The monotony of a quiet Tuesday in mid-May is broken by the Régie’s announcement revealing the name of its new high-end coupe SUV: Renault Rafale, which is French for “gust of wind”. The name draws its inspiration from the glorious aeronautical past of the transalpine brand and in particular from the creation of the C460 in 1934, single-seat competition aircraft designed to break speed records in flight, nicknamed the Rafale. Let’s discover the first advances on the Renault Rafale priceon engines and on the release date.

DESIGN AND DIMENSIONS OF THE RENAULT RAFALE

After Austral, the 5-seater SUV, and Espace, the large 5 and 7-seater SUV, Gust intends to position itself as the new strong point of the range, reinforcing the offensive of the French manufacturer in D-segment (big cars). The car is intended to complete the family of Renault models equipped with an E-Tech hybrid engine and based on the CMF-CD platform.

To watch the first Renault Rafale trailerthe car appears to share the platform and many components with the Austral, although theaesthetic it looks completely different. THE rear lights show a lively gaze, while those before they have a double vertical element somewhat reminiscent of that of the new Clio. The lines appear taut and muscular, while two red profiles can be guessed on the bumpers which give the car even more personality.

Even the interior they should largely integrate the technology of the Renault Austral (we are talking in particular about the dual display 12.3 “of the dashboard and 12” for the infotainment). However, given the supposed greater sportiness of the Rafale, we do not rule out the use of specific coatings and a new style of seats.

About the sizefrom the Rafale we expect a debauchery of centimeterseven more so than the Espace 472, currently the brand’s largest model.

RENAULT RAFALE: ENGINES

As mentioned, Renault Rafale will use the platform CMF-CD, as well as the Austral, the Espace and several models from other brands of the Renault – Nissan – Mitsubishi alliance, including the Nissan X-Trail and the Mitsubishi Outlander. He will come with E-Tech hybrid enginesprobably shared with some of the SUVs we just mentioned (probably reproposing the mighty 200bhp 1.2 E-Tech full hybrid from the Austral), but it’s rumored that at least one configuration with a plug-in hybrid engine will be provided.

RENAULT RAFALE: PRICE AND WHEN IT IS RELEASED

All inferences about the are still premature Renault Rafale pricehowever, let’s keep in mind that to bring home the “sisters” Austral and Espace you have to pay from 32,000 to 48,000 euros depending on the model, so we will be on this range (closer to 48 than 32 thousand).

But when Renault Rafale comes out? At the moment we know that it will have its world premiere soon June 18, 2023 at the 54th International Aeronautics and Space Show at Le Bourget, near Paris. A seemingly bizarre choice but not that much, considering the aeronautical origins of the new SUV coupé. Instead, for the arrival in dealerships, we will probably have to wait until late 2023.