the map: through automotive design. A strong design strategy was relevantly executed through the application of an emotional design DNA. New Renault models could be identified at a glance: sensual shapes in bold colours.

The strong strategy was communicated in press releases, online videos and of course with the design of the cars themselves: both in accurately drawn concept cars and extremely beautiful production models. And not entirely without success: this meticulously organized and ruthlessly executed change of course was a success. People became enthusiastic about Renault’s new ideas and, due to the inspiring choices regarding colors and materials, they specified cars with extensive lists of options.

As Raymond Loewy, designer of the Shell logo, the Coca-Cola bottle and the Studebaker Avanti, among others, already pointed out: “The most beautiful curve is a rising sales graph.”

Scenic is also not immediately recognizable as a Renault

However, as was the case with the Rafale, this Scenic E-Tech is not immediately recognizable as a Renault. Regardless of the fact that this car is no longer an MPV but an SUV. The strong, former Renault DNA has also been ignored for this new model instead of being further developed. There has still been little communication about the change in direction. In addition, the design again has some affinity with the Peugeot design DNA. And that’s not because there’s a former Peugeot designer at the helm. A car is not signed in a day by a single individual. This exterior design is, mysteriously, a very conscious change of direction, which has been initiated and endorsed by many people.

The Scenic E-Tech has a striking number of patterns, sometimes striking and other times less striking. From the nose they are carried through consistently throughout the design.

In the nose we see an increasingly fine repetition of the outline of the Renault logo. First made in a heavier black frame, which becomes increasingly slimmer in its rim from the heart of the car outwards. Until it becomes just a notch in the plastic fascia of the bumper. Due to its three-dimensionality, this incision casts a shadow on the material in the body color, causing an optical fade-out of the pattern. A refreshing idea, highly mass-produced.

The designs in the graphic elements of the Renault are not only used in the Down the Road Graphic used, but also in the vertical LED lamps, the very pronounced wheels and in the black plastic elements such as sills.

The decorative chrome element around the side window is particularly interesting. We now find such heavier expressions on various production cars, such as the VW ID range.

Adding more character to graphic elements around the side windows in this way makes a nice link with our coachbuilding practice: the possibility of applying more pronounced components around the car – especially the DLO – is being tackled with both hands by car designers. In our Tesla-based Model SB, we reduced the visual weight of the C-pillar with a similar intervention, albeit five years earlier. The Silver Specter Shooting Brake also revealed its unique character through the design around the side window:

Unfortunately, despite the theoretically well-executed design details, no material on the design work can be found anywhere. Renault was once at the forefront of spreading its design gospel: videos, online presentations, TV appearances and magazine interviews. Why this communicative vacuum around design again, when it has brought so much to Renault?

In theory, the Scenic E-Tech is not badly designed at all: proportionally excellent and equipped with large wheels and therefore an excellent stance. A lot of love and attention to detail has gone into the above-mentioned graphic elements. There is a powerful interplay between graphic components, surfacing and gestures in the body sculpture. But in practice, such notions, even when consistently resolved aesthetically as here, are of little value without calibration to a solid conceptual narrative. The why of the radical design turnaround is still missing.