Patrick Le Quément is a genius. While other automakers' stylists are content to rehash cues and shapes dating back half a century, Renault's design chief continues to brave new territory. His cars have arguably done more to define modern automotive design than anyone else's (save, perhaps, Giorgetto Giugiaro), from the 1982 Ford Sierra (sold briefly in the U.S. as the Merkur XR4Ti and a prime motivator of modern aerodynamic sensibilities) to France's ubiquitous first-generation Renault Twingo. Le Quément's car's aren't always pretty in the traditional sense, but they are thoughtful, polarizing, and spectacular. And (with rare exceptions) they sell like crazy.
The Mégane Coupé Concept presages the successor to the current Mégane Coupé, a popular, Volkswagen Golf-sized two door hatchback. But the concept, with its lithe shape and slung-back seating for four, is much grander and vastly more dynamic (closer to the Geneva-unveiled VW Scirocco, in fact).
The Mégane Coupé Concept also brings to mind (in a good way) the Renault Avantime. I was fortunate enough to tour France in an Avantime, probably Le Quément's most daring (and poorly received) production car. Mine was one of only 8,545 examples built between its debut in 2001 and its quiet demise in 2003. A minivan-like monobox grand-touring coupe, the Avantime was unorthodox, somewhat ungainly on tight rural roads, and expensive. But despite its icy reception (even in France, where nutty cars are the norm), the car's eccentric style endures. Le Quément's vision for the car continues to influence automotive designers in ways they don't even realize. It is, in my estimation, a modern classic. And the Mégane Coupé Concept has the makings of one, too.
Continued after the break, with more photos courtesy of Renault.
The concept employs a 197-horsepower, 2.0-liter turbocharged gasoline engine, matched to a six-speed manual transmission and front-wheel drive. Performance is brisk (0-60 mph in a tick over seven seconds), and fuel consumption for a vehicle of this size is modest (about 36 mpg). It demonstrates quite well that eight-, ten-, and twelve-cylinder engines aren't necessary equipment for a grand tourer.
Le Quément has always had a thing for unconventional doors (recall the marvelous and monolithic double-hinged portes on the Avantime), and the Mégane Concept's may be the most unconventional yet. Deploying upward, gullwing-style, the glass section and the lower panel stack separately, hanging at roof level like the wings of a dragonfly. Notes the designer: "The spectacular, unprecedented door-opening kinematics add that little touch of magic which contributes to the dream factor associated with the automobile."
