The Renault Scénic is 25 years old! A good moment to reflect on the car that has been etched in the memory of many families from the 1990s onwards.
In its 25 years of existence, the Renault Scénic has grown into an extremely important model, of which no fewer than 160,000 were registered here in the Netherlands. It all started 30 years ago, at least for the general public, when Renault showed the eponymous concept car that anticipated the first Scénic.
The concept car and the first generation of the Scénic, then called Mégane Scénic.
The striking creation was on the show floor in Frankfurt and is described by Renault as a ‘coco car’. The idea behind it was that the interior was leading and the carriage around it then came over it like a kind of cocoon. The design department of the Régie was therefore the first to design an interior that was as attractive as possible for all occupants, the appearance was in a sense subordinate. This approach became the guiding principle for the Mégane Scénic, the production version that launched the Scénic, which has now entered its fourth generation, 25 years ago. In concrete terms, it meant that the Scénic had to serve all its occupants on many fronts. This was expressed in five individual seats, a wealth of storage space in numerous compartments and a high seating position with as much view over the entire car as possible, but above all a lot of view out.
The fact that the Scénic caught on well was an important reason for Renault to use it as a stand-alone model from 1999. The Mégane part of the name disappeared and it then simply became Scénic. The next generation, which came in 2003, was not only notable for a completely new look, but also the arrival of an additional version: the Grand Scénic. With that, the Scénic crawled closer to the Espace, certainly because of the possibility to transport up to seven people in it, but with more compact outer dimensions. With this Scénic, Renault said it focused even more on the experience of space in the interior, partly through the arrival of an optional panoramic roof, as well as the instruments placed more centrally in the dashboard. This way, everyone in the car could monitor the speed, navigation and temperature, for example. Slightly less ideal for drivers who do not like interference.
The future
Although Renault owes a lot to the Scénic, it will of course end somewhere. Recently, Renault CEO Luca de Meo hinted that Renault’s MPVs will come to an end. For many years the MPV was ideal for larger families and therefore sold like crazy, but nowadays the preference is more with SUVs and crossovers. Cars where the appearance follows the interior, such as with the Scénic, are leaving the field. The name Scénic may not disappear, but the old concept will.
In the video below, designer Louis Morasse explains how the Scénic came about and how he experienced ‘design from the inside out’ at the time: