This will become a feature of the car of tomorrow: the electric platforms being identical from one brand to another, the distinction will be obtained firstly by the "package", that is to say the exterior design, that of the passenger compartment and its dashboard with the inevitable applications available on giant screens. Everything else will be identical or almost the same with the risk of trivialization, a mixer motor and a battery always being a mixer motor and a battery.
This is not a fault in itself but, with electric traction, it becomes much more difficult to prioritize the models between them where, previously, a 4-cylinder diesel, a twin-turbo V6 or an atmospheric V8 put a manufacturer's signature, defined a use and provided a standing that did not deceive. With electric, it is the autonomy that we are concerned about, directly proportional to the size of the battery and therefore to its weight.
At the crossroads of the worlds of yesterday and tomorrow, we see cars from the thermal century, which still persist with more and more hybridization, and new generation models which swear only by watts.
This cyclical duplication produces a strange sensation of overflow, as we can see at the moment at the Lyon Auto Show where, on the Renault stand for example, roughly similar models coexist the same clienteles. No doubt these will split between pro-thermal and pro-electric and the undecided will fall back on hybrids which propose to combine the two...
However, at Renault where all-electric is not yet widespread, far from it, we already no longer know where to turn to find the new Rafale for example. " He's there ! » exclaims a young visitor pulling his father by the sleeve. The signs on the stand help identify it, but then when it's on the street it'll be a different story.
At the Show, we can at least play the game of seven differences with the Arkana launched in 2021 (4.57 m long), the Renault Austral arriving at the end of 2022 (4.51 m) and in the spring the Renault Espace (4. 72 m) which is no longer an Espace but a pseudo SUV to compare to the Rafale (4.70 m), which is an SUV Coupé. Four very close vehicles within a 20 cm delta for length, this does not simplify the choice of the prospective buyer. And that's without the all-electric, because you'll have to wait until the start of the year to turn to the Scenic E-Tech which, hold on, measures 4.49 m long.
A fifth body in the Renault bouquet, but this time with the only electric technology available on this model which will perfectly support the success encountered by the Mégane E-Tech Electric (4.20 m long). There, there is a hierarchy of size, the future models of the diamond having to be inserted in the future in a clearer and more layered way than with the current situation.
