New 2023 Renault Rafale inbound as rakish hybrid flagship

Renault is going aft the Peugeot 408 with a caller rakish coupé-crossover called the Rafale.

Based connected the caller Renault Austral SUV's CMF-CD platform, the caller "high-end" hybrid SUV volition beryllium revealed connected 18 June astatine the Paris aerial show, earlier going connected merchantability aboriginal this year.

Unlike the Austral-based, seven-seat Espace, the Rafale is expected to travel to the UK - and looks acceptable to beryllium the astir costly exemplary successful the Renault line-up erstwhile it lands, eclipsing the Austral's precocious confirmed £35k commencement price.

It volition beryllium disposable exclusively arsenic a hybrid, and nary uncertainty that means it volition travel with the aforesaid petrol-electric set-up arsenic its straight-backed sibling, combining a 1.2-litre triple with an electrical centrifugal and a 1.7kWh artillery for up to 196bhp and 148lb ft, and the capableness for electric-only driving implicit abbreviated distances.

The Austral is besides disposable with a 1.3-litre petrol mild-hybrid motor, but Renault has confirmed the Rafale volition beryllium an 'E-Tech' offering lone - a badge it uses for its afloat hybrids and pure-EVs.

The caller flagship is besides acceptable to beryllium offered successful performance-inspired Esprit Alpine guise, which volition bring bespoke, large-diameter wheels and a raft of upmarket trim and worldly elements.

It remains to beryllium seen whether the Rafale volition beryllium dynamically differentiated from the Austral successful enactment with its premium billing. Like the new Espace and the upcoming Renault Scenic, the Rafale brings backmost a sanction from Renault's past, albeit a little acquainted one.

The archetypal Rafale was a single-seater racing level manufactured by Renault-owned aviation steadfast Caudron successful the aboriginal 1930s.

Sylvia Dos Santos, successful complaint of naming caller models astatine Renault, said: “Few radical are alert that the sanction ‘Rafale’ belongs to Renault and is portion of the brand’s history. Today, we are utilizing it to sanction a conveyance for the precise archetypal time.”

She added: “The sanction ‘Rafale’ instantly brings to caput technology, show and a consciousness of daring, arsenic good arsenic driving pleasance and agility.

“It is simply a thoroughly meaningful sanction that draws connected our past portion perfectly evoking the positioning of our aboriginal upmarket SUV-coupé. I americium definite that a promising aboriginal awaits Rafale, alongside the different vehicles successful the Renault range.”