Meet the Renault Rafale, a new coupé-SUV billed as the French firm’s fresh flagship. A high-performance, all-paw version is in the pipeline, too…

The new Renault Rafale coupé-SUV has been revealed, positioned at the very summit of the French automaker’s passenger-vehicle range, endowed with a hybrid powertrain and ushering in a new design direction.

Measuring 4 710 mm long and 1860 mm wide (and standing 1 610 mm tall), the new Rafale – the name is both a French word meaning “gust” and an aeronautical reference – looks set to compete in the D-segment. It rides on the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance’s latest-generation CMF-CD platform, sports a wheelbase of 2 740 mm, weighs from 1 653 kg and boasts a luggage compartment able to swallow a claimed 647 litres.

Renault describes the newcomer as featuring a “slightly raised fastback-style body” and claims the coupé-style roofline is cleverly curved to provide “plenty of headroom in the back seats” without impinging on the size of the rear screen. The Rafale boasts a multi-link rear suspension arrangement as well as rear-wheel steering, and will be produced at the Palencia plant in Spain.

Designed from a blank sheet of paper, the Renault Rafale is the first production vehicle entirely conceived according to the new visual language that Gilles Vidal has brought in as head of design. That said, like the recently refreshed hybrid version of the Clio hatchback (tweaked under Vidal’s guidance), the new Rafale features the Boulogne-Billancourt-based automaker’s latest lighting signature up front.

The Rafale ushers in a new design language for Renault.

Renault claims the Rafale’s 147 kW full-hybrid petrol powertrain, which includes a “clutchless multimode” automatic transmission, puts its range “among the longest and its CO2 emissions among the lowest in its segment”. The powertrain combines a turbocharged 1.2-litre, 3-cylinder petrol mill (96 kW/205 Nm) with a pair of electric motors.

The main electric motor makes 50 kW and 205 Nm, and is powered by a 2 kWh lithium-ion battery that allows full-electric driving. The secondary motor is a 25 kW/50 Nm high-voltage starter generator that starts the engine and powers gear changes in the clutchless dog box. There are 4 levels of braking regeneration on offer.

The multimode transmission combines the main electric motor’s 2 ratios and the internal combustion engine’s 4 ratios. It automatically selects the powertrain’s mode, which can be all-electric, all-combustion, dynamic hybrid (the engine and motors power the wheels together), e-drive (the motor power the wheels and the engine charges the battery) or regeneration (the motor taps into kinetic energy).

In addition, the company says a “high-performance variant” with 221 kW and all-wheel drive is on the cards, promising it will offer “driving pleasure and performance levels never seen before in Renault’s line-up”. Most of the power boost will come from 2 technical adjustments: an additional electric motor on the rear axle (that will power the wheels directly) and the shift to a plug-in hybrid set-up.

The cabin is defined by a “darkening” panoramic glass roof measuring 1 470 mm by 1 117 mm. The fully active system is able to darken each of its segments on demand, either voice-controlled via Google Assistant or using a physical switch. The interior also features plenty of recycled materials as well as a digital cockpit comprising a 12.3-inch driver’s display and a 12-inch portrait-style touchscreen, complemented by a 9.3-inch head-up display.

So, will we see the Renault Rafale in South Africa? Well, the French firm’s local distributor told Cars.co.za there are “no plans for [a] local launch yet” (though the inclusion of that final word suggests it may well arrive at some point further down the line).

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