Gaelic audacity

Renault revolutionised the family transport market with its people-carrier the Espace. And its evolution continues, reports ALASTAIR SLOANE


One way or another, France has a habit of turning the world on its ear. Some examples, painful and pleasurable: In 1984, its motoring industry ignored George Orwell and built the Espace, a van-like vehicle which gave people a new freedom and influenced car design forever.

In 1985, its military blew up the Greenpeace ship the Rainbow Warrior, killing a photographer and provoking a worldwide anti-nuclear backlash that helped to end testing in the Pacific.

In 1999, its rugby team ignored the pundits and popular opinion and beat the All Blacks, upsetting Rugby World Cup odds and changing the immediate future of the game at a national level in New Zealand.

The All Blacks and rugby will recover. The death of the Greenpeace lensman will serve as a reminder that people in power can be downright evil. The evolution of the Renault Espace serves simply as a tribute to the best element of design - simplicity.

Consider this: of the 26 cars left in the Car of the Century competition, the Renault Espace is the freshest face. It was launched in 1984, four years after the next youngest, the Audi Quattro. The remaining 24 cars cover the years 1907 (Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost) to 1974 (Volkswagen Golf), many built when money was no object using revolutionary engineering methods and designs.

But the strength of the Espace has more to do with its effect since 1984 on design and marketing in the industry than the vehicle itself.

The Espace spawned a whole new method of family transport. Without it Toyota wouldn't have built the Previa, Mazda the MPV, Citroen the Evasion, Chrysler the Voyager, Volkswagen the Sharan or Opel the Sintra.

The Espace broke new ground by offering car-like comfort in a type of van. Other carmakers couldn't resist the concept. The same happened when the Mini came out with a wheel at each corner.

But the Espace didn't appear in numbers in New Zealand, mostly because it priced itself out of the market.

The factory in France wouldn't budge. The best price landed here in the early 90s was about $80,000, when the New Zealand dollar was worth 40-odd British pence and the topline Espace was selling in Britain for roughly sterling 21,000, or the equivalent then of about $52,000.

But in Europe the Espace design proved so successful as a two and four-wheel drive that Renault adapted it in 1996 to suit a hatchback platform. The result was the Megane Scenic, which helped the Megane range to best-selling status in Europe.

Next year, the four-wheel-drive Scenic will turn up in New Zealand. In the meantime, the upgraded two-wheel-drive model, called the Scenic 2, has reached the market.

Three models are available, two powered by an updated 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine and one by a improved four-cylinder 2-litre. The 1.6-litre manual costs $29,990, the 1.6-litre automatic $31,990, and the 2-litre automatic $35,490.

And, like all Renaults these days, standard equipment is impressive. The Scenic 2 list includes ABS anti-lock brakes, four airbags, seatbelt pretensioners (which pull seatbelts tighter in an accident), air-conditioning, refrigerated drinks holder, aircraft-style folding trays in seats, cubbyholes in the floor, rear wheel arches beneath the driver's seat ... Uncle Tom Cobbley and all.

Renault has also given the Scenic 2 a bolder look, without losing its traditional profile. The bonnet is more rounded and the rear has been tidied up. A nice new touch is the window in the rear hatch that can be opened independently to allow easy access to the boot space. However, it is only available in the 2-litre model.

The Scenic 2 is part of Renault's new commitment to the New Zealand market, in which the carmaker has promised a new deal based on investment and class-leading equipment and prices.

The Asia-Pacific is vital to the carmaker's expansion plans, especially now that it has bought a controlling interest in Nissan.