The all-new Renault Scénic E-Tech Electric will make its world premiere during the IAA Mobility 2023 event in Munich on September 4. The car starts to reveal its final silhouette as a fleet of pre-production cars will be driven on open roads this summer by Renault engineers.

Made in the Douai ElectriCity factory, the pre-production cars will be covered with a taylor-made pattern from Renault Design. Consisting of a play of lines and patterns from the Renault logo, it creates a dazzle-like camouflage.

“The Renault Scénic E-Tech Electric will set itself in the way paved by Scénic Vision, being the first production car to fully embody Renault’s new sustainable development strategy on environment, safety and inclusion,” the press release boasts.

Scénic Vision concept

Revealed during the ChangeNOW Summit in Paris, the Scénic Vision concept car announced Renault’s second step in the C-segment of electric vehicles, enhancing a lineup of fully electric passenger cars that will soon be followed by other icons like R5 and R4.

Scénic Vision is a compact class show car that has both a large battery and fuel cell on board. The car gets its energy in two ways: it can use electricity from the battery, and it can recharge from hydrogen while driving (via electrolysis). Renault describes the concept as a ‘battery fuel cell drive’.

The unique feature is that while other fuel cell vehicles, such as the Toyota Mirai or the Hyundai Nexo, only have a very small battery, the Renault Scenic Vision carries a fairly considerable 40 kWh storage capacity, enough for a 250 kilometers range, sensibly driven.

The drive combines an externally excited synchronous motor with 160 kW in the rear. Most of the driving is done on the battery energy, making the fuel cell into something like a hydrogen-powered range extender. Nevertheless, the Scénic Vision Concept has an H2 tank that can hold 2,5 kilos of hydrogen. This normally guarantees an additional range of some 200+ km.

Presumably, the production version of the 5th generation of Scénic will not have this ‘range extender’ feature, at least not in its basic form. Renault keeps totally silent about the technical details of its newcomer, but one can assume that the technology will be close to Mégane Electric. A top version with a range extender would, in our view, be a very interesting idea. Wait and see.

Almost 30 years

Scénic first appeared in 1996 as Megane Scénic at the time. It is widely regarded as the first compact MPV in European automotive history. Its first four generations came with the same built-in upsides: they were all roomy, had useful technology, and were eminently functional.

Scénic’s gently rounded shapes and ‘one-box’ silhouette were very much in tune with the ‘zeitgeist’. It was designed to appeal to families, and they loved the idea of a cocoon-like car. It came in one size, and its proportions made it roomier and more modular inside. And it came with a variety of features that everyone in the car could enjoy – making it a family-friendly car par excellence.

“When designers were working on the first Scénic generation, they also asked employees’ children what they wanted and needed, how they imagined the inside of the car, and what kinds of things they fancied in it. That explains the fun assortment of half-hidden storage nooks and crannies and the other clever amenities in the first compact MPV,” Renault recalls.